Parshas נשא falls in the week of מתן תורה to impress the point that through Torah, all yidden have an elevation in stature- נשא. The תשלומים of Shavuos is during the week, unlike the other י”ט, where the תשלומים are on חול המועד. The Gemorra learns of the תשלומים of Shavuos, from a pasuk that mentions all three ימים טובים- that just like Pesach and Sukkos have a week of תשלומים to bring the קרבנות החג if they weren’t brought on the חג, so to Shavuos has a week of תשלומים. The purpose of תשלומים is to extend the י”ט. The Rabanim considered the Shabbos after י”ט as נוך שבת, meaning that the י”ט is still with us. The Midrash says on the second pasuk – נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם, that יקרה היא מפנינים. Gershon was born first, but קהת was the bigger תלמיד חכם, and so קהת was mentioned first- תורה=611=יקרה היא מפנינים. Parshas נשא is the longest Parsha in the Torah with 176 pesukim, paralleling the longest Mesechta- בבא בתרא also with 176 daf. The Zohar says that the three Babas represent the three בתי המקדש where בבא בתרא represents the בית השלישי (8 x 22 daf), associated with ימות המשיח. The longest perek in Tehillim- קיט, also with 176 pesukim (eight sentences of each of the twenty two letters in the א-ב, that is – 8 x 22=176).

Parshas נשא also has the longest Midrash, which talks of the intentions of all the נשאים with their donations. The sacrifices of the נשאים are also read Chanuka time. Shavuos and Chanuka are very much related, in that both are in the third month, Sivan from Nisan, and Kislev from Tishre- כסליו=126=סיוןBoth are connected to the number eight, the future למעלה מן הזמן ולמעלה מן הטבע — the eight lights of Chanuka and Shavuos being really the first day of the eighth week. Torah is connected to the number eight, as is written in Tehillim of השמים מספרים כבוד קל where the eighth pasuk is תורת יה-וה תמימה On both Yomim Tovim there is a custom to eat dairy. The Torah comes down into this lowly world, and the mitzvah of Chanuka is to light below ten tefachim – יום הבכורים=339=נר חנוכה.

The Ari HaKodesh says that Sivan is זבולן. Our job in this world is to make it this world dwelling place for the divine Shechina זבול- נ.

The fact that זבולן was more involved in business than יששכר, and the great month of Sivan is Zevulin, relays the message that the Torah is for all. The Torah was purposely given to this lowly world, and given in a wilderness, a desolate place with snakes and scorpions, all to teach us that the Torah could be learnt anywhere, and that any yid no matter what background he comes from, has the ability to become someone in the Torah world. The purpose is to נשא, to uplift the physical and transform it into רוחניות. The word סיון is made of a ס which represents the entire ש”ס and then there are three lines that descend lower each letter. This represents that the month of מתן תורה, Sivan demonstrating that Torah is an inheritance of all faction of Jews, even the lowest. No one has a soul monopoly on the Torah. The holy Torah descends into the business world and into the lowest elements-זין בית ויו למד נון=625=וירד יה-וה על הר סיני.

The יערת דבש says that Sivan is דן, in that the Torah brings rules and דין into the world. Like the Torah was given with all the yidden being gathered together- ויחן שם ישראל, Dan was the מאסף of all the מחנות. Rashi says that Dan was the lowest of all the שבטים, the one’s that Amelek attacked. The Torah goes way down to rectify the lowest נשמות. The הפטרה speaks of שמשון who was from דן. Rav Wolfson says that Shimshon went down so low and married Philistine women, bringing a tikun to even those yidden who intermarried. We read this usually right after Shavuos, when hopefully all yidden reached great heights. Shimshon was so great, that יעקב אבינו thought he was משיח –called him דן נחש where משיח=358=נחש. The משיח will מתקן the עני and the גר – ממ שין יוד חית=878=לעני ולגר תעזב . The עני is דוד, and the גר is רות who was collecting the לקט שכחה and פאה for נעמי, at the זמן הקצירה or Shavuos.

Gershon- גרשון is from the word מגורש, meaning an outcast. The second pasuk, which says- נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם, implies that even these outcasts (לשון גירושין) are elevated and have a tikun. After the fifty days of Sefira, after Shavuos, there is still תשלומים. The תשלומים of Shavuos are learnt from the mitzvos of פאה and לקט written in topic of Shavuos and are on a higher level than the תשלומים of Pesach and Sukkos, in that they fall in ימי החול. There is a tikun for the בני גרשון, the souls that fell into ימי החול, the תחתון of

זמן, that גם הם, also they have a tikun. Sivan being שבט דן, the lowest tribe, shows that every yid could connect himself to Torah. The word נשא is the acrynom of אור שמונה נימין, the light of משיח, and therefore could descend to all כלל ישראל. Amelek attempted to seduce these outcasts, however the holy Torah has the power to uplift the downcast – תספרו חמישים יום=1210=ראשית גוים עמלק=1210=ראש בני גרשון גם הם. The Torah was given white fire (the צדיקים) on black fire. The black fire represents the sinners who could also connect to the holy Torah.

