This week's Torah portion is called Naso, which translates as "counting." Continuing from the previous portion, God instructs Moses and Aaron to count the families of the tribe of Levi (Gershon and Merari, since Kohath was counted at the end of the previous portion). The Jewish people were preparing for a journey through the desert, and the Levites, along with the Kohanim, were preparing to perform daily tasks in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary they had constructed.<\/p>\n
Our sages comment that, from a more spiritual perspective, the journey of the Jewish people through the desert served to transform a barren place into a habitable one. In other words, the definition of a desert is that it is uninhabited, whereas, during the journeys of the Jewish people, the desert ceased to be a desert and became a place inhabited.<\/p>\n
This has an eternal spiritual expression, in all generations and all places: we must make our environment a place to be inhabited. The society in which we live sets forth principles and values that make life, so to speak, a desert. Lacking holiness, divinity, lacking the revealed presence of God, that is why we call it a desert, uninhabited by the Supreme "Man," that is, God. We all find ourselves in this immense desert, and our function in life is to bring God to earth and reveal Him in that desert, so that it ceases to be an uninhabited and empty place.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the same idea applies on a family and personal level: through our behavior, we create our home, our family, and ourselves. We begin life like an empty, barren notebook (obviously, we have a soul that is a piece of God, but it is hidden; we are not literally empty). The work consists of writing on those pages of the notebook and filling it, so to speak, with God, making our home, our family, and ourselves a place inhabited by God.<\/p>\n
Time marches on and life unfolds. The pages of the notebook filled with words are only those "inhabited by Man," those where God can be found inscribed, so to speak, while the other pages have passed and remain empty, despite having been lived upon; these are uninhabited and barren. We must reflect both on the past, asking ourselves, "How many empty pages are there in our notebook?" and also on the future: "What will the next pages be like? What will tomorrow be like?" Surely better, in every way.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La parash\u00e1 de esta semana se llama Nas\u00f3, cuya traducci\u00f3n es contar. En continuaci\u00f3n con la anterior, Di-s le pide a Moshe y Aharon que cuenten las familias de la tribu de Levi (Guersh\u00f3n y Merar\u00ed, ya que Kehat fue contado al final de la secci\u00f3n anterior). El pueblo jud\u00edo se preparaba para afrontar un… Read More \u00bbThe notebook full<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,72],"tags":[950,971,954,972,1019,969],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editoriales","category-naso","tag-di-s","tag-hombre","tag-judio","tag-mishkan","tag-moshe","tag-parasha-2"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Cuaderno.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"El cuaderno lleno<\/a><\/blockquote>