This week's portion begins with Moses's instructions to the people to set up a judicial system in the Land of Israel. Moses given the people other instructions, including about monarchy, rules of war, relations among neighbors, and more.
There is the famous line: "Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the land the Lord, your God, is giving you." (16:20). That line is often misquoted as a justification for "social justice" -- often by people who are not terribly enthusiastic about modern-day Israel possessing the land of Israel.
We are so preoccupied with the adjective "social" that we forget about the noun "justice." There's no "social justice" in the Torah -- just "justice justice."
Justice is the noun, and justice is the adjective. Justice -- defined by what we deserve. If we do right, we deserve good; if we do wrong, we deserve evil, and only our prayers and repentance and charity can do anything about it.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