In Parshas אמור כג:כב while speaking of חג שבועות, which is also חג הקציר, the Torah speaks here of the mitzvos of לקט and פאה, the mitzva of leaving over food for the poor. The forgotten ones are remembered, and can be brought back to the ראשית like Yovel – The last pasuk or 176th pasuk of Tehillim קיט is also mentioning this lost yid – ראשית תבואתו=1726=תעיתי כשה אובד בקש עבדך. The mitzvah of not cutting one’s entire field is known as לא תכלה, where the forgotten stalks become a mitzva ועמך כולם צדיקים=486=לא תכלה The Zohar says that the גאולה will take place on Shavuos. The Geula is for the פאה שדך, the yidden that are found at the four corners of the world, like theבני גרשון and Dan- ושבתם איש אל אחוזתו=1518=לעני ולגר תעזב אותם אני יה-וה אלה-יכם. They too will return to their roots on Shavuos – בשבועות יפקון מגלותא=1512=ושבתם איש אל אחזתו

In פרשת נשא ה:ז, the Rambam learns that the מצוה of וידוי is an essential and integral part of תשובה. The Ramban and most Rishonim learn the mitzva of teshuva from pesukim in Parshas נצבים. Why are we learning here of the mitzvah of וידוי and תשובה? The תשובה before שבועות prepares us for the שופר גדול– ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול=1286=והתודו את חטאתם. At מתן תורה the left horn was blown, and now we’re anticipating the future Geula, when the right horn will be blown. The whole idea of the Mishkan is that there is a second chance ידותיו ולצלע המשכן השנית – (the combination of Hashem’s name for the month of Sivan). פרשת נשא being the longest פרשה in חומש, represents the majority of כלל ישראל, since every letter is a different נשמה. We see this in that all the שבטים are mentioned in the Parsha, including the בני גרשון and the בני מררי, the צרוע, and the זב…everyone down to the bottom.

The one that sacrificed first was נחשון בן עמינדב, the great grandfather of David HaMelech. By נחשון it says וקרבנו with a vav, which is said only by his קרבן. The חז”ל say this is because he was the ancestor of דוד of whom it says ונחה עליו רוח ה” רוח חכמה ובינה רוח דעת ויראה רוח עצה – that is six ברכות.

This is why Boaz gave Ruth six cornels of barley שש השערים, where Rashi says is a רמז that דוד משיח will come from her and will be blessed with six Brachos. The name נחשון begins with the letters נחש =358=משיח. From Nachshon will come the Mashiach who will מתקן the sin of the נחש. נחש also is connected to חג השבועות in that the נ is the fiftieth day, the ח in that Shavuos begins the eighth week, and the ש which is שבועות. Dan is referred to as the נחש. As we said, Yaakov saw the ישועה in Shimshon who was from Dan, as the Parsha says here the famous words לישועתך קויתי ה”. Shimshon had in him the נשמה of משיח, as the Zohar says that he had in him the potential to rectify the entire world. שמשון went down למטה מ-יוד, similar to Ruth where it says ותרד הגורן, or by Yehuda – וירד יהודה מאת אחיו. All these צדיקים went down into the dumps, into the depths in order to מתקן the lowest נשמות, even the ones that married goyim.

Seforim say that משיח will be a fusion of Dan, the lowest שבט, and Yehuda, the greatest שבט. BeTazalel from Yehuda, together with אהליאב from Dan built the Mishkan, and שלמה from Yehuda, together with חירם from Dan built the first בית המקדש, all to demonstrate that all of כלל ישראל are one. Shavuos is associated with לעתיד לבא, as it is the first day of the eighth week, and also the fiftieth day. The Zohar says that it says יציאת מצרים fifty times in the Torah, the fiftieth time is in כי תבוא, the fiftieth Parsha in Chumash. Parshas כי תבוא is the Parsha which speaks of ביכורים, the day the yidden brought the first fruits to the בהמ”ק, a clear connection to Shavuos referred to as יום הביכורים. In כי תבוא, the Torah elaborates what the one who brings the ביכורים has to say-… ארמי אבד אבי which we say on the first night of Pesach, the beginning of the fifty days. In the midst of saying pesuking, we praise Hashem with ויוצאנו ה” ממצרים which is the fiftieth and last mention of יציאת מצרים in Chumash – שער ה-נ=625=ויוצאנו יה-וה ממצרים. We were taken out of the forty ninth level of טומאה,

whereas we now are anticipating the final Geula which will take us out of the fiftieth level of טומאה we have sunk to in our generation.

