May 29, 2026 – Nasso

Shoulders: A Call to Share the Load

“God said to Moses: ‘Accept these offerings from them for use in the service of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the Levites according to their respective services’. Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two carts and four oxen he gave to the Gershonites, as required for their service, and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the Merarites, as required for their service — under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. But to the Kohathites he did not give any; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder.” — Numbers 7:4-9

Each of these groups are subsets within the tribe of Levi, different families within the Priestly class as a whole. All of them have been given the honor of transporting sacred objects along the journey. Yet, the Kohathites are asked to do so without the aid of oxen.

The passage provides at least two intriguing teachings. One can be readily moved by the idea that some things are so sacred they cannot be borne by beasts of burden. Only human beings can be responsible for their carriage. By extension, the verse can be interpreted to say: There are things that cannot be outsourced, tasks we cannot delegate, things that demand being done by us and no one else.

The second concept is more difficult to contend with. Why shouldn’t the Kohathites be afforded oxen? Where is the fairness in this? Yes, it’s an honor to carry the holiest of objects, but couldn’t someone else take a turn carrying them?

The Kohathites are not alone. Like too many organizations, we at TAI have become unwitting practitioners of the 80/20 rule: 20% of our membership doing 80% of the work. Truth be told, the ratio probably is closer to 90/10. Too few shoulders have been asked to carry too much of the work for too long.

This is not a call for a few heroes to step forward. It would be insufficient to spell or replace the 20% with another cohort who is asked to do too much. It is a call for everyone to help as much as you can, whenever you can, however you can. If everyone does this, we can stop demanding too much of an overburdened few and do a better job of shouldering sacred tasks together. Please reflect on how you would like to help, then reach out to Executive Director Nick Fain, Religious School Director Elissa Weinstein or me.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Wirtschafter