Musings on Parshas Naso-2021 - ShulCloud
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Musings on Parshas Naso-2021
Following are some of the ideas, insights and interpretations that emerge from our weekly Chumash
learning group at the Young Israel of Oceanside, Long Island. We cite sources when possible. Some of
our interpretations derive from ideas we may have seen elsewhere, possibly without attribution. Or we
may simply have forgotten the source. For this we apologize. We invite your comments, observations
and participation.
A Living Torah
Every person is special, a unique individual
Make each person feel important. “No one’s dignity should
be dependent on power or wealth or an accident of birth”
(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)
The sanctity of marriage: The jealous husband of the Sotah
wants to be with his wife but knows that unless her
innocence can be proven (through the ritual), she will remain
prohibited. Because of the critical nature of marriage in
Jewish life it was important to eliminate any doubt of infidelity
A person needs to avoid considering himself separate and
aloof—for example, more religious than or better than-- his
fellow Jews
Avoid the behavioral extremities of the Nazir and the Sotah
Clear-headedness and clear thinking are necessary to
resolve conflict
Shalom is the crowning glory of the Priestly Blessing that
both completes and makes possible the realization of all the
previous listed blessings
If one is stuck in the “wilderness” of life, one needs to do
whatever it takes to lift oneself up (naso), “keep his
shoulder to the wheel”, and then seek guidance and help
from the Priestly blessing of Yisah Hashem (God lifting his
countenance).Each of us has the potential to rise to the
position of leadership (Nasi). (My father, Rabbi Moishe
Berenholz)
Overview
Longest weekly Torah reading (176 verses)
Seven positive Mitzvahs and eleven prohibitions
Duties of descendants of Gershon and Merari (two of Levi’s
three sons)
4|Page Census of Levites
A tameh (ritually impure after encountering death) needs to
be sent outside the encampment
Illegally keeping someone’s (especially a convert’s) property
requires confession, offering of a ram, and restitution of
principal plus a 20% fine
The ordeal of the Sotah (suspected adulteress)
Nazir (one who sets himself apart)
Priestly Blessing(“Duchaning”)
N’se’em (tribal leaders) donate wagons and oxen
In a show of unity, and not to outdo each other, each tribal
leader(nasi) brings the exact same donation of silver, gold,
and animals (for offerings) for the dedication of the Altar. The
Torah chooses to devote a paragraph to each nasi to make
the point that every person is unique, even when presenting
the exact same gifts as everyone else. The communal
religious observances in which we all participate are
experienced by each of us in our own private, unique way
(my friend, Rabbi Phil Russ) .
God communicates with Moshe in the Ohel Moed from
between the two keruvim on the Ark covering
(kapores).God’s “voice” cannot be heard by the rest of us
until we prepare ourselves to listen.
Naso and Shavuos
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains the connection between the
two. (Naso is read on the Shabbos before or after Shavuos.) The
parsha’ s name literally means “to lift” or “to raise up”. One goal of
Torah and Torah study (Shavuos) is to elevate the ordinary, daily
activities in our lives to a higher level. This happens when we
make Torah values and ethics part of our very being.
Furthermore, explains the Rebbe, the use of the word Naso, in
this opening commandment to take a census, communicates the
importance of letting everyone have their spirits raised. Let each
person feel that he/she is special, being counted as a unique
individual. Make each person feel important.
Adds Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “No one’s dignity should be
dependent on power or wealth or an accident of birth……pay
4|Pagespecial attention to potentially disaffected groups…ensure that
everyone has a chance to contribute.”
Families of the Levites and Their Tasks
Gershon Kehas Merari
Responsible Curtains, Sacred Beams, pillars,
for screens, vessels sockets
Transporting hangings
Numbers 7500 8600 6200
from one
month old
Numbers 2630 2750 3200
between
thirty and (35% of all (less than a (More than half
fifty years
of age Levites) third of of Levites)
Levites)
Place of West South North
Encampment
Source: The Steinsaltz Chumash
The Ordeal of the Sotah [Suspected Adulteress]
It starts when a wife is thought to be involved with a man, and her
husband expresses his initial concerns in front of two witnesses.