The אור החיים writes in Parshas שמות, that we could deal with this fiftieth level, since we have the Torah, unlike the yidden in Egypt. Besides praising Hashem for taking us out of מצרים, we also praise Him for saving us from לבן ארמי, the greatest טומאה. On the side of קדושה, Lavan corresponds to the highest level of holiness, as Daniel expounds on in his famous vision of what will take place before the Geula. There he sees Hashem wearing a white garment like snow, and His hair is white like the wool of the sheep. These are the colours of white that denote purity. The בהמ”ק is called לבנון since it’s the place that isמלבין the sins of כלל ישראל. The color לבן in the side of טומאה, is even greater than the טומאה of פרעה. In the mitzva of ביכורים, we are praising Hashem for saving us from this טומאה. Shavuos is parallel to יה”כ, as the ירושלמי says that it doesn’t say the word חטאת in the מוספים of Shavuos- שעיר אחתw/o חטאת. We reach the level that’s higher than sin לפני ה” תטהרו, where כתר=620=תטהרו the level the yidden reach on Shavuos night. There are 620 letters in the עשרת הדברות, and 620 mitvos- 613 Torah and seven Rabbanim. כתר is called לובן עליון, pure white and free from sin- פסקה זוהמתם-

נון שערי בינה=753=פסקה זהומתן.

The only י”ט that it says the word חדשה is Shavuos, as it says in Pinchas מנחה חדשה לה” בשבעתיכם. The word חדשה is used in association with Geula- ארץ חדשה or as the Pasuk says in ירמיהו – הנני בורא חדשה בארץ נקבה סובב גבר. In the future the נקבה will be on the same level as the זכר or even higher. Now it’s והוא ימשל בך, which was a result of חטא של חוה in the חטא עץ הדעת. In the future, in the time of מנחה חדשה the woman will be equal or greater than the man, and no longer מנחה חדשה=420=והוא ימשל בך

Shavuos is a metaphor for the future, the fiftieth level of holiness, and so the Torah conceals its exact date-למעלה מן הזמן . Every yid is a מנחה חדשה on Shavuos, and has the power to totally renew himself. On שבועות, when the Torah was given with the חמש קולות, the five parts of the נשמה of every yid is revealed. The first of the עשרת הדברות isאלה-יך אשר הוציאתך אנכי יה-וה –

נפש רוח נשמה חיה יחידה=1099=אלה-יך אשר הוציאתך . The level of

Torah that we merit in this world begins with a ב, as opposed to the future with an א, as when the yidden heard the עשרת הדברות beginning with אנכי ה”. The Alshich says in Parshas ויצא ל:טז, when it says ותצא לאה לקראתו, this was not the normal way for the woman to go to get her man. This was ליל שבועות, as it says that Reuvan went בימי קציר חטים, and by the union of Leah and Yaakov, יששכר the תלמיד חכם was conceived. The בני יששבר says that Yisachar was born on Chanuka, which is very connected to Shavuos. This came about from an act which Leah, the woman initiated, similar to the daughters of Lot coming on to their father, and Tamar coming on to Yehuda, or Ruth to Boaz. The whole formation of the נשמת משיח came about in this same manner with נקבה סובב גבר. On טו באב and יה”כ the Mishne says that בנות ישראל יוצאות, also not in the normal manner. We also see that it was Sara that told Avraham to expel Yishmael, and Rivka that told Yaakov to take the ברכות from עשו.

We eat dairy on Shavuos. חלב is white- pure. During the seven weeks of Sefira we are working on our Midos which are rooted in the blood דם נאכר- the blood decomposes, and on Shavuos this red blood turns into milk ונעשה חלב. Shavuos is called חג הקציר, since it comes after all the hard work the yidden put in during the ימי הספירה and what’s left is to harvest the produce, the מדות טובות. Rebeinu Bachya in Parshas כי תשא says that the איסור of בשר וחלב will be nullified in לעתיד לבא. The Noam Elimelech brings down the same thing in Parshas משפטים, and connects it to Shavuos, when we are more lenient with the time to wait after milk (hard cheese) to eat meat. This is because Shavuos is לעתיד לבא when Hashem will be מתיר אסורים, and the חזיר will be טהור and the ממזרים will become טהור. Just like in the future the יצה”ר will become a יצה”ט, on Shavuos the חמץ is not מזיק. Shavuos is the Yahrzeit of both דוד המלך and the בעל שם טוב, both who came down to prepare the world for משיח. The Rokeach says רות is the מגילה of משיח, and we see this clearly in רות, where גאולה is written many times.

