Naso

The Haftarah portion for Naso (Judges 13:2-25) narrated in English by Ronald Guttman. Questions for Discussion: • Samson’s future parents, Manoach and his wife (like many women in the Hebrew Bible, she is unnamed), are visited by an angel or messenger of God. The angel first appears to Samson’s mother, who immediately recognizes him as such and tells her husband. Later, the angel appears to both of them. But the text suggests that Manoach only realizes that it is in fact an angel after the fact (Judges 13:21). • Have you ever felt that you were encountering a Divine messenger in your life? • What made you think so, and what opened you to that possibility? • Have you ever looked back after the fact and suspected that perhaps Divine intervention was involved in some way? JTS wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the Jewish Publication Society for allowing us to use their translation.