IV-2 Naso Holier Than Thou
Naso, Bamidbar, Numbers, Law of Sotah, Adulteress, adultery, vows, religious commitments, spirituality, vows, Holy Joe, goals, addiction, achievement, achiever, social alienation, isolation, holiness
IV-2 Naso Take the Sum
http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha-ov...
summary of Maimonides Mishnah Torah
Torah: Nr 4:21-7:89 JPS
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/jp...
Haftorah: Jdg 13:2-25 JPS
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/jp...
Aliyot:
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1. Nr 4:21-37
2. Nr 4:38-49
3. Nr 5:1-10
4. Nr 5:11-6:27
5. Nr7:1-41
6. Nr7:42-71
7. Nr 7:P72-89
OVERVIEW:
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Parasha Naso contains several distinct sections including the law of Sotah, the suspected adulteress, on sexual purity and the vow of the Nazarite. The section concerning the suspected adulteress is amplified by Rabbinic law and expounded on in Talmud and the Mishneh. According to Rabbinic ruling, a man could not accuse his wife of adultery unless he had two sets of witnesses and could identify the suspected lover, making it difficult to make any kind of charge against the wife. The Rabbis were averse to capital punishment. The ordeal of Sotah was abolished at the time of destruction of Second Temple ( ca 70 CE) being tied to temple worship.
IN FOCUS
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" The Lord spoke to Moses , saying: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If anyone, man or woman, explicitly utters a nazarite's vow, to set himself apart for the Lord..."
Nr 6:1-2 JPS
"If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips."
III-9 Mattot Nr 30:2
" You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God; for the Lord will not clear one who swears falsely by His name." V-2 Voeschenan Dt 5:11-12
HOLIER THAN THOU
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"When either a man or a woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord..." The vow of the Nazarite is fraught with complications. There are two serious internal conflicts in making the commitment, both are violations of other injunctions a positive mitzvot, to accompany the dead and a negative, not to separate oneself from the community. Moreover, a Nazir, Nazarite is called a sinner. It is a stern warning to us.
Seeking loseness to God is commendable, but using vows to become holy can become a psychological crutch. Using vows can reveal a person's internal weakness. The drug addict, the alcoholic who needs to be isolated in a rehab center and becomes dependent on follow-up support groups, not the healthy person. The healthy person does not need to go to the weekly group confessions on Thursday night or keep rules abstaining from specific substances. A healthy person says, "I can buy the chocolate, but really I don't need it or want it," and leaves it on the grocery shelf on the way to the fruit stand. A healthy person recognizes the limitations of his own abilities to develop his potential. He acknowledges the dangers of indulgence whether personal pleasures or cheap beer. The healthy person seeks the balance between the negative and the positive, knowing that life is a mixed bag, without having to draw the extremes of black and white or good versus evil. The real battle is not external but internal, in finding the balance within oneself and reconciling the two compulsions we each have between the Good and Bad Intent.
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