By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
In Parshas Naso, the topic of nazir immediately follows that of the sotah. The sotah is a woman whose husband suspects her of adultery. The Torah prescribes a miraculous test that establishes her innocence and enables the couple to be reunited. We next learn about the vow of nezirus, which prohibits the nazir from drinking wine. Chazal tell us that by placing the two sections together, the Torah hints to us that one who witnesses the fate of a guilty sotah should take upon himself a vow to become a nazir. Exposure to immorality weakens one’s resolve against it, and wine causes one to lose self-control.
But this explanation begs the question. The person who witnessed the sotah’s disgrace also saw the miraculous punishment that befell her. Shouldn’t such a person be even more encouraged to refrain from arayos?
Herein lies a great lesson. Perhaps we can explain it with a parable. In times gone by, there were traveling maggidim who visited towns and lectured the people to improve their ways. Let us imagine that one such maggid arrived in a village on erev Shabbos. He was invited to speak, but was informed that there was no shul or gathering place in the village large enough to hold all of the townsfolk together. The drasha would have to take place in the open field outside of town on Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning, just as the drasha was about to begin, a man who had been away for Shabbos rode into town on his horse. Realizing that he would not have time to stable his horse before the maggid began, he tied it to a tree at the back of the crowd and sat down to listen. The drasha was inspiring, peppered with jokes, stories and parables. All the people in attendance were genuinely uplifted. But what about the horse? He was there too. Did he, too, do teshuvah?
It is a laughable question. Of course the horse learned nothing.
And so it is with one who witnesses the disgrace of the sotah. As human beings, we are a mix of the physical and the spiritual. The intellect is a function of the neshama. It sees the punishment and is impressed with the severity of arayos and the need to distance oneself. But the body is a creature of the earth, a simple animal that does not understand spiritual messages. It is the horse. It is pulled toward its desires, not away from them.
As we enter the summer, we must keep this message in mind. No matter how strong our hashkafos are, we can still struggle with the challenges of tznius that exist in the immodest society around us. Strengthening ourselves with inspiration does not always help, because this is not the language of the body. We must find ways to avoid these tests altogether and protect ourselves, understanding this partnership between our bodies and our souls.
