Parshat Naso
June 17, 2000
Rabbi Martin Applebaum

One is hard-pressed to find a rabbi who is not continuously confronted with a hue and cry on the part of our young men and women to authorize certain changes in Jewish tradition which would render it more “Modern.” We are being continuously pressed for more reforms and an increasing number of deviations from our time-tested practices, which would supposedly serve to attract more young men and women to the synagogue.

Those responsible for this clamor feel certain that unless the Rabbinate consents to bend the rules, Judaism, and particularly, Orthodoxy, will perish.

There is a striking verse in Parshat Naso, which serves to shed light upon this present-day problem: “But to the sons of Kehat [Moshe] gave none [of the offerings], because the sacred service belonged to them—they carried it on their shoulders.”

The Bnei Kehat, who were assigned to move the Tabernacle from place to place in the wilderness, did not seek to lighten their burden by transporting the vessels of the Mishkan on wagons. They preferred to carry them on their shoulders. It was thus that their particular contribution is considered highly sacred.

The story is told of a young man, who decided to present his parents with a Sefer Torah, on the occasion of their golden anniversary. Upon entering a store to inquire of the cost of such a holy scroll, he was amazed to learn of its high price. The aged proprietor patiently explained that the sacred scroll is hand-written by special scribes who devote their lives to the writing of scriptures. He described the special ink used, the quill and the parchment.

“What a backward people we are,” the young man cried in disgust. “Do you mean to say that in this modern day and age with printing presses and modern methods we are still writing with feather on parchment?”

That young man failed to recognize that millions of printed Bibles cannot compare to our holy scrolls. In each scroll is a portion of a Jewish heart and soul, a measure of the love and devotion of a holy man whose work is sacred.

How often in our long history has someone plunged into flames to save the sacred scrolls of the Lord? Is there one recorded instance of a Jew endangering his life to save printed bibles?

It is this personal element of holiness and consecration that renders the Sefer Torah so divinely sacred.

It is noteworthy that those Jews, who observe the Sabbath, kashrut, and the laws of family purity, are usually not the ones who complain about the difficulties of observing Judaism in our day. It is more often those people who do not observe the laws and traditions and do not provide their children with a Jewish education who complain continuously of the supposedly insurmountable obstacles to religion that modern living presents.

The true Jew remembers the Talmudic passage: “Each of us carries a burden through life. Fortunate is he whose burden is the Torah.”

Rabbi Martin Applebaum

Rabbi Applebaum is rabbi of Beth El Jacob Synagogue in Des Moines, Iowa.