Naso
The part of the portion that we read today contains three distinctive and very different rules.
- Any one, man or woman considered ritually impure, through skin eruption, discharge or contact with a corpse, is to leave the camp in the wilderness and stay outside it.
- Anyone, man or woman who wrongs another but then realises his fault, shall admit the wrong, pay the equivalent compensation plus a fifth more of its value to the wronged, or their close relative. If there is no close relative, then the sum goes to the priests along with the sacrifice of expiation and any voluntary gift the donor may choose to give.
- If a man suspects his wife of adultery, but there are no witnesses to bring proof, he must take his wife to the priest with an offering of grain. The Torah goes on to describe an elaborate ritual designed to prove her innocence or guilt and so clear the doubt in the husband’s mind.
The three laws, the first from the list that continues through the first half of this parashah appear at first to be quite random. One is about ritual purity. One is about criminal damage or theft. One is about personal relationships. Yet each has a common thread, that of the priesthood. The first is not simply a hygiene rule but contains within it a concept of ritual purity. Unless a person is physically whole, their sacrifice at the shrine would not be acceptable. It was not a matter of physical sickness as many of the prohibitions were natural functions. Rather, it suggests that sacrifice required a certain amount of physical preparation as well as the spiritual.
The second law really belongs in the realm of civil law, except for the fact that we are told that the wrong committed against a fellow human being is one that breaks faith with God. That is because all law, even civil law comes through revelation from God. All deviation from that law, therefore is deviation from God. The first thing is to make good the wrong to the individual person, but aht is not the end of it. There is still the matter of a a sacrifice - an apology to God is needed also before the balance of society is restored.
The third is the trickiest. Here the most intimate of relationships has been destroyed. Possibly the woman is guilty, possibly not. It doesn’t really matter once the suspicion has lodged itself in the man’s mind. While facts can be proved or refuted, doubt is something psychological that does not respond to reason or proof. When the woman is brought to the Priest she undergoes a ritual more reminiscent of magic than of justice. But like magic, it works for those who believe it. The result will either put the man’s mind at rest, or give him grounds to be rid of her.
It all seems rather obscure and irrelevant now. We have no priesthood, and are rightly suspicious of any religious person who makes claims to secular power. Yet by compartmentalising our lives so that religion raises its head (sometimes) on a Saturday morning and for the rest of the week we live without faith, we invite dangers of which we can see the effects around us. A malaise, a selfishness, a lack of happiness a lack of purpose. There is plenty of proof that people with faith are on the whole healthier and happier (though not wealthier) than the rest. Those that pray or are prayed about can be seen to live longer than others with the same symptoms, but without the religious backing.
What the Torah is advocating in our parashah is a holistic approach to life and to religion. There is no part of our lives from which our Judaism is exempt. That is as true today as it was then. It is a support, an aid, an inspiration and a comfort. So enjoy it all week long and may it help you as it has so many many others.
Sybil Sheridan