Increase The Peace

By Rabbi Joshua (interveningly known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

In this week’s parsha, there are two sections that emphasize the importance of shalom, or peace. First, there is a section that deals with the laws of Sotah, the suspected adulteress, who was told by her husband not to seclude herself with a certain individual, but, goes ahead and does so anyway. The husband, suspecting his wife of committing adultery, takes her to the Kohen in the Beis Hamikdash, where she undergoes an investigative process which includes the bringing of a meal offering made from barley, tearing of her clothing and uncovering of her hair, and the drinking of a solution – the bitter waters – made from water mixed with dirt from underneath the floor of the Beis Hamikdash. In addition, God’s name is written on the scroll containing parts of the Torah section of Sotah, and dissolved into the solution. If the woman is guilty, her stomach becomes distended, her thigh falls, and, ultimately, she dies. If she is innocent, she emerges unscathed, and moreover, if she was previously childless, she will now give birth.

Why is God’s name dissolved into the solution that the Sotah drinks. Isn’t it severely prohibited by the Torah to erase God’s name? The Talmud tells us that God directs us to erase His name in order to bring peace between man and wife. Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l explained further, that God is hereby directing that his name be used to verify the truth, just as it is done when taking an oath, and, in fact, many laws of oaths for that reason are derived from Torah section on Sotah.

The other section in parshas Naso that emphasizes the importance of peace, is that of Birkas Kohanim, the priestly blessings. Those blessings end with the words “May the Lord lift His countenance to you and establish peace for you” (Bamidbar 6:26). The rabbis say that even though the priests blessed the people with God’s name, to attain both material and spiritual success, without peace these blessings have no value. Intervening between the section on Sotah and the section of the Priestly Blessings, is that of the Nazir, a person who undertakes to abstain from drinking wine and eating grape products, from cutting his hair, and from defiling himself through contact with a human corpse. Why are the laws of Nazir placed between the sections of Sotah and that of the Priestly Blessing, which, as we have seen, both emphasize the importance of peace? Although the rabbis tell us that the laws of Nazir follow the laws of Sotah in order to teach us that someone who sees the suspected adulteress in her state of disgrace, with her hair uncovered and her clothing torn, should distance himself from wine by becoming a Nazir. I would like to suggest that this placement of the laws of Nazir comes to teach us something about the importance of peace, as well.

The section of Nazir begins with the words “A man or a woman who shall set themselves apart by taking a Nazirite vow…” (Bamidbar 6:2). The Ramban says that women are referred to here to emphasize that this woman who takes the Nazirite vow is the antithesis of the Sotah. The suspected adulteress, then, is being held at least partially responsible for the process of investigation that she has to undergo. The husband, however, is not held blameless either. When the rabbis say that someone who sees the Sotah in her state of disgrace should remove himself from wine by becoming a Nazir, they were, I believe, referring to the husband. After all, the Kohanim were already prohibited from performing the Temple service after drinking wine. Why would there be a need then for any further directive? The husband, however, needs to abstain from wine in order to have better control over his emotions. The act of prohibiting his wife from secluding herself with a particular person is extreme and well may have been a result of a lack of emotional restraint. He must now abstain from wine in order to restore emotional equilibrium and the sense of peace within his home.

My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, zt”l, said that the barley offering brought by the Sotah allude to the cause of the marital breakdown. Barley, the rabbis tell us, is animal food, while wheat, which is what meal offerings are usually brought from, is food of a human being. The rabbis say that the suspected adulteress brings a barley offering because; through her seclusion she did an act of an animal. Rav Aharon, zt”l, added that barley represents compromise, the lack of which causes a marriage to fall apart. I recall a scene, in the novel of The wizard of Oz, in which the lion is given a bowl of oatmeal from breakfast and refuses to eat it, because oats are for horses, not for the king of beasts. Animals don’t compromise, but human beings should. A husband should be open to compromise, and, if his wife serves him barley instead of wheat, he should be willing to eat it. The failure of both husband and wife to compromise in their life together led to the lack of “shalom bayis,” or peace within their home, which ultimately led to the Sotah situation. The parsha of Nazir, then, directs both the husband and the wife to gain emotional control of their lives in order to restore the peace that should exist within their relationship. That is why the laws of Nazir are placed between the two parshios that teach us the importance of peace in our lives.