Later there are additional witnesses who testify that she secluded
herself in a private place with this same man long enough for them
to have had relations, but there were no witnesses to an actual sex
act.
4|PageThe woman first was brought to the Sanhedrin. Attempts were
made to persuade the woman to confess, including multiple
suggestions to her of possible mitigating factors.
Then the woman is asked to undergo the Sotah ritual. If she
agrees, the husband brings her to the Temple (near the Nikanor
gate) where she undergoes a ritual consisting of her…
Drinking from an earthen vessel [cheap and coarse] that
contains:
o Water from the laver located near the outer Altar
o Dust from the Temple floor
o A rolled-up parchment listing the curses that she will
experience if she is found guilty and including God’s
name
[Note: the waters are referred to as “may hamorim
hameorrarim” meaning either “waters of bitterness that
causes the curse” or (according to Shadal) “waters of
bitterness that brings the guilt to light”]
Husband’s bringing an offering of flour made from barley
[coarse, indicating her abased condition] without any addition
of oil and frankincense [symbols of joy and festivity,
inappropriate for this serious ordeal]
Uncovering her hair, an act of public shaming, since she
placed herself in an undesirable position by secluding herself
with a man other than her husband.[Note: this is the source
for the rule that a married woman needs to cover her hair.]
Answering Amen! Amen! [“So, be it”; acceptance] to the
Priest’s oath that if she is found guilty her belly will swell and
her thigh (genitals?) will sag/ fall away.
The focus is on the husband’s suspicions, as suggested by
the repetitive use of the word “jealousy” (kin’ah). The entire
process starts when he becomes possessed by “a fit of jealousy
that comes over him”. The husband suspects cheating (but
has no solid evidence) and he is feeling jealous. He is not
looking to prove and/or publicize her alleged infidelity. Quite the
contrary, he wants to be with his wife but knows that unless her
innocence can be proven (through the ritual), she will remain
prohibited because remaining married to a woman who was
4|Pageostensibly unfaithful to him was prohibited then, according to Bible
scholar Professor Hanna Liss : “The ‘Law of Jealousies’
[referred to in the text] does not provide a means to convict a
woman of adultery…but a means of reuniting the couple.” The
priest needs to deal with the jealousy as much as he needs to deal
with the accusation.
The ritual provides a “cooling off “period for the husband lest he, in
a jealous rage, harm or even murder his wife. The attendant
publicity alerted the public to the serious ramifications of marital
infidelity. Ancient Middle Eastern cultures were patriarchal, and
male dominated. If the husband discovered for sure that his wife
had slept with another man, he had the legal right to kill her.
Usually, the husband just divorced his cheating wife. In the
Hammurabi Code of law, appearance or possibility of adultery was
taken very seriously. A wife caught in the act of adultery was to be
tied to her lover and thrown into the water and drowned.
By contrast, the whole Sotah ceremony can be viewed as the
Torah response to--and an effort to prevent-- crimes of passion
and mob rule that exist even today in certain societies.
The ritual is puzzling. This is the only…
Explicit example of trial by ordeal in the Torah. No other law
is dependent on this divine manifestation.
Commandment requiring God’s cooperation to work
Time that the water (which is taken from the kiyor, the Laver)
is referred to as “holy water”
Commandment requiring the erasure of God’s name (on the
rolled-up parchment), an action ordinarily forbidden and
punishable by the administration of lashes
The use of magic to determine a wife’s guilt or innocence would
not have been unusual in the ancient Near East. Biblical scholar
Jacob Milgrom speculates the Torah adopted a foreign pagan
institution to save women from public lynching, which was the
probable fate of a woman accused of being an adulteress.
