Naso - 2024

Chevre, this week’s parsha is Naso (נָשאֹׂ). The parsha starts with the continuation of dividing jobs amongst some of the tribes. But then there is a short paragraph about the purity of the camp. If someone has tzaraat (this is a spiritual cleanliness disease that doesn’t really have a translation), they will go out of the camp. And there are rules around when they go out and checks and when they can come back in. What I find interesting is that if you have this disease, you’re out. I think of this like finding a security issue in a cloud account (maybe I’m thinking security after re:Inforce this week). You isolate the resource, take a forensic snapshot of the resource, and then you look to understand what happened, how to repair/mitigate and get back online. But you don’t want to leave the “bad stuff” in the middle of your production area, you push it to the side where it can’t spread or do further damage. That is what I see is happening here. There are a few more sections on things like Sotah and Nazir and then there is the long list of the dedications by the princes where each prince brought the same exact thing for 12 days straight. We read these everyday from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, when the dedication took place and we read these on the 8 days of Chanukah. May we be blessed to remain pure to ourselves, each other, and all Am Yisrael. Shabbat Shalom.