This week's parsha, Naso, continues to discuss the arrangements for the trek the Jewish nation is about to make through the desert to the Land of Israel. The Levites, who are responsible for transporting the Tabernacle, are counted, and their work load is apportioned among them.

This week we read two parshas, Tazria and Metzorah, which are about various kinds of ritual impurity, stemming from the body and its functions and imperfections. These include the impurity of a woman after childbirth, the impurity engendered by certain diseases, and others. Modern students of these parshas point to a concern on the part of the Torah, in these sections, with order, boundaries, and the clear separation of a number of very basic things; the dead and the living, the sick and the healthy, the clean and the unclean, and permitted and  forbidden sexual relations.

This week, we read the portion of Shmini, which means "the eighth". It refers to the eighth day of the opening of the Tabernacle, which was actually its first fully functioning day, after seven days of special inaugural rituals performed by Moshe, Aharon, and the other priests. On this 'opening day', Moshe commands Aharon and the people to bring sacrifices to the Tabernacle, "for today God will appear to you", which is, after all, the point of the Tabernacle.

This week, we read Parshat Tzav, which deals with some of the specifics of the basic daily sacrifices, and the ritual which was practiced in order to sanctify Aharon and his sons as priests who serve in the Temple. This week is also the Shabbat before Passover, which is traditionally called Shabbat HaGadol - the great Shabbat, the Shabbat which precedes the exodus from Egypt and the birth of the free Jewish nation.

Last week, we completed the Book of Exodus, with a description of the construction of the Tabernacle. This week, we begin the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus). This book begins where Exodus left off - the Tabernacle, having been built, now contains the presence of God. As we discussed a few weeks ago, this situation, according to Nachmanides, is a replication of the situation at Mt. Sinai, in which God is palpably ‘there’, and communicates his commandments directly to man.

This week we read two portions. This happens sometimes, due to certain vagaries in the Jewish lunar calendar. These two parshas, however, really do make up one unit: The summary of all that was built for and installed in the Tabernacle. Moshe instructs the people to gather and bring all the material needed for the construction, they respond generously, and the work is completed. The parshas include a long list of all the construction materials and details of the Tabernacle itself, the vessels, and the priestly garments.

This week, the parsha continues with the details of the Mishkan - the Tabernacle. The focus is on the clothing worn by the priests and the high priest, the inaugural rituals and services which were to be done at the opening of the Tabernacle, and details of some of the vessels and offerings. I would like to focus on a part of the high priest's outfit that has fascinated me since I was a kid - the breastplate, known as the Choshen Hamishpat, the Breastplate of Judgment. On it were 12 precious and semi-precious stones, arranged in four rows of three.