Nasó 5776 - English

Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik

Congregacion Kol Shearith Israel

Nahshon ben Amminadab’s résumé is impressive. It can be located second only to that of the distinguished characters from the generation that left Egypt: Moses, Aaron and Miriam. 

Let us look at what the Torah tells us about him. He was Aaron’s brother in law, the brother of his wife Elisheva (Ex. 6:23), and Nasi – prince of the tribe of Judah, the largest of the tribes of Israel (74,600 men over the age of 20 according to Num. 2:3-4). 

He was the first to present an offering in the inauguration of the Mishkan, as our Parashah relates (Num. 7:12-17), as well as the first one to begin the march through the desert (Num. 10:14).

The first book of Chronicles (2:11 et. seq.) and the Megillat Ruth (4:20 et. seq.) complete the image by indicating that Nahshon was a descendant of Peretz (the son of Judah and Tamar) and grandfather of Boaz, so King David would be in his line of succession (Ruth 4:20) and therefore so would the Messiah. 

However, it is in the Midrash where Nahshon becomes even more relevant. A well-known passage in the Talmud (Sota 37a) tells us that when the order to march came, the waters of the Red Sea had not parted yet. The tribes were fighting because none of them wanted to be the first to go in. Then Nahshon started walking into the sea and when the water was about to engulf him completely, they parted in such a way that the Israelites passed through dry land. That action made him worthy of bringing the first offering to the dedication of the Mishkan described by Parashat Naso. 

With such ancestry, the fact (“there are never details in the Torah,” a teacher used to say) that the Torah omits referring to Nahshon as Nasi, chieftain, in chapter 7 of the book of Numbers, when it narrates each of the 12 offerings that the princes of each tribe (all equal by the way) presented, is surprising. 

Let us look at the texts:

“The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah (Num. 7:12)… On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, chieftain of Issachar, made his offering (Num. 7:18)… On the third day, it was the chieftain of the Zebulunites, Eliab son of Helon” (Num. 7:24)… and so on and so forth, all the chieftains are referred to with their titles except Nahshon.

How does it explain this omission?

The commentator Jizkuni (Jizkia ben Manoah, France, XIII Century) claims that he is not called Nasi (chieftain) so that he would not be proud of being the first one to present the offering. In his opinion, the honor plus the ostentation of a title could be an explosive combination to fire a person’s ego into a dangerous dimension, inappropriate for a person of his dignity. More so if we add the fact that he was a very wealthy man. As Rashi explains, when the Torah says he presented “his” offering, it means he paid it out of his own pocket and not the tribe’s. We could be in front of a situation where honor, position and money end up generating arrogance and high-handedness.

The Baal Haturim (Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, Germany 1269 – Spain 1343) claims that because Nahshon was from the tribe of Judah, the most important one (not only historically but also because the Messiah will emerge from it), it was meaningful as a symbolic gesture of humility to omit his title of Nasi. 

Personally, I believe that Nahshon’s merits made his name recognizable without the need to add any title or description. 

There are people that with their actions they make an impact and leave a mark, and they transcend in such a way that their names become a synonym of honor and respect without the need of including any additional detail. In the case of Nahshon, his life trajectory gives testimony of the type of leader he was, and from there, the inclusion of the title of Nasi was superfluous. 

Like King Salomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes (7:1), “A good name is better than precious ointment.”

Shabbat shalom

Gustavo