The AJR Center for Judaism and Science has an annual competition for the best student D’var Torah infused with science. Click here to view the entries that have won our לדעת חכמה (Lada’at Hokhmah) Award.
Parashat Naso – 5786
May 19, 2026
Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein
A D’var Torah for Parashat Naso By Rabbi Scott “Shalom” Klein Parashat Naso opens with the command “Naso et rosh“—to “lift the head” of the sons of Gershon (Numbers 4:22). While the text begins with a census of those carrying the physical burdens of the Sanctuary, it culminates in the Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing, which provides the spiritual “lifting” for the entire nation. This transition from the labor of the Levites to the grace of the Kohanim offers a masterclass in leadership: the sustainability of any mission depends on a leader’s ability to not only manage the logistics of the “heavy lift” but to actively invoke a culture of protection, clarity, and peace. The Sfat Emet (Sfat Emet, Naso 1) explains that “lifting the head” is a prerequisite for service. He suggests that every individual possesses a unique spark that can only be activated when they recognize their specific...
Parashat Naso – 5785
June 4, 2025
Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (’96)
Down and Dirty A D’var Torah for Parashat Naso By Cantor Robin Anne Joseph (AJR ’96) A priest’s work is never done. After a long day directing the services of the Gershonites, recording the enrollment of the Kohathites, the Gershonites, the Merarites, and retaining sacred donations…must the priests also be marriage counselors? In Paashat Naso, any man who thinks his wife has “gone astray,” whether she has actually had sexual relations with another man or not, should be brought by the jealous husband to the priest. (Num. 5:12-15) Oh, really? Whatever happened to the death penalty? Not that I’m in favor of that, but isn’t the death penalty the prescription for adultery? Remember back in Leviticus… “If a man commits adultery with a married woman—committing adultery with another man’s wife—the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Lev. 20:10) And coming up in Deuteronomy… “If a man is found lying with another...
Parashat Naso 5784
June 11, 2024
Rabbi Cantor Inna Serebro-Litvak ('16)
There is a beautiful place in the Ayalon Valley – west of Jerusalem – just 25 km away. It is called Latrun. The name Latrun may have been derived from “Le Toron des Chevaliers,” the name of a Crusader castle that once stood there. In modern times the hill is best known as the site of an important battle during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.
Parashat Nasso 5783
May 30, 2023
Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09)
There’s a cartoon I once saw where a guru in a loincloth sits cross-legged at the top of a mountain. Before him is a matronly-looking woman in Western clothes who has climbed almost to the summit. The caption: “Murray, darling, when are you coming home?” Many of us have the idea that a life of holiness means a life of privation. What does Judaism have to say about this? In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Nasso, we read about the nazir. This is a man or woman who “explicitly utters a nazirite’s vow, to set themselves apart for G-d.” (Num. 6:2) Having made this vow, the nazir takes on three restrictions: 1. No wine or strong drink, 2. No haircuts, and 3. Not being near someone who has died. Three people in Tanakh seem to have fit the description of a nazir: – Samson, whose mother was told by an angel: “You are going to conceive and bear a son; let...
Parashat Naso 5782
June 10, 2022
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah What’s Your “Work Work”? A D’var Torah for Parashat Naso By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg The original sacred ritual space of the Jewish people, the Mishkan, was portable. Whenever the Israelites moved from place to place in the wilderness, the Mishkan would be disassembled and transported to its next location. The Levites were the ones in charge of its porterage, and the different families of the Levites each had different holy objects to carry whenever the Mishkan would travel with the people from place to place. This is the context for one of the more unusual verses in the Torah, a verse in the beginning of the book of Numbers (Parashat Naso), that describes the Levites’ roles. After specifying that the Levites were to work from age 30 to age 50, the Torah (Numbers 4:47) divides the labors of the Levites into two categories, referred to by the Hebrew...
