June 2, 2026|י"ז סיון ה' אלפים תשפ"ו Naso 5786 - Taking the Time to Show Respect By Rabbi Beni Krohn

Every year, we arrive at Parshas Naso, and we are reminded of the very unusual nature of one element of this parsha.

As we know, this parsha takes us through the Chanukas HaMizbeach, the inauguration of the Mishkan, and that process was done through a series of Korbanos that were brought by the Nesiim, the heads of each tribe. And, as you also know, each Nasi brought the same exact korban, and nevertheless, the Torah takes a painstakingly long time to list each and every Nasi, and the details of each and every korban that was brought.

And the question, of course, is why is this necessary? The Torah is exacting in its language. It is exacting in its choice of details to include from various stories. And if that is true, what is the purpose of this exhaustive and repetitive list?

Rav Shlomo Breuer and others note that the Torah is teaching an important lesson. There are many aspects of our Avodas Hashem in which we do the same action as everyone else. We all say the same Shmone Esrei, pick up the same lulav, and light the same menorah. However, we should not make the mistake of thinking that Hakadosh Baruch Hu views our actions as the same as everyone else because, of course, it is not the same.

Two people can both donate $1,000 to a chesed organization. For one of them, it's a drop in the bucket - they have millions of dollars, and so it doesn't pain them all that much to part with the money. For another person, though, to give $1,000 can be extraordinarily challenging. Their finances are tight, and to offer this money is extremely difficult for them. The objective value of the gift may be the same, but the gift is certainly not identical.

Every Nasi, when he chose to bring his korban, had his own intentions, was experiencing his own personal struggles, and therefore, even though the specific items he brought may have been the same, Hashem did not view it as repetitive or identical to the Korbanos of the others. And to make that point absolutely clear, Hakadosh Baruch Hu instructed Moshe Rabbeinu to list each and every Nasi's korban in full detail, so that no Jew would ever feel that his or her Avodah is unimportant to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We should know that He sees every single mitzvah we offer Him, He sees the effort we exert, and He values it as totally unique and special.

The Ramban offers a slightly different answer. He is bothered by the same problem, and writes that the reason that Hakadosh Baruch Hu chose to list each and every korban of each and every Nasi was:

כי הקב"ה חולק כבוד ליריאיו

Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted to give kavod, give honor, to those who revere Him.

The nesiim all showed up on the first day and all wanted to give their korbanos, and if Hashem would have only listed Nachshon Ben Aminadav and his korban and then written: "And all 11 others brought the same thing," that wouldn't have offered the proper kavod for each Nasi who had given his time and energy to bring his korban. Hashem wanted to honor each of them by giving them the full time and attention they deserve. And so, He lists each and every one in full detail and He does so as a way of displaying for us how one shows kavod, respect, to someone else.

And one of my students in yeshiva, Alexander Moss, added such a thoughtful addendum to this idea. He noted that this adds so much value not only to the fact that the Torah goes out of its way to list the details of every korban, but the act of reading them each year is meant to drive home this message for us as well.

Because one could easily be sitting in shul, listening to this list and say to him or herself, "This is ridiculous! It's a waste of my time! I could have already been at kiddush by now!" And you start thinking to yourself, can't we just get the AI summary? And, in fact, that is exactly the point. Each year, as we sit and listen to the list of Nesiim read one by one, a process that takes a little extra time, we are reminded that if you actually want to show someone you care, that you notice them and that they matter, it will take extra time and energy. But that investment is so worth it.

Rav Shlomo Wolbe was known as the Mashgiach of Yerushalayim until he passed away a few years ago. He writes in his sefer Alei Shur that the word kavod comes from the shoresh כבד, which means "heavy." The greatest way to be mechabeid someone else, to show them respect, is when we show them that they matter, that we treat them seriously.

There's no greater sign of respect than when you look someone else in the eye and close everything else out when you give him or her your full attention. When you do that, you show them that they matter to you, that they have value. And the opposite is true as well. When we treat someone as if they don't matter, when we treat them as kal, light, or unimportant, that's what we call being mikalel, cursing someone, treating them with disrespect. To be mechabeid someone is to show them that you believe they have value, that they matter. When we treat a human being with kavod, it reflects the value we see in them. But that can only happen if we take the time necessary to show them how much we care.

My father is a Primary Care Physician who had a practice in Boston for almost 40 years. And I was always proud when someone would hear my last name and ask, "Are you Dr. Krohn's son?" because I knew what would follow. It would typically be some version of: "I'll be honest, sometimes I have to wait a little while before I get to see your father, but once I do, he treats me like I'm the only patient he has." Countless patients would tell me how much they appreciated my father as their doctor. Yes, much of that was because of how thorough he was and how he would be careful to follow up with them about their test results. But it was always clear to me that the main thing they appreciated was that they knew that once they had his attention, they were all that mattered to him. If something was bothering them, it mattered to him. When they went to visit my dad, they felt noticed, cared for, and respected. He showed them kavod.

Sometimes we wonder what we can do to improve the relationships in our lives, and our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And I believe that one concrete step is learning to show kavod to the people in our lives that matter most. That might mean taking your kids out one at a time, to give them individual attention. It might mean making sure to spend quality time just talking with your spouse, with your phones far away, every day for a few minutes. And it might mean making the time to go in person to visit a friend you haven't seen in a while, rather than catching up via text.

And the same is true with our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. If you're feeling a little further away than you would like, consider spending a few minutes with Him each day, with a quiet mincha, or a few minutes with a sefer. No phone, no distractions. Just you and Him. You might find that the investment in showing respect for that relationship will go a lot longer than you might have thought.

Yes, all of these things take time and energy, but that's exactly the point. It is the time and energy invested that shows just how much you care. Does the reading of the Nesiim take a long time? Yes it does. And that's because it is a training ground for how to invest in our most important relationships, by taking the extra time it sometimes takes to show just how much you care.

If we can learn to view others as unique and special, we can return the favor to ourselves recognizing how unique and special our own Avodah is.