Nasso (נשא – Elevate)
Numbers 4:21–7:89 and Judges 13:2–25
The parasha Nasso addresses the role of the Levites, the Sotah, the purity laws, and the Nazirite vow. It invokes peace and protection upon Israel and concludes with the tribal offerings for the dedication of the Tabernacle. In the haftara, an angel announces the birth of Samson, who is consecrated as a Nazirite from birth.
Numbers 6:24-26 (Priestly Blessing)
יְבָרֶכְךָ ה’ וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
יָאֵר ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
יִשָּׂא ה’ פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם
May the Eternal bless you and keep you!
May the Eternal make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May the Eternal turn His face toward you and grant you peace!q
In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay [1] led excavations at the site where the Repha’im and Hinnom valleys converge in Jerusalem. During the dig, a young participant uncovered a hidden burial chamber containing more than 1,000 artifacts, including silverware, gold, bones, precious stones, arrowheads, and, most notably, two tiny silver scrolls measuring 2.5 cm long, dating to the late 7th century BCE, during the First Temple period, before the Babylonian exile. These scrolls, known as the Ketef Hinnom amulets, are the oldest known fragments of biblical texts, predating the famous Dead Sea Scrolls by several centuries. They contain an inscription in ancient Hebrew, featuring the Priestly Blessing from parasha Nasso.
Due to their extreme fragility, it took three years of meticulous work to unroll them without causing damage. Their content demonstrates that biblical passages were not only written but actively used in a liturgical and apotropaic (protective) context as early as the time of the prophet Jeremiah.
Today, they are preserved and exhibited in the archaeological wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
[1] Gabriel Barkay (born in 1944 in Hungary) is an Israeli archaeologist specializing in biblical archaeology and the history of Jerusalem. In 1999, the Islamic Waqf, the administrator of the Temple Mount, carried out large-scale construction work without authorization or archaeological oversight, including the expansion of an underground mosque beneath the Temple Mount. These works led to the deliberate and illegal destruction of unique archaeological remains. To salvage what could be recovered, Barkay co-founded the Temple Mount Sifting Project with Zachi Dvira, aiming to sift and study the 9,000 tons of debris removed from the site. This project has led to the recovery of thousands of artifacts covering nearly 3,000 years of history, despite the irreversible losses to archaeological heritage.