This week, we read Parasha Nasso, where we will learn about a miraculous ritual that seems very strange to a person of today, called “Parashat Sota”. The Torah describes a situation where a man suspects his wife of cheating on him and maintains an intimate relationship with another man. If The conflict between the couple does not subside, the Torah has a surprising solution to calm the spirits: the two spouses will come to the temple, where they will clarify the suspicion by a special means, by writing a text from the Torah in which the priest swears that the woman did not cheat on her husband. After that, the priest will take the piece of parchment on which he wrote and erase the text into consecrated water and the woman will drink the water – if the suspicion was justified and she indeed cheated on her husband, the water will harm her health, but if her husband suspected her for nothing, the woman will be blessed with this water.
Admittedly, in the culture we live in, we may have difficulty reading such a description. Perhaps we are able to understand that in the culture of antiquity, where a woman’s fate was usually in the hands of the man, this ritual was actually intended to protect the woman from the wrath of the suspicious man.
The Cohen, the priest, erases a text into the water, but in this text appears the explicit name of God, and it is also erased! Generally, erasing the holy name of God is strictly forbidden. This is an act that expresses disdain, God forbid. But here the priest – the Cohen, is required to erase the name of God. Why?
Rabbi Ishmael, a rabbi from the time of the Talmud says: the peace is so important that even God himself said that it was allowed to wash and erase in water, in order to put peace between a man and his wife.”
The peace between a man and his wife, is so important that for its sake, even the name of God was allowed to be erased. This is a symbolic statement that comes to illustrate to the tense couple, and perhaps rather to the suspicious and strict husband, the important value of a healthy relationship, the one in which suspicion and jealousy do not dominate, but an atmosphere of reconciliation and completion, then emotional closeness and love, prevails between the couple.
Later in the parasha we read about the “Nazir” – a person who seeks to ascend spiritually and vows to stop drinking wine for a set period of time. This is a time when man tries to reach a
spiritual balance against his instincts. One of the commentators of the Bible, Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, (philosopher and astronomer, 14th century, southern France), writes about the mitzvah of the “Nazir”, which is a direct continuation with “Sota”: at “Sota” (Deviant), the attempt is made to bring the couple to have normal relations, then in “Nazir” it is about inner peace. The person who was dealing with an internal conflict between passions and values, finds the way to achieve balance and a peaceful life through the temporary monasticism.
After that we meet with the mitzvah ‘Bircat Cohanim” in which the Cohanim bless the people of Israel, a mitzvah that is carried out to this day in the Land of Israel every day; and in other countries during holidays. The culmination of the blessing of the priests is the sentence: “The Lord will lift up his face to you and give you peace.” This is about national peace – the priests bless the entire nation to live in peace, that the various shades of the nation will become a magnificent multifaceted picture and will not be a source of tension, conflicts and divisions.
Peace spreads in circles. A person who lives in peace with his values and passions, within himself, can manage a healthy marital relationship, and also influence the wider, national circle, which will also be conducted in light of the value of peace and out of an aspiration for harmony between the various currents in the nation.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen