parshat Naso

In this week's Torah reading of "Naso", we finish the censuses. For military service, the Torah counts from age 20, and for Temple service, the Torah counts from age 30. Why is there a difference?

In this week's Torah reading, we finish the censuses. For military service, the Torah counts from age 20, and for Temple service, from age 30. Why is there a difference?

Weekly Shiur of Rav Zalman Melamed for the weekly portion "Naso"

Weekly Shiur of Rav Jonathan Sacks for the weekly portion "naso"

The gemara (Shabbat 88a) learns from the pasuk, “They stood at the bottom of the mountain” (Shemot 19:17) that He held the mountain over them like a tub, threatening them that if they did not accept the Torah, “There would be your grave.” So it turns out that after Bnei Yisrael willingly accepted upon themselves, before the Torah was given, to keep all the words of the Torah, they still needed to be threatened. Many commentaries wonder about the need for this, and several answers have been given.