The Metaphorical Meaning of Parshat Sotah

Today as I was learning Parshat Naso as I was coming home from work on the train. I was thinking about the connection between the halakhot of Sotah and Nazir that appear one after the other. I was suddenly thunderstruck with yet another brilliant insight into the deeper, if not the deepest, meanings of the Torah. Naturally, when this happens to me I try and add my insight to the blogosphere. Fortunately for the blogosphere - my children are taking along time to fall asleep and I am afforded the opportunity to write a blog post as I dutifully sit outside their doorway.

It is practically a literary fact that the Sotah ritual is also a metaphor for the relationship between HaShem and B'nei Israel. For example, after the חטא עגל, Moshe Rabbeinu ground up the עגל הזהב into water and forced B'nei Israel to drink the mixture. This mixture reminds us of the Sotah potion which contains water, dirt from the floor of the Ohel Moed, and ink from the Sotah שבועה. When B'nei Israel worshipped the עגל הזהב they were unfaithful to HaShem they were being compared to a Sotah and her husband. There are numerous imageries in the Tanakh comparing B'nei Israel to an unfaithful wife because they have abandoned HaShem and the Torah u'Mitzvot. (Sefer Hoshea leaps to mind and I am sure that there are other examples.)

This comparison between the Sotah ritual and the Egel is the basis for my brilliant insight into Parshat Naso - the burning question on everyone's mind is: Why is the Sotah ritual located in Parshat Naso?! It would make much more sense if it was found in Parshat Ki Tisa after the עגל הזהב! The answer to this burning question is: B'nei Israel are being warned at the beginning of their journey to conquer Eretz Yisrael. This is going to be a difficult and challenging journey and they will need every bit of emunah that they can muster so that they can succeed. The Sotah ritual is a warning to B'nei Israel of what might happen to them if the do not follow HaShem and Torah u'Mitzvot.

Unfortunately, we all know that this journey was actually a disaster and that the vast majority of this generation of B'nei Israel were not allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael. In fact, the ten bad spies die in a horrible plague (another support for my brilliant insight) similar to the punishment for the Sotah. However, in Parshat Naso everything is still going well and B'nei Israel are dutifuly following HaShem's commands (see BaMidbar 5:4). And we can clearly see that the halakhot of the Sotah were taught to B'nei Israel at the beginning of their journey to Eretz Israel to warn them not to stray from HaShem's commands.

Photo Credit - Ron Almog http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronalmog/302026953

Hermeneutics - The Garden of Interpretation

Words I Learned in College

Hermeneutics is one of my two favorite words that I learned in college (the other one is: polemic). I love these words because of the amount of time that I invested in order to fully understand them - each word took me at least six months to master. As a reward for my efforts, they have stayed with me like a pair of faithful dogs ever since.

Hermeneutics basically means the art and methodology of interpretation - in the Beit Midrash we generally refer to the same concept as Parshanut. (Actually, I discovered that the Princeton Dictionary of Fancy Stuff defines hermeneutics as the theology of interpreting texts. That definition is also a good translation of Parshanut.) Hermeneutics/Parshanut should be part of your derech ha’limmud - your methodology of learning Torah.

Hermeneutics in Action

Chazal had many different forms of Parshanut of the Torah. One of these forms was: how to derive halakhot from pesukim. An example of this form of Parshanut is the 13 Middot of R. Yishmael; which can be found in a siddur before Psukei D’Zimrah. ArtScroll even translates the word, “Middot”, as hermeneutical principles. (NOTE - I am not guaranteeing how often I will actually agree with the ArtScroll Publishing Company in the future.)

One example of these 13 Middot is the gezeirah shaveh. If the same word or phrase appears in two places, then the halakhot from one mitzvah can be applied to the other and vice versa. A common example of a gezeirah shaveh is the link between Pesach and Sukkot. There is a mitzvah to make Kiddush and eat Matzah on the first night of Pesach. So too (because of this gezeirah shaveh), there is a mitzvah to make Kiddush and eat in the Sukkah on the first night of Sukkot. This is an example of how Chazal learned halakhot from pesukim using Parshanut as a methodology of hermeneutics. In later posts we will explore other forms of Chazal’s hermeneutics, including homiletical interpretation (Midrash) and mystical interpretation (Kabbalah/Sod).