The Things That WeNaso74ar Artson 1

TORAH-FAX NASO SERMONETTE

NASO74AR
THE THINGS THAT WE REALLY OWN
BY RABBI BRAD ARTSON
A few months ago, my last grandmother passed away A wee! or so after o"r
period of mo"rning ended, my mother sent me some of her f"rnit"re, fig"ring
#$orre$tly% that my wife and & $o"ld "se it in setting "p o"r home
As the mo'ers $arried in my grandmother(s f"rnit"re, & had an eerie sense that
something wasn(t right This, after all, was hers, not mine She sho"ld ha'e it, not
me
& reali)ed then, in a more $on$rete way than *efore, that we really ne'er own things
aro"nd "s We *orrow them for a while, and "ltimately we ret"rn them +ither we
no longer need them #d"e to illness, mo'ing or death% or they $ease to f"n$tion, in
whi$h $ase we ,throw them o"t, - whi$h is to say we ret"rn them *a$! to nat"re
and the nat"ral order
.i'en that we $an ne'er really own anything, o"r li'es and how we $hoose to
apportion o"r time seem espe$ially per'erse /odern men and women spend their
most prod"$ti'e years in relentless p"rs"it We p"rs"e $areers, ownership of $ars,
homes, $lothing, applian$es, art, sto$! options, pension plans, life ins"ran$e and a
staggering 'ariety of other possessions 0erhaps more than any generation *efore
"s, we are ri$h *eyond *elief in a$$"m"lation of things
0arado1i$ally, o"r wealth notwithstanding, we don(t feel ri$h inside 2ew of "s
ha'e a sense of inner f"llness, of an a*ility to deri'e emotional no"rishment from
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within 0lag"ed *y "nease, *y a fore*oding dis4"iet, we !now we la$! some
essential ingredient We 5"st don(t !now what it is
So we *"y another s"it, 5oin another $l"*, eat another meal o"t, see!ing franti$ally
to satisfy o"r eternal $ra'ing for we !now not what
/ay*e the $onf"sion of priority also a$$o"nts for why so many find this wee!(s
Torah portion *oring &n 0arashat Naso, the Torah re$o"nts at great lengths the
gifts the $hieftains of &srael *ro"ght to the newly $onstr"$ted /ish!an
#Ta*erna$le% ,When /oses had amo"nted and $onse$rated them, the $hieftains of
&srael, the heads of an$estral ho"ses*o"nd their offerings *efore the 6ord The
$hieftains also *ro"ght the dedi$ation offering for the altar "pon its *eing anoited,
2or the ne1t twel'e days, ea$h tri*al $hief *ro"ght offerings to dedi$ate the new
altar, and for twel'e paragraphs, the Torah simply lists e'erything they *ro"ght
+'en the most diligent of readers *egins to gla)e o'er *y the third day7
Why wo"ld the Torah, normally so terse, so $on$ise and so dramati$, go on at s"$h
length with the dedi$ation gifts of &srael tri*e8
0erhaps the insight of Ra**i +la)ar of 9artota might help "s "nderstand &n
/ishnah 0ir!ei A'ot #Tea$hings of the Sages%, Ra**i +la)ar instr"$ts "s, ,.i'e
.od what is .od(s, for yo" and yo"rs are .od(s, This is also e1pressed *y :ing
;a'id ,2or all things $ome from <o", and we gi'e <o" only what is <o"rs, #&
=hroni$les%
Ra**i +la)ar "nderstands that there is nothing wrong with owning things or
en5oying their "se 9"t possessions are at *est, tools for *etter li'ing, ne'er goals
in themsel'es No thing $an *ring happiness, se$"rity or pea$e The spirit of ea$h
h"man *eing soars a*o'e the $on$rete limitations of o"r possessions, $rying o"t for
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something more essential, something more eternal, something more neshamah -
li!e to meet it fa$e to fa$e
Today(s en'ironmental philosophers ha'e translated Ra**i +la)ar(s wisdom into
se$"lar lang"age when they tell "s that we h"mans only ha'e the power to ta!e
something o"t of the $y$les of nat"re for a short time, *"t that sooner or later we
m"st ret"rn it We $an either ret"rn the *orrowed item in a way that lets the
nat"ral $y$le $ontin"e to s"pport a thri'ing *iosphere or we $an ret"rn it in a way
that threatens the $ontin"ity of life ,<o" and yo"rs are .od(s,
We do not ha'e "ltimate possession of anything material All that we own we
owe, as Ra**i A*raham ?osh"a @es$hel reminds "s
What we do a$4"ire and own fore'er is o"r own $hara$ter, o"r own deeds of
lo'ing!indness and 5"sti$e, o"r own piety We own eternally the lo'e we feel for
others and their lo'e for "s And we own, as ?ews, an an$ient and sa$red tradition
that ma!es "s .od(s lo'ers, .od(s partners and .od(s $hildren
&n those possessions, and not in mere things, a so"l $an hope to find $ontentment
Sha**at Shalom