PARSHAS NASO נשא SELECTIONS
Sins of a Person
במדבר ה,ו: דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְנֵּי יִשְרָּאֵּל אִיש אוֹ-אִשָּה כִי יַּעֲשוּ מִכָּל-חַטֹּאת הָּאָּדָּם לִמְעֹל מַּעַּל בַּ ה' וְאָּשְמָּה הַּנֶפֶש הַּהִוא :
Baal HaTurim: explains our verse and following verses homiletically, starting with an explanation of the juxtaposition of our verse after the command to send a leper, a body-fluid defiled person, and a corpse-defiled person out of different levels of the bnei Yisrael's encampment. "Chatos hoADOM" refers to the sins of ADOM haRishon, primary man. He, his wife, and the serpent sinned with the tree of knowledge, and all three were punished. The Medrash Rabbah Bereshis 20:4 says that the snake was afflicted with leprosy. The Gemara (Eiruvin 100b) says that the woman was afflicted with body-fluid discharge called "zivoh," and mankind was punished with death. In the same order as their punishments are mentioned in the Torah, we also find that lepers, body-fluid-defiled people, and corpse-defiled people are sent out of encampments. The Torah mentions sending out male and female, just as Adom and Chavah were sent out of Gan Eden. In the following chapter the Torah deals with the wayward wife, reminiscent of the snake's having relations with Chavah (see Gemara Shabbos 146a). Just as the unfaithful wife's thigh falls away (5,21), so too the snake lost its legs (Bereshis 3,14, M.R. 20:5). The following chapter deals with the "nazir," who vows to abstain from grapes and grape derivatives, because the fruit Adom ate was fruit of the grapevine (M.R. 15:7).
