Parshat Naso 5778-To do or not to do-that’s the question.

In parshat Naso we find an interesting juxtaposition of the law of the ‘suspected adultress/Sotah and the Nazir.

a)      Ch.5

כט  זֹאת תּוֹרַת, הַקְּנָאֹת, אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׂטֶה אִשָּׁה תַּחַת אִישָׁהּ, וְנִטְמָאָה.

29 This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;

ל  אוֹ אִישׁ, אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲבֹר עָלָיו רוּחַ קִנְאָה--וְקִנֵּא אֶת-אִשְׁתּוֹ; וְהֶעֱמִיד אֶת-הָאִשָּׁה, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, וְעָשָׂה לָהּ הַכֹּהֵן, אֵת כָּל-הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת.

30 or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he be jealous over his wife; then shall he set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

לא  וְנִקָּה הָאִישׁ, מֵעָוֺן; וְהָאִשָּׁה הַהִוא, תִּשָּׂא אֶת-עֲוֺנָהּ.  {פ}

31 

b)      Ch.6

ב  דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם:  אִישׁ אוֹ-אִשָּׁה, כִּי יַפְלִא לִנְדֹּר נֶדֶר נָזִיר--לְהַזִּיר, לַיהוָה.

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When either man or woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate himself unto the LORD,

ג  מִיַּיִן וְשֵׁכָר יַזִּיר, חֹמֶץ יַיִן וְחֹמֶץ שֵׁכָר לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה; וְכָל-מִשְׁרַת עֲנָבִים לֹא יִשְׁתֶּה, וַעֲנָבִים לַחִים וִיבֵשִׁים לֹא יֹאכֵל.

3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.

ד  כֹּל, יְמֵי נִזְרוֹ:  מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר יֵעָשֶׂה מִגֶּפֶן הַיַּיִן, מֵחַרְצַנִּים וְעַד-זָג--לֹא יֹאכֵל.

4 All the days of his Naziriteship shall he eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the pressed grapes even to the grapestone.

Rashi comments on this with an axiom that distinguishes Judaism from most other religions in the world.

י יפלא means, IF HE CLEARLY UTTERS (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 22:21 and Note thereon). — Why is the section dealing with the Nazarite placed in juxtaposition to the section dealing with the סוטה? To tell you that he who has once seen a סוטה in her disgrace should abstain from wine, because it may lead to adultery (Sotah 2a).

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In order to explain the underlying message of this Rashi comment, I am reminded of  a presentation which took place a number of years ago in Fair Lawn NJ where we were living. The community had invited Rabbi Asher Wade of Ohr Sameach Jerusalem to speak on Shabbat. I had not known that he is in fact a convert and was formerly a Christian priest in Germany(he was dressed in the style of Gerer Chassidim).He related that as a priest he spent every Sunday very occupied in his religious life and for the rest of the week there was very little to do, apart from the occasional class or hospital visit. He said that what really attracted him to Judaism was the fact that the religion is a ‘doing’ religion. From the moment we awake to the moment we go to sleep we are constantly doing Mitzvot or studying or chessed etc and this is apart from Shabbat and Chagim which were real revelations for him in so many ways. Other religions such as Christianity abandoned action in favor of philosophical /theological study and very few actual ‘mitzvot’ to be performed. Judaism is a religion of action and this description made a great impression on me especially coming from a man who had lived on both sides of the ‘fence’ (so to speak).

I was reminded by Rabbi Wade’s talk of an explanation given to the Rashi above by my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Schwab zal (Germany-Gateshead UK.d.1979). He also asked as to the message that Rashi was giving us and he answered with the following insight. When a person saw the Sotah ritual, especially the negative consequences as described in our parsha, the impression that this must have made was indescribable. However the effect may wear off quickly and the whole event can become a distant memory with no lasting consequence. In order to make the event more permanent the person witnessing the event must do an action to internalize the miracle he has witnessed and the Torah recommends the adoption of nezirut. Although the nazir is only limited for 30 days, the action of becoming a nazir makes the person think about the ramifications of excessive wine consumption which may have led to the sotah situation. An action concretizes this feeling and makes it register in the person’s mind and heart.

The Rosh Yeshiva brought another example from the story of Yaakov meeting Yosef after being away from him for over 22 years. Rashi comments that when they met,

 וְאָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁהָיָה קוֹרֵא אֶת שְׁמַע

Yaakov was saying the Shema. Why did Yaakov do this at this emotional meeting? Rav Schwab explained that Yaakov felt a tremendous sense of gratitude to God at this moment for reuniting him with his son and in order to concretize this powerful emotion into an action he said the sentence of “shema yisrael’ so as to turn his feeling into an actionable event. Judaism is about many things but one of the underlying principles is that of ‘doing’ as well as thinking. This is the lesson from both Yaakov Avinu and the nazir and is a major insight to the true basis of who we are as observant and committed Jews.

This is a great follow up to the festival of Shavuot which we have just celebrated and is reflected in the commitment made at Mt Sinai by the Jewish people-na’aseh venishma-we will do and we will understand/learn. Our initial reaction to a religious feeling is to make it into an action and the Torah understood this and gave us 613 ‘actions’ to make this point an integral part of our lives. It is important to be a ‘Jew at heart’ but our Jewish world today is telling us that this is not enough to keep the next generation engaged with Jewish life and practice. The actions of Judaism become the key to future Jewish continuation and survival and this is as timely a message today as it has been for all the millennia of our existence.                                                                                                                       Rabbi Ian Shaffer             Cherry Hill NJ/SCW          5778