SPEAK TO THE ISRAELITES AND SAY TO

THEM: "IF ANYONE, MAN OR WOMAN, EXPLICITLY UTTERS A NAZARITE'S VOW TO SET

HIMSELF APART FOR THE LORD… THROUGHOUT THE TERM OF HIS VOW AS A NAZARITE, NO

RAZOR SHALL TOUCH HIS HEAD; IT SHALL REMAIN CONSECRATED UNTIL THE COMPLETION OF

HIS TERM AS A NAZARITE OF THE LORD, THE HAIR OF HIS HEAD BEING LEFT TO GROW

UNTRIMMED… THROUGHOUT HIS TERM AS A NAZARITE HE IS CONSECRATED TO THE LORD…

THE NAZARITE SHALL THEN SHAVE HIS CONSECRATED HAIR, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT

OF MEETING, AND TAKE THE LOCKS OF HIS CONSECRATED HAIR AND PUT THEM ON THE FIRE

THAT IS UNDER THE SACRIFICE OF WELLBEING [SHELAMIM].

(Bamidbar 6)

Growth of Hair: an Expression of Mourning or

a Partition between the Nazarite and Society

Throughout

the term of his vow as a nazirite, no razor…

Why did God command that

the nazirite not shave his head? Because

shaving beautifies one, as illustrated by Joseph: And he shaved and he

changed his clothes. Letting the hair grow long is an

expression of sorrow and mourning. Therefore the Holy One, Blessed Be He, said:

After this nazirite enjoined himself from wine in

order to distance himself from indecency, let him grow his hair long so that he

become unsightly and sad, lest the evil inclination assail him; throughout the

period of his vow to be a nazirite holy to God, they

are forbidden him as though they are sanctified objects from which one may not

derive pleasure, for he has sanctified them to the name of heaven.

(Bamidbar Rabba 10:10)

And

the nazirite shall shave – The shaving of the hair ordered here and the placing of it on the fire

which is cooking the shelamim meal forms the

most striking expression of the meaning of naziritism

just ended, and of its value only being relative to the happy life to be lived

henceforth before God. His life as a nazirite was

only to have been a preparatory provisional training. If letting the hair grow

was the sign of a sanctifying separation and withdrawal into oneself (v. 5),

the complete shaving is the expression of thenceforth ceasing this separation

and thenceforth completely re-entering the whole social life of the community. This

complete re-entry into the whole social life of the

community is not merely something permissible; it is a just mitzva,

a duty. It is a commandment to be happy and have pleasure before God, to live a

life permeated with the spirit of the shelamim.

This kind of life transcends a life of naziritism,

of renunciation and abstention, which reveals its moral strength only in

seclusion and retreat. Naziritism has no value unless

it leads to complete social integration.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Bamidbar

6:18)

Torah and

Love as Water Covering the Sea

Dalia Marx

Rabbi Yishmael

erased into the water in order to create peace between husband and wife."(Vayikra Rabbah

9:9)

The section on the sotah

which appears in our parasha raises complex questions

for the contemporary reader. Let us begin our discussion by considering one

dimension of the passage – the erasure of God's Name – the Tetragrammaton

– into the water which the sotah is given to drink.

This water is described as being pure water – mayim

tehorim (Bamidbar 5:17) as well as being water… that may induce the spell – mayim… me'arerim (5:18). We shall soon return to the water of the sotah.

First let us take note that water is a symbol of life, of blessing, of Torah,

but also of cursedness and danger. The meaning given to water depends on the

vessels from which it is poured and the interpretative tools being employed:

Rabbi

Yehoshua ben Levi said: One

who sees a river in a dream should rush to say [this verse] upon waking: I

shall turn peace towards you like a river (Isaiah

66) before another verse preempts it: when trouble comes upon you

like a river (Isaiah 59). (Berakhot 56b)

The river that a person sees in a dream can

be either a good or a bad omen; everything depends upon how the dream is

interpreted, since "All dreams follow the mouth [i.e., articulated

interpretation]." This open hermeneutic space keeps Talmudic literature

away from mythological conceptions of reality which grant symbols a much more

solid and technical meaning. In the same vein, the water given the sotah to drink can prove either her innocence or her

guilt, it can be a blessing or a curse, it can restore

peace between husband and wife or permanently wrench them apart.