Trial by ordeal was common in ancient societies. Unlike those
procedures in which a miracle is required to prove innocence, the
4|PageSotah ritual requires a miracle for her to be proven guilty! Robert Alter cites some Bible scholars who reason that the suspected woman in question is pregnant, and the husband has grounds for suspicion that he is not the father. If she “passes” the test her pregnancy will continue. But if it turns out she was unfaithful, she will miscarry, and the ordeal becomes an induced abortion. We don’t know how often this ceremony was performed. After the destruction of the Second Temple [70 C.E.], when “adulterers became numerous,” this ritual was abolished by Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai, who refused to punish wives for a crime that their husbands were committing.“ When adulterers became many, the ordeal of the bitter water stopped, for the ordeal of bitter water is performed only in a case of doubt. But now there are many who see their lovers in public.” Anticipation of God’s miraculous intervention could only be expected if the woman suspected of unfaithfulness was a rare occurrence. No matter how bizarre and incomprehensible, this symbolic ritual represents progress over the prevailing attitude toward-- and treatment of-- women. [One need not look further than modern- day treatment of women in Muslim societies.] Because of the critical nature of marriage in Jewish life it was important to eliminate any doubt of infidelity. The Torah, which encourages marriage--and fidelity in marriage-- wants the wife to have an opportunity to clear her name. Perhaps the public spectacle would serve as a deterrent for others. Some have suggested that the reason that there is no equivalent ritual for a male is because more men than women are jealous and/or suspicious of their spouses. Rav Elchanan Samet of Yeshivat Har Etzion points out the helplessness of the law in dealing with adultery because adultery typically happens in private so there are no witnesses to prove either side in any trial. Assume that both the husband and wife wish to remain together and to repair their relationship. To prevent the poisoning of a couple’s rapport resulting from jealousy and suspicion, the Torah 4|Page
substitutes Divine law for human law. The test can only
be performed when both the husband and wife agree; each of
them may prevent it if he or she does not want it. Only if she is
prepared to undergo this procedure of her own free will is it carried
out. A guilty woman would probably not want to go ahead and be
exposed as an adulteress or to be punished by God. An innocent
woman will be willing to undergo the ordeal to be reunited with her
husband and to buttress her relationship with him by having a child
together.
Our Sages deduced from the textual wording that “a person does
not commit a sin unless he becomes overcome by a spirit of
foolishness”. According to the Talmud, the Sotah ritual is only
effective if the husband himself is totally guiltless of any similar
offenses.
The Nazir…
…is one who “sets himself aside from society” by taking a vow that
requires him to observe three restrictions during the period of his
vow (usually 30 days). He must…
Not cut his hair
Abstain from any wine-based intoxicants
Avoid encountering a dead body
The reason for becoming a Nazir may be (unconsciously) to seek
expiation for deep-seated guilt over something done; or of
something being considered; or as thanksgiving for recovery from
illness or birth of a child. Public appearance with long hair is often
a sign of holiness in many cultures. Alcohol (also called “spirits”)
originally may have been believed to contain supernatural powers.
The use and abuse of wine appears early in the history of Mankind
[i.e., Noah, Lot].
Barbara Greengart notices similarities between the Nazir and the
High Priest. Neither is permitted to touch the corpse of deceased
parents. Each is described as wearing a kind of “crown”: the
Nazir’s long hair is a nezer (Hebrew word for crown); the High
Priest wears a gold headband and a special turban. Both are
prohibited from drinking wine; the Nazir always and the High Priest
when he enters the Holy Temple. It may be that on some deep
4|Pagelevel-- in order to counter his low self-esteem-- the Nazir (without
his fully realizing it) wants to be the or like the High Priest.
