We can raise our heads, only with the study of the Torah

Pearls (peninim) always indicate a beginning, as it is said (Ruth 4,7): “This was the case in Israel before.”

It is difficult to understand:

What does “the beginning” mean when referring to the Torah and the mitzvot, and what evidence does this verse provide that it refers to something that happened before?

It can be understood by explaining First, the reason for what was established by the Sages to read the Parasha Bemidbar before the Shavuot festival and the Naso parasha after the festival (Tour Ora'h Haim

428). Indeed, during the holiday of Shavuot, the day of the giving of the Torah, everyone studies more and performs more mitzvot. When the holiday ends, everyone normally returns to their work and other activities, and despite having made the decision to commit to improving and studying more throughout the year, worries have initially caused them to forget, and then have not allowed them to carry out the commitments they made. Sometimes, they lose hope and say, “I can’t accomplish everything I have set out to do.”

This is the reason why the Sages have established that Parasha Naso be read immediately after the festival, since it begins with “Lift your head”, to show us that although a man is obligated to provide for himself and his family, and even if he does not manage to fulfill all of the commitments made during the Shavuot holiday, he should not become discouraged, and much less allow himself to be invaded by bad thoughts such as: "Because you can't fulfill everything

that you have set for yourself, then also forget about the little that you can do.” Rather, you should cast out the yietzer hara (evil instinct) from within you and do everything within your power, even if it is not much.

The Gemara teaches us (Berachot 5.b): “He who does much and He who does little are equal, provided that they direct their hearts to Heaven.”

But by despairing and doing absolutely nothing, it would have been preferable not to have made any commitment, since on the contrary, having fulfilled even a small part of the commitment made would have been credited to him.

That is why the Torah said: “Lift your head.” Even if man has not been able to fulfill all his commitments, he should not be saddened, nor should he allow himself to be seduced by the instinct of evil. He should rise up and do what is within his power.

And how can it rise?

Setting times for the study of the Torah. Through the Torah you will have the merit to remove bad thoughts, as our Sages have said (T. Kidushim 30b): “I have created the evil thoughts, and I created the Torah as an antidote.”

That is why it is written: “Lift up the heads of the children of Gershon” the word Gershon refers to gerushin (to cast out), the Torah "casts out" evil thoughts and the moment a person studies Torah immediately the evil instinct is cast out!

The Sages have also said in the Haggadah (Berachot 5a): “Whoever studies Torah, harm is removed from him.”

It is true that a man must earn his living and cannot study all day long. But Our Teachers have told (Chagigah 5b) the story of Rabbi Eidi, the father of Rabbi Yaakov,

He was going from his home to the Bet Hamidrash (Torah school), but the road was very long, and he arrived at Rabbi Yochanan's Beit Hamidrash after three months of travel. Rabbi Yochanan said to him: “Whoever studies the Torah even one day a year, it is counted as if he had studied it for the entire year.”

Therefore, if a person does not have the opportunity to study throughout the day, he should strive to do so, even if it is only for a few hours in the morning or at night. This way, he will be able to fulfill his Shavuot commitments, and his soul will be elevated, as stated above. “raise your head”, for it is through the study of the Torah that a man's head is elevated!

But if he does not study immediately after the holiday, failing to fulfill what he decided during it, the Torah will not remain in him, and even if he studies after a certain time, because the time of the giving of the Torah has passed

and that has not fulfilled what was promised, will be studied and

will forget.

The Sages have said (Sifri Devarim 48): ”If a man hears a word of Torah and preserves it, just as he preserves the first words, he will preserve the

It is written in the Megillat Hassidim: “If you abandon Me for one day, I will abandon you for two days” (Yierushalmi Berachot 9.5).

The Torah in relation to the verse

“Lift up the heads of the children of Gershon” has made another allusion: although a person cannot begin a new commitment to serving Hashem, at least he can add something to what he was already doing.

If you were used to going to synagogue only on Sundays or Shabbat, you would start going every day or at least twice a week, and so on.

The Midrash Says (Vayikra Rabbah 25:1): “If a man has committed a sin, what should he do to live? If he was in the habit of reading one page of Gemara, let him read two. If he was in the habit of reading one chapter of Mishnah, let him read two.” This is the reason why it is said “equally” (gam): The word gam indicates that "something is added," and since you cannot start your commitment from scratch, at least make an effort to add. In effect,

Man must begin, immediately after the party, to fulfill all that he has committed to, because he will experience true elevation if he assumes, during the party, the commitment

to increase his Torah and his good deeds.But even though it is only a beginning, because he began to study Torah at the beginning of the year, the Scriptures reckon it as if he had studied the whole year, and he will finish studying the whole year. But if he does not mark a beginning and does not make any resolutions during the festival, he will never be able to keep his Torah, and even if he studies, because he has not marked a beginning and has not made any resolutions

during the festival, he will not keep his Torah.

So because the Naso parasha is close to the time of the giving of the Torah, all the great principles of the Torah depend on it.

The Sages who counted the letters of the Torah discovered that this Parasha is the longest in the Torah, to show us that this Parasha is essential and that we begin from it.

Anyone who takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah during the holiday of Shavuot and immediately afterward studies it, even if only for a brief moment, is promised that his Torah will be

will keep!