Rabbi Jack Riemer (in Learn Torah With...5756 Torah Annual) calls our attention to a nuanced detail in this week's Torah portion, Parashat B'midbar. In the Torah portion, which begins with a census of the Israelites in the wilderness, each tribe names a prince. Eleven of these princes have names that contain a name of God. There are names like Elitzur (God is my Rock) and Elishama (God has heard). There's even Shelumiel ben Tzurishaddai, which includes Shalom, El, Tzur, and Shaddai, which are all names of God. But then there's the twelfth prince, Nachshon ben Aminadav, whose name gives no allusion to God. Perhaps he sounds familiar to you, though? Nachshon ben Aminadav, according to midrash, was the first one to jump into the Sea of Reeds before it split, the one whose confidence in God was enough to begin to part the waters.
What Nachshon (and the other princes) teach us is that our identities are not based upon the names we have or even the names we give ourselves, but rather based upon our actions. Each of the eleven princes whose names bore God's names had a falling out with God. But the one whose actions spoke to his relationship with God ended up being the most holy among them.
As Shavuot approaches, the holiday on which we celebrate receiving Torah at Sinai, let us not define ourselves by the names we have or by the words we use to describe ourselves, but rather by our actions that make us worthy of our relationship with God and with one another.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment