Ma Hadash Blog from CSH

Watch the video below of Rabbi Nico's D'var Torah from Saturday, June 15. If you prefer to read the text instead of watching the video, the full text is below the video. 

The Priestly Benediction, one of the most powerful blessings in the entire Torah, appears in this Torah portion, Parashat Naso:

“May God bless you and protect you; May God’s light shine upon you and may God be gracious to you; and may God bestow, or lift up His face, His favor, upon you and instill or put in you peace.”

After the blessing, we hear (Numbers 6:27): וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַאֲנִ֖י אֲבָרְכֵֽם׃ “Thus they shall put My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

"They shall put My name with the people..." This verse reminded me of the legend of the Golem!

The Midrash tells us that the first human, Adam, was like a Golem made of dust, and that the first breath of life into his nostrils was no other but God instilling His name in Adam. Though the origins of the Golem are in Rabbinical tradition, the most famous Golem is the legendary one from Prague.

The legend tells that in the 16th century, the Maharal of Prague, the main Rabbi of Prague, created a giant clay Golem to protect the Jewish community from pogroms. According to the legend, what gave life to this protector of Israel was the allocation of God’s name in the Golem's mouth, just as the Torah says in the book of Numbers: “and you shall put My name…”

Every Friday, the Maharal would remove the note with God’s name from the Golem's mouth so the Golem could rest on Shabbat and not become over-energized, which would endanger the community around him. One day, the Maharal's daughter was very sick, and he was taking care of her before leaving for synagogue on Shabbat. In his rush, he forgot to remove the paper from the Golem's mouth. The Golem became over-energized and destructive, walking around the neighborhood and destroying everything in its path. Some pious Jews ran to the synagogue to inform the Maharal, who left the Friday prayers, ran toward the Golem, ordered it to stop, removed the divine name from its mouth, and after Shabbat, destroyed the statue forever.

As we learn in this Torah portion: וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַאֲנִ֖י אֲבָרְכֵֽם׃ Thus they shall put My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

The name can be a blessing for life, but it can also be a force that can get out of control, as we saw in the legend of the Golem. The Ten Commandments include a warning about the use of God's name: “You shall not say the name of God in vain!” While we commonly translate it to English as “you shall not say,” the exact translation is: “you shall not lift up” God’s name in vain. “Lo tisa,” again the same root of the name and main motif of our Torah portion - Parashat Naso - NUN (נ) SIN (ש), ALEPH (א). In our Torah portion, this root appears in various contexts.

The first one: “Lift up the heads of the Gershonites,” an unusual idiom that refers to counting. Later on, the word “ישאו” - they will lift up and carry the tabernacle. Next, the portion speaks about what’s being carried as the משא, likely referring to the tabernacle and the other things that the Levites will carry.

The fourth connection to this root in our Torah portion appears in the Priestly Benediction itself: ישא ה’ פניו אליך, and for poetic reasons, we say “may you find God’s presence within you always,” but literally it is “God will LIFT UP, ישא, His face toward you, and will PUT/INSTILL, peace in you” - וישם לך שלום.

In the legend of the Golem, the instilling of God’s name is an appeal to force, however in the Priestly Benediction that same action of instilling God’s name in our midst is not about force but rather about peace וישם לך שלום.

Since October 7th, our strengths and many of our modern-day 'Golems,' meaning the structures we created to protect ourselves in Israel, and the places where we felt safe here in the United States, have been radically challenged. The recent rescue of four hostages brought a sense of comfort to the community, but it also highlighted the toll of using force, such as the loss of Commander Arnon Zamora and the deaths of many Palestinians, as the hostages were held in highly populated areas. While we are grateful for our כוח, our strength, this is not our highest aspiration. As we remember the prophetic hope of Zechariah (4:6): "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit—said God of Hosts." לֹ֤א בְחַ֙יִל֙ וְלֹ֣א בְכֹ֔חַ כִּ֣י אִם־בְּרוּחִ֔י אָמַ֖ר יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃

While we do need our force at this moment we also need to recognize its limitations. The prophet Isaiah (2:4),symbolically uses the exact same word that we are discussing in our Torah portion when speaking of a vision of peace: לא ישא גוי אל גוי חרב ולא ילמדו עוד מלחמה Nation shall not “lift up” Sword against nation; They shall never again know war.

Our hope for a sustainable solution doesn’t come through force but rather through power. And that power is to allow God to LIFT UP Its face toward us and to instill in us peace. It is founded on our commitment to keep trying to rise toward our higher aspirations.

Even when now for many of us just saying the word Shalom triggers skepticism and frustration, we remember that we can’t afford to refrain from that work. We don’t rise in force but rather in peace.  I like the idea of thinking that each one of us carries God’s name and that the best way to carry that name- of not carrying that name in vain- is exactly following that formula: Not by might, not by power, but rather, by spirit. May we merit the ability to recognize, to gather that power, and to work towards shifting force, for the power of “Shalom”  for the power of peace. May God instill in us, Shalom.

Shabbat Shalom