The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Nasso

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion the idea of Sotah is discussed (Chapter 5, Verses 11 through 31). A Sotah is a woman who was hidden together with another man other then her husband after her husband zealously warned her saying “do not be alone with so-and-so”. The Sotah is brought to the Kohen in the Beis Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) and there is a whole procedure (the Kohen offers her the option of confessing to having relations with another man, if she still denies the claim the Kohen prepares a drink with the name of Hashem in it and gives it to her to drink If she was guilty she would die and if she was innocent she would gain great blessings). This is the case even if the woman did not actually sin with the other man, as long as she was hidden with another man she is brought to the Beis Hamikdash.

2. Now we know that a man and a woman (his wife) down here in this world are a manifestation of their sources in the higher worlds. The ultimate source from where man and woman come from is Hashem and the Jewish people, Hashem is the “man” (the giver) and the Jewish people are the “woman” (the receiver).

This being the case, we must find out how all the details of the Sotah case (a man who zealously told his wife not to be hidden with another man and she was hidden and is brought to the Beis Hamikdash) applies to Hashem and the Jewish people.

3. The Rebbe now begins to explain how the case of the Sotah applies to Hashem and the Jewish people:

The zealousness of Hashem to the Jewish people is when Hashem tells the Jewish people not to have any other G-d other then Him (which is the second commandment in the Ten Commandments). This is the same as the husband who tells his wife not to be hidden with another man.

Question: In the case of a regular man and woman the husband says “do not hide with so-and-so”. However to Hashem nothing is hidden, so how do the details of the Sotah case match up with their original source of Hashem and the Jewish people?

Answer: Hashem says about an egotistical and conceited person that “Me and him cannot be found in the same place together” (see Tractate Sotah, Page 5, Side 1). So this is how a person can hide himself from Hashem, if he is an egotistical person Hashem (so to speak) is not in the same place as he is and Hashem does not see him.

4. The Rebbe now shows how a law regarding the Sotah case fits perfectly in the case of Hashem and the Jewish people

The Babylonian Talmud says that a husband can go back on his words of zealousness as long as the woman did not hide yet. If the husband said “don’t be alone with so-and-so” he can take back his words, and therefore take away the problem of his wife being alone with another man, as long she was not alone with that man yet. (See Tractate Sotah, Page 25, Side 1).

The reasoning is simple: Before the woman is alone with the other man, the only problem for her to be with that man is that the husband told her not to be with him, therefore the husband has the power to take this problem away. However after she is alone with that specific man the Torah says she is now a “Sotah” and the husband is not in control anymore and therefore cannot take back his words of zealousness.

The Jerusalemite Talmud says agrees to the Babylonian Talmud that in a case where the only problem of the woman being alone with that man is her husbands words, for example if the husband said “do not be alone with your father”, then the husband can take back his words. However if it is a case where the woman shouldn’t be alone with that man anyways then the husband cannot take back his words of zealousness.

And both the Babylonian and Jerusalemite Talmuds also agree that once the holy words which were written on the parchment (by the Kohen, to be ripped up and placed in the water that the woman is supposed to drink) were erased, there is no turning back, the husband cannot take back his words.

Now let’s apply this to Hashem and the Jewish people (the sources of a man and his wife):

The truth is that there is no place devoid of Hashem’s presence. When we say that when a person is egotistical he is hiding himself from Hashem and Hashem so to speak is not there, that is only because Hashem decided that He hates haughtiness. But since the only issue here is Hashem’s zealousness, comparable to the Sotah case when it is only the husband’s zealousness, Hashem can always forgive us, comparable to the Sotah case where the husband can go back on his words.

Now let’s apply the Talmud’s law that “as long as the holy words written on the parchment have not been erased the husband can go back on his words, however once the holy words written on the parchment were erased the husband cannot go back on his words”:

When one erases words from the parchment he is separating the letters (the ink) from the parchment. This shows us that really even before he separated the letters from the parchment they were two different things. However this is not the case with engraved letters. Engraved letters cannot be removed from the thing they are engraved in (for example stone) unless you remove some of the stone also.

So this is what the Talmud is telling us: “As long as the holy words written on the parchment were not erased” means that as long as a Jew is one with Torah (just like engraved letters), then even if he hides from Hashem for a little while by feeling that he is a self sustaining being, Hashem forgives him. “However if the holy words written on the parchment have been erased the husband cannot go back on his words” means that if the Jew is separate from the Torah, the Torah and him were 2 different things, then it is possible that his felling of being a self sustaining person has totally permeated him and he now has the law of a Sotah woman who must bring an offering which was the poorest kind of offering which means that he must realize that he is poor in understanding, even as poor as an animals understanding.

And when the Jew does to Tshuva (returns to Hashem) and nullifies himself to Hashem, Hashem promises that he will be on a greater level then he was before, just like the Sotah woman who gained from the drink if she was innocent, he will be on a level “where even perfect Tzadikim cannot stand” (see Tractate Brochos, Page 34, Side 2).

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Chelek Daled.