Rabbi's Derasha

The juxtaposition of the episode of the Sota woman, the woman suspected of adultery, and the sort of honorary Kohen, the Nazir, struck the rabbis as odd.  Why did the Torah put these two together?  The answer is that one inspires the other.  That is, if someone witnesses the disgrace of the Sota woman, the person will be moved to forbid him or herself from wine for at least 30 days.  

There are many approaches to this statement.  One says that the disgrace of the Sota woman refers not to her possible catastrophic end but rather to a point well before then.  On the way to the Beit HaMikdash, the Sota has accompaniment.  These guides try to convince the Sota to confess what has happened in private so as to avoid the catastrophic end.  Some of those people try to suggest scenarios about what happened.  “Perhaps you drank too much wine,” someone suggests.  “After all, wine often makes people lose control.”  Hearing that, an onlooker might realize that it’s time to stop drinking wine.  But this approach assumes that the inspiration really addresses only those who have a drinking problem.  But the Gemora seems to be addressing everyone.    

There is another approach, from the Sefer Akeida (YItzchok Arama, 15th century).  He says that the disgrace of the Sota refers to the full catastrophe when the Sota blows up.  The reason why a witness would swear off wine is because such a scene would chasten those who see it.  

Yet, the truth is that such a chastening effect would be automatic.  Why, then, does the person need to swear off wine? The Akeida’s answer is foundational.  He says that for someone to make a lesson stick, he or she must do something that concretizes their moment of revelation.  Only that will nail the inspiration.  We all know that inspiration fades over time.  In order to make its effect last beyond the initial epiphany, a person has to do something to lock it in.  Here, that means swearing off wine.

We just passed an inspirational Shavuot.  We had learning through the night, great learning.  As an example, Ari Tuchman taught a section in Horyot.  This is a largely neglected tractate.  Rashi is not Rashi on the inside of the page and other major medieval commentators did not write about it.  But Ari sensed in the tractate a way to approach problems bedeviling the country right now.  

If you read the program from the Gala, you would see two old friends of Ari’s who have had long careers in Washington, DC.  One worked for the Department of Defense for many years, while the other was the foreign policy advisor to a major member of Congress for years.  They have both left government service not to take big money in the private sector but because they are frustrated.  No one wants to accomplish things, to solve the problems that beset us.  So they have left public service.  

Ari told me a few months ago something which he repeated Shavuot night: If there’s a problem, you look for an answer in the Torah.  So he began to teach Horayot because it deals with issues having to do with federalism and states’ rights.  And issues of how an individual retains power even when subsumed in a larger body.  So we say sections from the Gemora and we heard from the Federalist Papers, from James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.  

It was inspirational learning.  But what does one do with such inspiration?  One nails it with a commitment going forward.  It’s time for people to search for what they want to learn and to pursue it diligently.  There is so much to choose from out there.  But one must seize it and make it one’s own.  Podcasts or Shiurim.  Doing something locally is best but it can also be online.  It just needs to be something.  One needs to choose and to commit to following through.  That’s the only thing that makes the inspiration real.