Parshat Nasso: Today’s messengers

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Gavin Adler
Gavin Adler (Melissa Adler)

By Gavin Adler

This week’s Haftorah is from the book of Judges. It is about the birth of Samson. In the Haftorah, we read that a man of G-d came down to the wife of a man named Manoah. Manoah and his wife did not have any children. This man of G-d told the wife that she will be pregnant soon and will be giving birth to a boy.

At first, Manoah did not believe his wife, so he told her to tell the man to return. The man of G-d came to Manoah and his wife again in a field, and repeated what he stated previously, that she would be pregnant with a baby boy. He also told them that the child would be raised as a Nazirite, devoted to God.

Manoah was so happy and offered to provide a meal for the man, but the man said he wouldn’t eat the food. Instead, Manoah should make an offering to G-d. Then Manoah realized this man was an angel of G-d. In time, the angel’s promise came true, and the woman gave birth to a child they named Samson.

I found it really interesting that an angel came down to speak with Manoah and his wife. I have always thought angels weren’t real, but I do believe that G-d is real. I also thought that even though we speak to G-d, G-d doesn’t speak back. However, throughout his portion, I have learned G-d does speak to us, but through messengers.

I believe that messengers today are different from the angels in the Bible. I think that today’s messengers are perhaps the doctors and scientists who are telling us how to stay healthy. Possibly also wise people, like parents and grandparents, who teach us how to lead our lives in positive ways, or friends in our lives who motivate us to be kind to others. Manoah and his wife listened to G-d’s messenger just as we should listen to modern day messengers. If we do so we can also teach others to spread kindness and love.

Gavin Adler is a seventh-grade student at Krieger Schechter Day School.

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