Nasso

Parashat Nasso  

V’Nizre’a Zara 

Parashat Naso discusses the Sotah - the married woman who may have been unfaithful to her husband. She is brought to the Beis Hamikdash and made to drink the cursed waters. If she is guilty she dies a grisly death. If she is innocent she is blessed: “v’nizre’a zara” - she will bear children, according to Rabbi Akiva, or give birth more easily etc. according to Rabbi Yishmael. 

Many ask why the woman who was found innocent is blessed by the Torah. Though she may not have actually committed adultery, she ignored her husband’s warnings and secluded herself with another man whom her husband suspects of wrongdoing! Surely her behavior is still deserving of censure, not reward. 

Ru’ach Shtut 

Chazal state that “adulterers do not sin unless a spirit of foolishness (a “ru’ach shtut”) overcomes them. This ru’ach shtut is pure idiocy. An adulterer may believe that he will experience something satisfying but it is nothing more than dimyon - a mirage. 

Parashat Naso also discusses the Nazir - the man who takes a vow of holiness and abstinence. Rather than inculcate a ru’ach shtut, the Nazir enjoys a “ru’ach chochma - a spirit of wisdom”. 

A person has two driving forces, his heart and his intellect. An adulterer follows his heart. A nazir follows his intellect. 

Returning to our question. The woman who secluded herself with a man can easily, by that stage, be overwhelmed by the ru’ach shtut and commit a grievous sin. If she overcomes it we can only assume that she was, at that moment, accosted by a ru’ach chochma” which helped her overcome the trial. 

This is an enormous achievement. Overcoming a trial at its very apex is extraordinarily difficult. This is why she is deserving of reward. 

A person who was never tested and never sinned, can indeed be satisfied. But his achievements are limited. One who was tested and managed to overcome the test is far greater, and his reward will reflect that. This was the case with the “innocent” Sotah. 

May Hashem grant us the strength to overcome our trials and be doubly blessed by Him. 

Shabbat Shalom! 

Rabbi Gad Bouskila