In the last pasuk of the Parsha, Moshe hears a נבואה from Hashem coming from מבין שני הכרבים. Rashi says this is a case of שני כתובים המכחישים זה את זה, the last of שלש עשרה מדות התורה נדרשת. One pasuk says that Hashem spoke to Moshe from the אהל

מועד which is outside the ק”ק, and another says that Hashem spoke to Moshe from מעל הכפורת which is inside the ק”ק. This last pasuk comes to answer the seemingly contradiction, and says that Moshe came into the אהל מועד, and heard the קול coming from מעל הכפורת. The sefarim parallel the בשלש עשרה מדות התורה נדרשת בהן to the שלש עשרה מדות הרחמים, the thirteenth or last one being ונקה ולא ינקה, which is also an apparent contradiction. The Gemorra says that the cleansing ונקה comes to those who are worthy. The Torah itself was given in threes. The Torah, which is divided into three- תורה כתובים נביאים , was given after three days, in the third month, by the third child- Moshe, and to the yidden who are divided into three groups כהנים לוים ישראלים. Hashem created this world with two entirely opposite entities of the physical and the spiritual, and the holy Torah is the מכריע ביניהם. The ר”ן says that the Torah is the peacemaker between שמים וארץ.

Parshas נשא has many negative subjects. It speaks of the צרוע and the זב and the טמא נפש that are sent out of the camp. It speaks of the גזל הגר, the נזיר and the סוטה. Even the משכן that the Parsha speaks of, and all of the sacrifices, only were necessary because of the חטא העגל. However every pasuk in the Parsha is under the banner of the name of the Parsha נשא, to uplift. How could such a lofty name be given to a Parsha full of such negativity? The answer is that all the lower class yidden spoken of here- the זב , צרוע, טמא נפש , בני גרשון ,בני מררי , דן, סוטה , – גזלן with the power of the Torah- Shavuos, “גם הם” have the potential to be elevated to the greatest heights where even a ממזר תלמיד חכם is greater than a כהן עם הארץ. The מעלה of Torah is that it not only supersedes the מלכות and the כהונה, but also the בכורה. The sixth chapter of פרקי אבות is קנין תורה tells us exactly this, that Torah was given with forty eight ways that a yid could קנה, as opposed to twenty four of the כהונה and thirty of מלכות.

The topic of the Sotah is a vast and deep topic with many questions which we’ll just touch upon. The waters used to test the woman that has secluded herself with a man that is not her husband, and warned not to, are called מי המרים המאררים that is as the Targum says – cursed waters. If the woman is found to be innocent of sin, the pasuk says ונזרעה זרע, which means she’ll receive a Bracha in an easy childbirth or have children where she normally wouldn’t.

If she did commit this grave sin, then we can understand how the waters are called cursed, but how could cursed waters bring Bracha? The שם ושמואל answers that the ingredients of the water has tremendous קדושה, especially the erased name of Hashem, and so these waters bring Bracha to the woman that was innocent. The חידוש is in the curse when the woman is guilty. Here, he says the טומאה of this woman cannot bear the intense קדושה. The קדושה cannot tolerate such sin, and so she receives her punishment, her curse. The obvious question is that this woman is not righteous, as she secluded herself with another man. Why should she receive Bracha? Rav Eliya Lopian says the woman went into seclusion this last time with the intention to sin. The יצה”ר was burning in her as well as the man, but she overcame the יצה”ר, which took great strength, and for this she receives a big Bracha. The fact that she commited the sin of יחוד, the truth is that she was punished with the בזיון and בושה she received in having to uncover her hair and tear her clothes. We see here how Hashem pays her so much more for her overcoming the sin, than for the יחוד she commited- מידה טובה מרובה.

No matter how far a yid falls, he or she can overcome his (her) יצה”ר, and Hashem will help him, and if he succeeds, he’ll receive endless ברכות.

In the same way that we have the mitzva of בכורים where we have to bring our first produce to the בהמ”ק, so to Hashem will bring His first produce, ראשית תבואתו –the yidden, to the בית השלישי, speedily in our times.