פרשת נשא

As Finals has us all busy and out of class, we don't have our usual forum for Divrei Torah on the Parsha. First, it's Naso, (longest one in the Torah, so get some sleep Friday night). Below I reprint a beautiful idea that a neighbor of mine, Rabbi Daniel Lifschitz circulated.

Parshat Naso concludes with a long and repetitive section detailing the donations that the prices of the Twelve Tribes made to the Tabernacle upon its completion. Each of the prices brought the exact same collection of utensils, incense, animals, etc. Instead of consolidating the description somewhat, the Torah spells it out at maximum length -Prince A brought X, Y and Z; Prince B brought X, Y and Z; Prince C....Why so much repetition?

Rabbi Frand suggests that there is an important lesson that the Torah is trying to underscore by the repetition. On the first day, the prince of the tribe of Yehudah brought his donation. On the second day, the prince of Yissachar was up. The typical person would try to think of something bigger, better, or at the least different than what his colleague had brought in order to make his own gift stand out too.Bringing the same thing as the other prince would show a lack of imagination and would hardly be socially acceptable. But Netanel ben Tzuar, the prince of Yissachar, instead brought the same gift that the prince of Yehudah did. He realized that if he brought something new anddifferent, then prince #3 would have to do the same, as would prince #4,and he would have started an endless chain of one-upsmanship. By bringing the same boring gift, Netanel prevented a cycle of social competition. (Perhaps this special distinction of Netanel is why the passage describing his gift is worded slightly differently than the passages describing the donations of the other princes.) Unfortunately,this type of cycle is all too prevalent in our society, with a number of corrosive effects I need not go into. How many of us have the courage of Netanel to risk our status and reputation by refusing to compete? Shabbat Shalom.