Thoughts
on The Parsha
Parshas
Nasso
Pieces
of Peace
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיְדַבֵּר
ה'
אֶל
משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
דַּבֵּר
אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ
אֲלֵהֶם אִישׁ אִישׁ כִּי תִשְׂטֶה
אִשְׁתּוֹ וּמָעֲלָה בוֹ מָעַל
“Hashem
spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Children of Israel and say to
them: Any man, if his wife will go astray and commit a trespass
against him....”
-Nasso
5:11-12
וְכָתַב
אֶת הָאָלֹת הָאֵלֶּה הַכֹּהֵן בַּסֵּפֶר
וּמָחָה אֶל מֵי הַמָּרִים
And
the kohen
shall
inscribe these curses on a scroll and erase it into the bitter
waters....”
-Nasso
5:23
This
week's parsha
discusses
the topic of sotah
– the
story of a woman who was specifically warned by her husband not to be
with a certain man, and yet was caught secluded with him. The Torah1
describes that when she is brought to the kohen,
there was an interesting process she had to go through. First, her
husband brings a karbon2
on
her behalf. Then, the kohen
takes
an earthenware cup filled with mayim
kedoshim (sacred
water)3
and puts dust from the ground into it. The kohen
then
uncovers the woman's head4
and gives her the karbon
to
hold5.
If at this point the sotah
has
yet to confess, the kohen
begins
to recite the following introduction before giving her the water. He
says, “If a man has not lain with you, and you have not strayed in
defilement with someone other than your husband, then you shall be
innocent from these bitter, afflictive waters. But if you have
strayed with someone other than your husband, and you have become
defiled, and a man other than your husband has lain with you...!”
The kohen
then
continues to announce, “May Hashem set you as a curse and as an
oath among your people, when Hashem makes your thigh fall and your
stomach distend....” The woman then responds, “Amen Amen.” At
this point, the kohen
inscribes these curses on a scroll and erases it into the bitter,
afflictive waters. The sotah
then
drinks the water6.
If she indeed is guilty, then her stomach becomes swollen and her
thighs collapse. However, if the waters have no affect then she is
innocent and receives a beracha
(blessing)
to
have easy childbirths in the future and produce beautiful children.7
The
obvious question on the sotah
process
is why is it necessary that the erasing of Hashem's name be included?
Certainly the same miraculous results could be achieved without this
disgrace to Hashem's name. Furthermore, the gemara8
writes that it is asur
(forbidden)
to erase Hashem's name9.
If so, why should the process include erasing Hashem's name by
putting it in the water for the sotah
to
drink?
There
was a story with Rabbi Meir who was giving a drasha
(lecture) in shul
one Shabbos Friday night, and there was a certain woman who was
attending. By the time the drasha
ended and she got back home, the Shabbos candles had already gone out
and her husband furiously asked her, “Where were you until now?”
She responded that she was listening to the shiur
that
Rabbi Meir was giving in shul.
Her husband ordered her to leave the house and warned her not to
return until she spat in the face of Rabbi Meir. In the meantime,
Eliyahu HaNavi
came to Rabbi Meir and related the event which had occurred between
this woman and her husband. He told him that ultimately, because of
Rabbi Meir's lecture, this woman was sent away from her house. In
response to Eliyahu's visit, Rabbi Meir went to the beis
medrash (study
hall). At the same time, the woman, not knowing what to do, also came
to the beis
medrash to
daven
(pray).
When Rabbi Meir saw her, he approached her and asked if she knew how
to heal his eye. She said she did not. Rabbi Meir then asked her if
she could please spit in his eye seven times to help heal it. The
woman did so and went back home after telling her husband, “You
only asked me to spit in Rabbi Meir's face once, but I did so seven
times!”
The
medrash
continues
to relate that the talmidim
(students)
who witnessed this story were very unsure of Rabbi Meir's actions.
They asked him, “How could you allow for such bizayon
(disgrace)
of the Torah by allowing this woman to spit in your face? You should
have asked us to drag her husband into the beis
medrash and
we would have whipped him and told him to be nice to his wife.”
Rabbi Meir responded, “My kavod
(honor) should by no means be greater than the honor of Hashem. So,
if Hashem allows his name to be erased in the sotah-waters
in order to bring peace between man and his wife and demonstrate that
she is indeed innocent, then certainly I too must give up my honor to
achieve peace between couples.”