The erasure of the Divine Name for the sake

of creating peace is mentioned by the midrash in the

course of a discussion of the fifteen ascents – the fifteen chapters (120-134) of Psalms that begin with the words shir

ha'ma'alot [a song of ascents]. According

to tradition, the fifteen steps that led from the women's court to the

Israelite court of the Temple corresponded to those fifteen chapters. The midrash explains the nature of the

fifteen psalms, and recounts the dangerous events that occurred when "David

dug the foundations" of the Temple:

When

David dug the foundations, the [waters of the] abyss rose up to flood the

world. David said: "Is there anyone who knows how to permit the Name to be

written on a pottery shard and thrown into the abyss in order that it be calmed?" There was no one to tell him. David said: "Anyone

who knows what to say but does not tell – let his throat be choked. Ahitofel proposed a kal

va'homer [an a

fortiori argument] of his own invention: If the Torah says that My Name,

which is written in holiness, may be erased by water in order to make peace between

man and wife – all the more so [that the Divine Name may be erased] for the wellbeing

of the entire world. He [David] told him: [Then] it is permitted. He wrote the

Name on a shard and threw it into the abyss. The [waters of] the abyss

descended sixteen thousands cubits. When he saw that the waters of the abyss

had receded greatly, he said: The higher it is, the wetter the world shall be. He

recited the fifteen ma'a lot and raised the [waters of the] abyss fifteen thousand cubits,

leaving it [at a depth of] one thousand cubits. (Sukah 53a-b)

King David (whose great-grandmother Ruth's

story we read on Shavu'ot – the festival of the

giving of the Torah) did not build the Temple because he had spilled much

blood (I Chronicles 22:8). The midrash

relates that King David had dug foundations for the Temple which he had hoped

to erect (while the version quoted here does not specify the purpose of the

foundations, the version in J. Sanhedrin 10:2 [79c] does). The text

suggests that David's religious fervor caused him to dig too deep, and so the

waters of the abyss, which had waited there from the days of Creation, rose up

and threatened to drown the world.

Desperate, David turns to the people and asks

them if anyone knows a way to grant him halakhic permission

to write the Tetragrammaton on a pottery shard and

throw it into the abyss in order to plug up the source of the waters which

threaten to flood the world and return it to chaos. Ahitofel,

the king's advisor, helps David, after the latter desperately threatens to

choke to death anyone who could aid him but does not offer help. Here Ahitofel appears as a Torah scholar who uses the hermeneutic

rule of kal va'homer,

arguing that since it is proper and fitting to erase the Holy Name in order to restore

peace between husband and wife – as is suggested by the Rabbis in connection

with the water of the sota – it must be all

the more proper and fitting to do so in order to save the entire world. David

writes the Tetragrammaton on a shard and uses it to

stop up the abyss.

David's deed is a success, and the waters

fall sixteen thousand cubits. Now he understands that he might have been too

successful – the water's recession poses its own dangers – the dangers of drought,

desiccation, and the loss of creative powers in the world. He recites the

fifteen ma'a lot (the fifteen Songs of Ascension

– after all, David is the sweet singer of Israel, identified by tradition as the

author of Psalms), and the waters which had dropped rise up fifteen thousand

cubits. This leaves them at a safe distance from the surface,

but still close enough for the inhabitants of the earth to enjoy their

beneficial effects.

The Tehom –

the abyss – is a formless entity that simultaneously symbolizes both amorphousness

and integration. The abyss symbolizes the chaos which threatens to overthrow

the social order. It symbolizes the unconscious and the pre-verbal aspects of

the world, the world before the word. In eastern cultures, the abyss is a

feminine symbol. In Jung's theory, it represents the womb, the great and warm

mother who is also dangerous; the unbound and uncircumscribed

entity. The abyss is charming and attractive; it possesses wonderful powers of

creation, but it also threatens the loss of limits. Neglect of these powers

leaves humanity and its world dry and empty, while their unchecked embrace brings

deluge and loss of control. How difficult it is to find a healthy balance…

"Water can only mean Torah" (Bava Kama 82a) – this identification of water with Torah

is quite common in the literature of the Sages. According to tradition, the

Torah – like water – was created before the creation of the world. Water and

Torah are uniquely powerful primeval entities. Just as water is a source of

purity, vitality, and fecundity, so too the experience of Torah study partakes

of purity, passion, and fecundity.

If we assume that the author and readers of

the midrash discussed above are aware of the conventional

connection between water and Torah, we can infer that water – the thirst for Torah,

for knowledge and wisdom – can be dangerous when it bursts forth without

boundaries (exactly as unbridled sexuality is destructive). These forces can

overwhelm those who deal with them and drown their world. The Talmud speaks of Rav Rahumi, who used to visit his

home and family every Yom Kippur. One year he became so enthralled by his

studies that he did not make the trip. By way of punishment, the roof over his place

of study gave way, killing him. (This incident appears amongst a series of stories about scholars who

left their homes in order to study Torah, see Ketuvot

62b-63a). Nevertheless,

if the forces of vitality – water-Torah – are removed from the world, it shall

remain desiccated and sterile.