Rabbi B.S. Jacobson notes that the first time in the Torah that
the word Nazir appears is when Yaakov blesses his son Yosef
(“n’zir” echav) where it means “separate from his brothers.” The
Torah introduces the Nazir with the statement: “Ish oh Esha ki
yaflee lindor neder nazir”. The word “yaflee” can mean “set apart/
distinguish” (Baruch Levine) or “doing an extraordinary act” (Ibn
Ezra). The translation is of the text becomes “Man or woman who
shall act exceptionally (or “set themselves apart”) to make a
Nazarite vow…”
It is during the era of the Judges that we encounter the only two
people that were consecrated to be a Nazir, Samson, and Shmuel
the Prophet. At the completion of the vow, the Nazir needs to
perform various rituals including the bringing of a sin-offering and
the cutting of his hair in the sanctuary and placing it on the fire that
is burning the peace offering he also must bring.
The Torah is unclear as to whether the Nazir is to be praised or
criticized. Twice the text describes the Nazir as being holy, yet at
the completion of the vow he must bring an offering for having
sinned! In the Talmud, we find opposing views:
Rabbi Eliezer Hakappar reasons that his sin is for
denying himself the pleasure of wine
Rabbi Eleazer think’s that the Nazir’s sin is in defiling
himself by contact with a dead body.
Perhaps the key word is “yaflee,”; the person considers
himself separate and aloof--more religious than or
better than-- his fellow Jew.
Nechama Leibowitz cites:
Rambam who encourages a “middle of the road” approach
to enjoying life, living in Society, and NOT leading an ascetic
life in the desert and mountains. He considers the act
of becoming a Nazir a sin.
4|Page Ramban who thinks the Nazir’s sin is in forsaking the
Nazirite vow.
Solomon Astruc, in Midreshei Hatorah, who views the
Nazir’s vow as a necessary, but extreme, remedy to deal
with one’s inability to control one’s desires within the Torah
framework. The sin is this inability to discipline
oneself that gave rise to the need to become a Nazir.
Rav Moses Isserlis (cited by Rav Jacobson) who thinks
that the holiness for the Nazir is about his
future. After he has gone to the extreme of self-denial to
counter his extreme worldly indulgences, he arrives at the
golden mean for living the rest of his life.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky observes that the Nazir and the
Sotah are opposites; one takes on too many restrictions and the
other one too few. But both represent behavioral
extremities. Societal amoral, disgraceful behavior (e.g., public
figures lying, cheating, committing adultery) may be the exception
(since most people do not behave that way) but are not to be
trivialized, rationalized and accepted (“everybody is doing it”). We
need to remind ourselves of, and adhere to, Torah observance that
precludes and protects us from this repugnant, unethical way of
life.
Perhaps the Nazir experience has a universal message for us all
regarding how to deal with our internal struggles. Man has been
granted by God the free will to determine his behavior. Anyone
(like the Nazir) coping with his emotions has the wherewithal to
help himself to resolve conflict. For any person to come to a
decision about these issues he needs to be clear headed and
clear thinking. He must avoid anything that could cloud his
judgement:
Like the Nazir, he cannot be intoxicated (wine is prohibited)
Like a Nazir he should not be focusing on his superficial
good looks (lets his hair grow wild and long)
Like the Nazir, one must avoid those feelings of guilt and
negativity which can occur when encountering death
(prohibition of touching a human corpse)
4|PageThe Priestly Blessing
There is an elegant simplicity; a beauty; and a rhythmic structure
to these three pithy and majestic phrases consisting of…
Fifteen words in…
Three, five and seven-word phrases fanning
out, each containing a verb followed by a noun (God’s
name) followed by another verb…
Promising material and spiritual blessings and…
Culminating in the gift of peace.
In the Temple, the blessing was chanted by the Kohanim on a
special rostrum called a Duchan, thus giving rise to the current-
day reference to this public blessing as “duchaning”. Before
approaching the rostrum, the Kohan removed his leather
shoes/sandals just as God commanded Moses to “Remove your
shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy
ground.”
