Naso
Where do we place our attention?
Reflection by Ariel Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"The title of this week’s Torah portion of Nasso can mean `lift up` or `count` (i.e. take a census). The pshat or literal meaning of the text is in line with the latter, as God is instructing Moshe to take stock of a certain household of Am Yisrael – B’nai Gershon. But perhaps if we look more deeply, these two definitions of Nasso are the same, pointing us to a theme that can guide us in this week of coming down from Mount Sinai and integrating our experiences of revelation from Shavuot.
Because what we elevate is what counts, and so too, what raises us up enables us to form a higher perspective about what really matters. We live in an attention economy in modern society. Now more than ever, there are a thousand notifications, alarms, and ads vying for our attention. Where we place our energy matters.
By turning towards something, we affirm that it’s worth counting. We have more choice in this than we’ve been led to believe.
The practice of meditation enables us to touch into a little more stillness and silence. When we meditate, we raise our consciousness up to the top of the mountain, each inbreath another step up, each outbreath another affirmation of our commitment to waking up. From this more elevated perspective, we can witness our looping thought patterns and habitual reactions and make choices about where we place our precious attention.
This just might be the promise hidden within the formula of the priestly blessing that is given to Aharon in this parsha:
יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ
יָאֵ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה ׀ פָּנָ֛יו אֵלֶ֖יךָ וִֽיחֻנֶּֽךָּ
יִשָּׂ֨א יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ פָּנָיו֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְיָשֵׂ֥ם לְךָ֖ שָׁלֽוֹם
May YHVH bless you and protect you
May YHVH make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you
May YHVH bestow favor upon you and grant you Shalom (Num 6:24-26).
Meditation practice does not guarantee miracles or sustained enlightenment. What it offers is the ability to raise us up above the habitual tightness and loopings of the mind, to witness the blessings that are already present in our lives, and to protect the sacredness of our attention so that we might be able to inhabit the present moment, just as it is. Our practice offers us the opportunity to see the Divine face shining through every face we see, every leaf, every conundrum, and it offers us the ability to respond to whatever we meet from our whole self rather than a smaller, reactive part. That is truly a blessing."