This
lesson that Rabbi Meir learned from the parsha
of
sotah
is
quite profound. It is worth to give up even the kavod
of
Torah and Hashem – so to speak - in order to bring about peace in a
household.
The
medrash11
says that keeping peace is of utmost importance. As one of many
examples, the medrash
mentions
that when it came to creating the world, Hashem was very careful to
create everything in balance. On the first day of Beraishis,
Hashem created the Heavens and the Earth – something for the upper
realm and something for the lower realm. On the second day Hashem
made the rakiya
(firmament)
– for the sky. On the third day, it was earth's turn again and
Hashem gathered the waters so that dry land could appear and grow
produce. On the fourth day, Hashem created the Sun, the Moon, and the
stars. On the fifth day, Hashem created the birds, giant fish, and
insects – creatures of the Earth. On the sixth day, Hashem wanted
to create man but was unsure – so to speak – as to what to do. If
Hashem would form man from the upper realms, then it would not be
fair to Earth; and if Hashem would form man from earth alone, it
would be unfair to the Heavens. So, the medrash
explains,
Hashem formed man from both Heaven and Earth.12
Man
is challenged with bringing peace to the world. Each and every person
has the obligation by doing his part as an individual and forgo his
kavod
in
order to bring shalom
(peace)
to others. This is leaned from the parsha
of
sotah.
If even Hashem is willing to have his name erased in order to bring
peace to a couple, and through a kal
v'chomer
(fortiori argument) Rabbi Meir allowed a woman to spit in his eye
seven times, then certainly we must do whatever it takes to bring
peace to our own homes, those of others, and to the world as a whole.
At
the same time, man is challenged with another task of bringing peace;
and that is within oneself. As humans, we consist of a combination of
Heaven and Earth. Part of us is made from dust and wants nothing more
than to just lazily lie on the ground like dust. The other half of
us, our neshama,
yearns for nothing other than to become close to Hashem and kedusha
(Holiness),
where its source is. Our job is to use the material part of ourselves
in order to interact with this world, and then use the spiritual part
of us to channel the physical to be used for spiritual purposes. This
internal peace is what the parsha
of
Nazir
is all about – learning to stay away from indulging in physical
pleasures for its own sake, in order to ultimately be prepared to use
everything in this world for purposes of kedusha.
These
are the two pieces of peace described in our parsha.
The topic of Sotah
teaches us the importance of bringing peace to the world as a whole,
while the discussion of Nazir
conveys
the necessity of internal peace within the two parts – gashmiyos
and
ruchniyos
–
of every human being.
Following
the parshiyos
of
sotah
and
nazir,
Hashem commands Moshe as follows:
“Speak
to Aharon and to his sons, saying: So shall you bless the Children of
Israel, say to them: 'May Hashem bless you and guard you. May Hashem
illuminate his countenance toward you and endow you with grace. May
Hashem lift his countenance to you and establish peace for you.'”13
May
Hashem fulfill his promise of Birkas
Kohanim and
grant us the siyata
d'shmaya (Heavenly
aid) necessary to achieve internal and external peace.
1Bamidbar
5:11-29
2A
tenth-eipha of unsifted
barley flour (without any oil or frankincense).
3The
water was brought from the Kiyyor.
Rashi (5:17) explains
that the reason the water was taken from the Kiyyor for
this purpose was because the kiyyor was
what the women of b'nei Yisroel donated
their mirrors for (Shemos 38:8).
4See
Rashi (5:18) who says that
not only is her hair uncovered, but all braids must be taken out of
her hair as well.
5See
Rashi (5:18) who writes that
the reason for this was to try to tire her out so that she would
just confess before the process leads to erasing Hashem's name, as
we will soon see.
6See
Rashi 5:27 who writes that
if she refuses, we actually force her unless she admits to being
guilty.
7See
Rashi 5:28
8Makkos
22a
9The
gemara learns
it from Devarim
12:3-4
10Vayikra
Rabbah 9:9 brought in Lev
Eliyahu by Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian
(also in Devarim Rabbah 10:15).
11Vayikra
Rabbah 9:9
12Also
see Beraishis 2:7 and Rashi
there.
13Bamidbar
6:23-27
Photo Credit: Edited picture based from: http://www.futureproofingproperty.org/turn-a-vacant-land-into-profit-source/
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