The Priest and the Rainbow - Parshat Naso

This is not the beginning of one of Aesop's Fables. Nor is it the name of a new drink. It is not even the beginning of a joke.

So what is the connection? The two are drawn together by a similarity by the Gemara.1 And the truth is, the similarity has nothing to do with these two directly but rather with how humans relate to them.

The rainbow is, arguably, one of the most beautiful of nature's occurrences. It is a symphony of shades of color which appears to us when light passes through a different medium and density, breaks up into many different shades  and creates these wonderfully sublime colors. Rabbi Soloveichik explains the opinion of ReshLakish from the Gemara as applying not only to rainbows but to any natural phenomenon – a meteor shower, the northern lights or even a simple sunset.2  If upon viewing these phenomena he sees only the phenomena and no other experience of fulfillment or meaning, then he has missed out on the meaning of the moment of these experiences.

So, you will ask, what does this have to do with the priest? In Parshat Naso we find the mitzvah of the priestly blessing. What exactly happens there? The priest spreads his fingers, God's presence enters that space and the priest then blesses the people. One more point that needs to be mentioned - it is one of the handful of commandments that need to be done with love.3 If the priest simply repeats the words, he has not fulfilled his obligation. The love is to spring forth spontaneously from the priest's heart and take the shape of "May the Lord bless you and keep you."4 Who can stand idly by and not be taken by the pure love shown from one human to another? The ability and will to put one's ego aside and simply bless another - shows a higher level of being than what Freud, Ellis, Skinner, or Adler envisioned.5 God's presence lies between the fingers of the priests! The fingers of those same priests who open their hands entirely and take nothing for themselves - that is where God's presence can be found.

Pretty amazing. Humans are capable of such love. What a discovery.

The beauty of the rainbow. The love of the priest. Can we remain apathetic to them? Can we remain untouched by what goes on around us?  How do we translate these into meaning for us? Glorious nature and true love - not just words from animated movies. But real, live appreciation of the world around us and the ability to see the strengths of others and say: "I believe in you."

What an exciting challenge for us!

Click here for another logoParsha blog on Parshat Naso 

Notes

  1. Chagiga 16a
  2. Al Hateshuva (On Repentance) pp. 201-6
  3. The blessing preceding the action actually reads: "to bless His people, Israel, with love".
  4. Bamidbar 6:24
  5. Viktor Frankl in fact did envision this level which he called the level of the human spirit.

 photo is courtesy of After The Storm; ID: 120296 © Sandy Matzen

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