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Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 1:02
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To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Naso,
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By
Rabbi Joshua (supportively known as The Hoffman) Hoffman
In memory of Rabbi Joseph Wanefsky, zt"l, whose fifth
yohrzeit occurred this past Thursday, the twenty- fourth of Iyyar.
In parshas Naso, the marching formation of the Jewish people
is set in place with the completion of the work assignments given to the tribe
of Levi. The nation is about to embark on its journey to the Holy Land, where
its task will be to set up a society based on the principles of holiness, and
thereby act as the bearers of God's name in this world. Before embarking on this
journey, however, they are warned of various obstacles that may impede their
progress in this direction. Among them is the breakdown of family life, as
represented by the case of the sotah, or the wayward woman, whose husband has
warned her not be alone with a certain man, but still goes ahead and does
just that. Suspicion of her infidelity thus aroused, she must go through a
series of tests that will determine whether or not she actually engaged in
illicit relations with this man. Following the section on the sotah, we are told
of the nazir, the man who separates himself from wine, and refrains from cutting
his hair and from defiling himself through contact with a corpse, even for a
funeral. Following the section concerning the nazir, the kohanim are directed to
bless the Jewish nation with the ‘birchas kohanim,’ or priestly blessing, by
which they actually channel God's blessing to them. Rashi, citing the Talmud
(Sotah, 2a), writes that the section on nazir follows that of sotah in order to
teach us that if someone sees the sotah in her degraded state, when she is being
tested in the Temple, he should separate himself from wine. Rabbi Avraham Ibn
Ezra writes that the section of the blessing of the kohanim follows that of
nazir because the nazir, after he has gone through the process prescribed in the
Torah, becomes holy, just as the kohein who blesses the nation is holy. There
thus seems to be a progression, from the section on the sotah to that of the
nazir to that of priestly blessings. There is, however, an alternative approach
to the juxtaposition of these three sections, as suggested by Rabbi Joseph
Wanefsky, zt"l, in his work, From the Shadow of Insight. I would like to present
this approach and then modify it, based on a number of considerations that I
will elaborate on.
Rabbi Wanefsky explained that the Torah is
offering us two alternate approaches that can be taken when over-confidence and
spiritual complacency threaten the breakdown of the family unit, on a small
scale, and of Torah society, on a larger plane. One approach is that of the
nazir, who, as Rabbi Wanefsky puts it, "abstains from wine, from material
splendor, from material abundance, from material affluence.' This is a solution,
continues Rabbi Wanefsky, that leads to a monastic life. The other approach,
however, is that of the kohein, as typified by the blessings he channels to the
people. The kohein, through his spiritual influence, is involved in creating a
society within all of the problems and conflicts that may arise as a result of
material abundance and economic affluence. The kohein acts as a dominant force
within that society, and endeavors to uplift it, rather than escape it. He is
not the nazir who runs away to seek God in the desert, the forest or the
mountaintop, but, rather the person who acts within the context of human
problems and strife, and seeks to develop the cultural climate within the
society that he lives in.
Rabbi Wanefsky in his approach to the
convergence of these three sections of the Torah, directs our attention to the
negative effect that the process that a nazir undergoes may have on the nazir
himself and on society at large. There are, however, positive aspects to this
process, as well. The prophet Amos (2:11) told the people that God had raised up
prophets from their children and nazirs from their lads. Rav Yosef Dov
Soloveitchik, zt"l, explained that at one point in Jewish history, young men
were trained to become prophets by first undergoing the process of being a
nazir. Moreover, the nazir is referred to as being holy, at least at the end of
the successful fulfillment of his vow. Thus, there are also positive elements in
becoming a nazir. I would, therefore, like to present a somewhat different
approach to the connection of these three sections in parshas Naso, keeping in
mind Rabbi Wanefsky's critical attitude to the path of the nazir, but, at the
same time , bearing in mind the fact that he is referred to in the Torah
as being 'kadosh,' or holy (note : we have dealt, in past
years, with the dispute among the commentators regarding the status of ‘kadosh’
attributed to the nazir. Our remarks here are of a more general nature, without
going into the various opinions found in the Talmud and among the classical
commentators on this issue).
As we noted, the Talmud says that
the reason the section of nazir is written after the section of sotah is to
teach us that a person who sees the sotah in her degraded state should separate
himself from wine. One approach for understanding the prescription is that it
was divine providence which brought about this person's presence in the Temple
at the time of the sotah's ordeal, which was in order to bring him to a
realization that there are forces within him which are drawing him to illicit
behavior, and that he needs to control them. Becoming a nazir is a way of
achieving this. However, realizing this, a person, if left to his own devices,
may develop a tendency to go to extremes and completely isolate himself from
society and from all forms of physical pleasure. By becoming a nazir, he
is able to control this tendency while at the same time exercise control
over the forces within him that were threatening to lead him to sin. Rabbi
Avrohom Korman, in his work "HaParsha LeDoroseiha,' writes that, actually, the
restrictions placed upon the nazir are quite limited. There are only three areas
in which he needs to exercise extra caution : 1) he must abstain from wine and
wine products ; 2) he must avoid defiling himself, even to bury a close relative
; and 3) he must let his hair grow, not taking a haircut and not shaving his
beard for the duration of his term as a nazir. In other religions, people who
decide to live a monastic life are far more restricted than the nazir is. Thus,
by channeling his desire to totally escape the world into a controlled system in
which only a few things are restricted for him, he is actually able to use this
tendency to elevate himself.
Rabbi Moshe Alshich, in fact, writes
in his commentary that the reason the section of nazir is placed next to that of
the birchas kohanim - the priestly blessings - is to indicate that any person
has the capacity to elevate himself to great spiritual heights and become
similar to a kohein, even though he cannot, technically, deliver the blessings
that the kohein does, or perform the same services in the Temple. While the
Rambam, in his laws of Shemittah and Yovel, says that anyone can be like a
member of the tribe of Levi, by dedicating himself to the service of God, the
Alshich goes further and says that anyone can be on the level of a kohein, as
well. This approach to the connection of these sections of the Torah reflects
the explanation of Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra that we mentioned, namely, that the
nazir is similar to the kohein in that he is referred to in the Torah as
'kadosh' - holy. In this way, he can help lead the people toward their ultimate
goal of being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, which, as we have often
mentioned in the name of Rav Kook, entails the realization of holiness within
the context of a functioning nation. This is, in fact, what Rabbi Wanefsky
describes as the task of the kohein. According to his approach, however,
becoming a nazir is in contrast to this task, while, as we have tried to show,
becoming a nazir can actually guide a person, once he has successfully completed
his nazirite term, to become the kind of leader that the kohein is supposed to
serve as.
Please
address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following
address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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