When performing the Priestly Blessing, the Kohanim stretch their
arms and hands forward. They hold their hands together palms-
down. They split their fingers so there are 5 spaces: one space
between the thumbs, a space between the thumb and first finger of
each hand, and a space between the second and third finger of
each hand. The five spaces allude to verses in Song of Songs
where God “peeks through the cracks in the wall." i.e., watches
over and protects the Jewish people even when He is hidden. Too,
the fingers form the letter Shin ()ׁש, referring to another Divine
Name, Shaddi (He who nourishes and abundantly blesses).
There are different kinds of blessings. In one, we bless God in
thanks or in preparation to perform a Mitzvah. Other blessings
emanate from God to the world at large and to the individual. A
third type is a blessing that expresses one’s good feeling toward
his fellowman.
4|PageIt is not the priests who are blessing us. Rather, the words are an
invocation to God to bless the nation of Israel. The priests’
presence is necessary to prepare the Jewish people to receive
blessings. Here is another example of enlisting Man (in this case
the Kohanim) to cooperate with God in building a partnership and
relationship with Him. The blessings are in the singular; God is
talking to each one of us individually!
Nechama Leibowitz characterizes the structure of the blessing
as three verses, each containing two verbs and the name of God
in the middle:
Yevarechacha is the blessing for material wants. It
concludes with what may be an additional blessing,
veyishmarecha (“and keep you”) an assurance that you will
not be robbed (Rashi) and that you will not use your
resources for wrong purposes (Ha’amek Davar) and that
you will not let the wealth go to your head.
Ya’ayr (“make His Face shine upon you”) is about God’s
friendship (the opposite of hester panim) and about
knowledge and moral insight. The ending verb Ve’chunekha
(“be gracious to you”) is about the good that will have been
created by others noting your Torah study and how you live
your life. It may also be another blessing needed to guard
against the hubris of religiosity.
Yeesah (“lift His countenance”) is the climax, the
achievement of material and physical blessings and
crowning them with an aura of world peace and peace
of mind—V’yasame L’cha Shalom (“And establish Peace
for you”). Rabbi Marc Angel adds that shalom connotes
wholeness. It is when an individual feels
complete, independent, secure, and unafraid. It
is this gift of shalom that both completes and makes possible
the realization of all the previous listed blessings.
4|PageThe Priestly Blessing Also May Be Viewed as a
Guide for Parents
An intriguing theory proposed by Rav David Fohrman is that the
way we ask to be treated by God (in receiving His blessings)
represents a blueprint for how we should raise our children. Each
of the Blessings represents distinct aspects of parenting, each
building on the previous one. Each is a different phase in the
child’s life and each requires a different, appropriate style of
parenting.
“Yevarechacha …veyishmarecha”. The root of the Hebrew
word “yevarechacha” in this first Blessing is “bracha”, or
blessing. According to Rav Chaim of Volozhin, a student
of the Vilna Gaon, “yevarechacha” specifically refers to an
increase in or growth of the item being blessed. The root
of the word “veyishmarecha” means to protect from external
and internal harm. It is about nurturing of a child’s growth
and protecting him/her from harm that begins in the
womb. Parents are responsible for aiding the child’s physical
and mental development and preparing him/her to become a
responsible adult. Their responsibility for “veyishmarecha”
includes limit setting and discipline; assuring their safety and
guarding them from harm.
Paanim means to exist, to have an identity, which occurs
once the child is born. The absence of the word Paanim in
the first of the Priestly Blessings supports the hypothesis that
it refers to pre-natal period of development. The following
two Blessings which include the Paanim word refer to later
stages in life.
Ya’ayr means “the break of day”—when the infant is born
and, for the first time, experiences the first light of day.
Vechunecha means “to cover, to surround”. The Ya’ayr
Blessing could mean that during the child’s early
years the parent is obligated to open the
child's eyes to the wonders of the world, to
instill curiosity (based on Sforno commentary) and
to surround the child with both these types of
experiences. The child needs to be enveloped with the
feeling that he/she is favored/loved (chayn); all the child's
4|Pageneeds and desires are fulfilled (within limits). The word
aylecha (“done to” or “done at”) points to the direct parent-
child relationship.
The Yisah Blessing may be about lifting up/elevating—the
time of life when a young adult copes with
higher matters of ethics, morality and
religion. It’s about creating a calm, peaceful home
environment (V’yasame L’cha Shalom) in which the child can
work his/her way through the questions, issues, uncertainties
and conflicts that are part of the maturing process. V’yasame
L’cha means preparing and placing before (in front of) the
child this tranquil surrounding so that he/she can continue
his/her journey to adulthood.
Three Seemingly Disparate Topics
The explanation for proximity of Nazir and Sotah, according to
Rashi, is that “whoever sees a faithless wife in her degradation
shall separate himself from wine which brings one to adultery.”
The moral teaching is if one is intoxicated, his or her chance to be
involved in illicit sex is much greater.
Robert Alter views the repetition of the phrase “to betray his
trust” as the link. Also, the “defiled” Sotah links to the defilement of
the campsite by contact with death or disease that was discussed
earlier.
Bible scholar Professor Umberto Cassuto (1883-1951)
observed that Near Eastern literature is often organized by
linguistic association, by the repetition of the same word or root, or
through a wordplay. Part of the Sotah ritual requires the Kohan to
“pharah es rosh h’aesha” (uncover and expose the women’s hair).
The same root-word pharah recurs in the Nazir, who is required to
do the exact opposite and let his locks of hair grow long (“gadayl
perah s’ar rosho"). Once the Nazir’s purification ritual is complete,
the Kohan can turn his attention to the Jewish people and recite
the Priestly Blessing.
Rav A.I. Kook sheds some light on the proximity of Sotah to the
immediately preceding laws about gifts to the priests. One who
separates himself from the nation’s spiritual leadership (by not
giving the required tithes) is likely to experience a deterioration in
4|Pagemoral values and spiritual sensitivity. Even basic human familial
values of modesty and fidelity will be undermined. If this spreads to
the nation, immorality and corruption will dominate Society.
Ultimately, it will be the Priests who will lead the return to fidelity
and trust.
We think that one common denominator in these laws is that
in each there is an isolation of an individual and in each it is
the Kohan’s responsibility as teacher/leader/social
worker/psychologist to facilitate the individual’s return to
Society. Life events sometimes require priestly intervention:
A person stricken with tzara’as must remain in isolation
outside the camp until the Kohan examines him and declares
his permissibility to return to his home.
The Sotah, who stands accused of a major crime of adultery,
is the object of derision, suspicion and gossip, which isolate
her from friends and acquaintances.
The Nazir has separated himself by taking upon himself
certain restrictions.
During the inclusive Priestly Blessing, the Kohan assures
each of us that no one is isolated from the divine blessings.
We are all recipients of God’s goodness and blessing. The
modern-day custom of reciting a prayer during the Priestly
Blessing after having a troubling dream underscores the
Kohan’s additional role as therapist/counselor.
An ideal life occurs when we march together, surrounding the
Mishkan and adhering to the Halacha. But, notes Rabbi
Jonathan Muskat, the reality is that there exist individuals who
do not live up to this ideal. They are isolated and “outside the
camp” either because they are tameh (one with tzara’as) or
because of their behavior (Sotah) or by choice (Nazir). The Kohan
is called upon to deal with and embrace these individuals.
Rav Hirsch considers the Priestly Blessing part of the Avodah.
The Torah recognizes there will be individual and communal
failures and that there will be different approaches to deal with
these failures. But “omnia vincit amor” (love conquers all). If
conflicts are dealt b’ahavah --with love, compassion and
sincerity--amicable resolutions can be reached.
Rabbi H. L. Berenholz, C.F.A.
4|PageYou can also read
