Parsha Nasso: Numbers 4:21-Numbers 7:89

Parsha Nasso Day 4 (Part 1): (Numbers 5:11-31) (Study Notes)

(Numbers 5:11-31)

This section of our Parsha Study discusses the "ritual case of jealousy" when a man is overcome with jealousy when his wife has "gone astray" by having sexual relations with another man. We learn that if a man's wife has committed adultery, then his wife has "broken faith" with her husband. The language used here is the same language that is used when Hashem discussed how a Jew breaks faith with Him whenever we harm another human being, especially another Jew.

From this parallel use of language, we can understand how the relationship between a husband and a wife parallels the relationship that Hashem has with every Jew: He is our Ishi. When we go astray and worship other gods, we commit spiritual adultery against hashem and "break faith with Him".

(Numbers 5:13)

We learn that the adulterous…

Parsha Nasso: Day 3: (Numbers 5:1-10) (Study Notes)

In this portion of our Parsha study, we make a sudden shift from census-taking to mitzvot-giving. With all of the fighting-aged men accounted for, the service-aged Priests numbered, and the total number of first-born redeemers tallied Hashem (the Holy One, blessed be He) through Moshe Rabbeinu begins communicating the laws which the listed individuals (and their family members) must keep, and thereby live.

(Numbers 5:1-4)

The first mitzvot (or covenantal vow) given by Hashem (the Holy One, blessed be He) after the counting was completed were laws pertaining to those people whom the Israelites are to remove from their camp. These people included individuals who:

1. Have an eruption (see Leviticus 13)

Parsha Nasso: Day #2 (Numbers 4:38-49) (Study Notes)

At the end of Day #1 of Parsha Nasso, we learned that after Moshe Rabbeiu, Aaron, and the chieftains of the Levites completed the 3 census' of the Levitical sons, the total tallies were given for the number of men aged 30-50 years old.

The total number of Kohathites aged 30-50 = 2,750 souls

(Numbers 4:38-41)

The total number of Gershonites aged 30-50 years old = 2,630 souls

This means that out of the 7,500 Gershonites counted (aged one month and older), a little over 1/3 were subject to the service for work relating to the Tent of Meeting.

Parsha Nasso: Day #1 (Numbers 4:21-37) (Study Notes)

In the last section of Parsha Bemidbar, Hashem commanded Moshe to take a census of the Kohathites--one of the 3 sons of Levi--and the clans under him.

(Numbers 4:21-22)

This parsha opens with Hashem (the Holy One, Blessed be He) commanding Moshe Rabbeinu to take another census. This time, the census is to be of the Gershonites--the second son of Levi. As with the Kohathites, the census of the Gershonites was to record each individual Gershonite by their:

1. Ancestral house

2. Clan.