Nosō and Accountability / נשא און אחריות

This is a weekly series

of parsha dvarim written by a frum, atheist, transsexual anarchist. It's crucial in these times that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns Judaism. Our texts are rich—sometimes opaque, but absolutely teeming with wisdom and fierce debate. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance. I aim to offer comment which is true to the source material (i.e. doesn't invert or invent meaning to make us more comfortable) and uses Torah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

This parsha is an important piece of my parnosa (income), and the full dvar is paywalled for four weeks to help me sustain my work as a writer. But it's important to me that anyone can access Yiddishkeyt—if you can't afford to subscribe, email me and I'll send you the link for free.

An appeal

My friend Kamal needs help to leave Gaza. He is trying to immigrate to Greece to search for his missing son, who in desperation took a small and dangerous lifeboat across the Mediterranean. Please donate what you can.

Content note

Abuse; mentions of rape and suicide

On accountability

This is the single longest parsha by all metrics: it has the largest number of verses, words, and letters. Nasō means "take a census", and we're starting by counting Jewish men: this time the Levite clans Gershōn, Merori, Kehosi, that we know what number will support the Kohanim in tending and transporting the Mishkon. We're instructed to remove anyone from the camp who is defiled through ejaculation or contact with a corpse—once again, sex and death are linked. Kohanim are instructed to bless Israel daily with dukhnen, or the Priestly Blessing. We're given the details of Nazarite vow. Nasō closes with the chieftains from each clan bringing offerings of precious metals, livestock, flour, oil, and incense.

We are also given two processes for accountability: financial restitution, and the ordeal of "bitter waters" to determine if a potentially-unfaithful woman is an adulteress. I believe that these are genuinely useful models of accountability. There is much too much to say about bitter waters for this dvar, so we're focusing on restitution.

"Breaking faith" with Hashem

Wronging each other is a serious offense. If someone behaves badly and realizes their guilt, they must confess and repay the wronged party, plus 20%.

Misha leyening Bmidbar 5:6–7

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There are three steps to accountability offered.

First: realization of guilt. You can't hold someone accountable if they don't understand that they've done something wrong.

Second: acknowledgement of wrongdoing through confession. Tōrah doesn't stipulate who receives the confession but it's unlikely to intend a priest in a box. Ibn Ezra says the confession is for the victim.

Third: restitution of the original amount, plus 20% (or, if there are witnesses and the guilty party is reluctant to repay the damages, then the restitution is increased to 40%).

If the wronged is deceased, the restitution goes to their kin; if they have no kin, it goes to the Kohanim. Punishment, and tshuva ("return"), are not only about repaying what is owed to the victim, but about the guilty giving back to the community even if the victim isn't around. Restitution is a community process. Further, it is important for the guilty person to make things right so that they may forgive themselves.

Crucially, none of the steps in accountability require anything of the victim, other than to hear the confession and receive money.