Study and understanding – like love and the

erotic – must be kept within clear boundaries and organized within an order and

framework so that they can bubble up and overflow in a way that ensures life. (The

explicit reference to water in the sotah

passage attests to a clear awareness of the connection between legitimate and prohibited

sexual relations. It is not the act itself which is permitted or prohibited,

but rather the context in which it takes place).

Wise lovers and dedicated students must find

the correct balance – be it in connection with love or Torah. They must

remember that while on the one hand, when they draw near to the sources of

their power – "the world is moistened, and the land gives forth its fruits"

(Rashi on our midrash), on

the other hand, study and the erotic must be circumscribed in order that the

primeval forces (of nature? of the soul?) not overpower them and drown them.

Thus, it is not surprising that we celebrate

both the giving of the Torah and the earth's first fruits (the bikkurim) on the same day. We must draw near to the

sources of living water – to our Torah and to the land upon which we live –

while also exercising restraint and setting boundaries in our hearts and upon

the face of the earth. Water, when given in appropriate quantity,

refreshes the soil and makes it fertile; the waters of the Torah refresh the

human spirit when our passion for them takes into account the boundaries of

reason and the needs of the "Other."

Dr. Dalia Marx teaches at Hebrew Union College and at the Hebrew University

in Jerusalem.

The House of Rabbi Yishmael taught: No man is

Ashi said: A pure spirit.

(Sotah 3a)

…He placed this passage (regarding the sota

– 5:11-31) just after the

preceding passage, because its purpose is to remove disagreement and strife

from Israel in general and this passage [sota]

is devoted to removing strife within the household, and household peace comes

before national peace…

…and He placed this passage [dealing with

the nazirite; 6:22-27] next to the sota passage, which deals with the removal of strife

and loss from the home, because it [the nazirite

passage] is intended to remove strife and loss from within the person himself,

as these are caused by his physical desire that lead him to sin…

…and after He mentioned that which removes

conflict between a person and his own soul, and that which removes conflict and

strife from the home and from the entire nation, He mentions the passage of the

priestly blessing, which makes a wonderful comment about the matter of perfection and true peace.

(The RaLBaG's commentary, as quoted by Prof. Nehama

Leibowitz, z"l's Iyyunim Le'Sefer Bamidbar, pp. 45-46)

If the man has no redeemer to whom restitution can be made, the amount

expiation with which expiation is made on his behalf.

(Bamidbar 5:8)

If the man has no redeemer to whom restitution can be made – But is there anyone in Israel who lacks

redeemers [i.e., kinsmen]? Rather, Scripture is speaking of theft from gerim [strangers/converts].

(Bava Kama 109a)

The Lord loves the righteous (Psalms 146) – The Holy One

blessed be He said: I love those who love Me. And He

said: For I shall honor those who honor me (I Samuel 2). They love me and I love them. Why does The Holy One, Blessed Be He,

love the righteous? They have neither clan nor family. We find that the priests

are a clan and the Levites are a clan, as is written The House of Aaron,

bless the Lord, the House of the Levites, bless the Lord – if one should

desire to become a priest, he cannot; to become a Levite, he cannot. Why? Because his father was not a priest or a Levite. But should

one desire to become a tzaddik – a

righteous person – this even a gentile can become for he

belongs to no clan. And therefore the psalmist said: Those who fear the Lord, bless the

Lord – he does not say "the House of those who fear the Lord" – for those

who fear the Lord are not part of a clan; of their own volition they

volunteered and loved The Holy One, Blessed Be He, therefore The Holy One,

Blessed Be He, loves them, and therefore it says: The Lord loves the righteous…

The Lord greatly loves the converts. To what may this be compared? To a

king who possessed sheep that daily went out to the field and returned at

evening. Once a deer entered with the sheep. It went

out to pasture with them. When the sheep entered their pens, it entered with

them. When they went out to graze, it accompanied them. The king was informed:

This deer accompanies the sheep, and it grazes with them, every day it goes out

with them and returns with them. The King liked the deer, and when it went out

to the field, he appointed a qualified shepherd who made certain that no one harmed

the deer; all were careful with it. When it entered with the sheep, he [the

king] told them: Give it water; he loved it greatly. They said to him: Our

master, how many rams have you, how many lambs have you, how many goats have

you – but you warn us only regarding this deer? Every day you charge us! The

king said to them: The sheep have no choice, this is their

nature, to graze in the field every day and at eventide they come to sleep in the pen; but the deer sleep in

the wild, it is not in their nature to enter human

habitat. Shall we not be

thankful to this deer, who leaves the great and

expansive desert where all the animals live, and comes to stand in the yard? Similarly, should we not be thankful to the ger

other nations of the world, and joins us?!! Therefore He augmented his protection, admonishing Israel to be careful

not to harm them, saying: You shall love the ger and you shall not cheat the ger, etc.

(Bamidbar Rabba, Parasha 8)

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