Recognizing The Good

By: By R’ Mordechai Young

In yeshiva before embarking on a trip there was always the “Kiddush Hashem speech,” how we talmidimnot only represented Hashem, but also our yeshiva. In 4th grade, we went on class trip to Albany. We got to sit in on a legislature meeting, which we viewed from our balcony seats. As I recall, it was very interesting. They were voting on something and the State Senators were calling out “Aye” (yes) and “Nay (no). I didn’t know what was going on, but I found it amusing, so I also shouted some ayes and also a few nays. I hope my voting was of help to New York (just kidding, I’m sure it had no impact). Of course, this was against the whole speech we heard before leaving, so I received a follow-up lecture: Lucky me!

In this week’s parashah, Naso, it states, “Speak to the children of Israel, any man whose wife shall go astray and commit treachery against him.” In Hebrew the word man, ish, was repeated in the pasuk (ish, ish). Rashi asks why the word “ish” is repeated, and he answers that it is to teach us that when a woman rebels, she rebels against two: Ish Milchama (Hashem) above and her husband. So, it states “ish” twice for the sin against the two, Hashem and her husband.

The mitzvos in the Torah can be divided up between mitzvos bein Adam l’Makom, between us and Hashem, like Shabbos, mezuzah, kashrus. The other mitzvos are bein Adam l’chaveiro, between people, such as not speaking lashon ha’ra, not stealing, etc. Every sin between people is also a sin against Hashem who commanded us to keep the Torah. So, in this case, if a married lady is suspected of not being loyal, her sin is against her husband and against Hashem. The question is: If, as we mentioned, every sin between people is also a sin against Hashem, why then does the Torah doubly mention Hashem in this aveirah?

I was wondering about this and saw this question in the sefer Maleches Hakodesh, it quotes an answer byToldos Yitzchak with regard to sins between people, that if the one sinned against a person, and the other forgives, that suffices. As opposed to a rebellious wife, if she actually sinned (and it’s not just a suspicion), if the husband forgives her, it’s not acceptable and the sin remains. So, here is a unique situation in that the sin stays between man and Hashem.

In the sefer Keser Shem Tov, this answer was questioned because by the sin of ribis (not to take interest on loans), if the borrower forgives the lender on the interest, the sin stays. This would show our case is not unique, that a sin, even if forgiven, remains. Therefore, our original question returns: Why did the Torah state “ish” twice in the sin of the Sotah? The sefer Keser Shem Tov gave his own answer, based on the Gemara Kiddushin that if chas v’shalom, their sin resulted in a baby, it is troubling to Hashem to make a child out of sin.

I was thinking in Gemara Sotah 2a, Rav Yehuda quoted his Rebbi Rav that 40 days before the formation of the embryo a bas kol (voice from Shamayim) calls out that the daughter of Ploni will marry Ploni (the daughter of a certain man will marry a certain man). Hashem is the ultimate shadchan, so it’s like a “personal sin” against Hashem in our case above. We see in sefer Bereishis after the sin of the forbidden fruit, Adam HaRishon explained his sin was “because of the woman you gave me.” Rashi writes that Hashem was insulted and called Adam kafui tovah, he rejected the good that Hashem provided him, namely his wife. We see Hashem wants us to recognize His goodness and takes a personal stake in it. When a person went to Hillel and asked him to teach him Torah on one foot, Hillel stated that what is hateful to you, don’t do to others. He said that was a summary of the Torah and the rest was commentary, now go and learn. The mitzvah of v’ahavta lereiacha kamocha, loving your fellow like yourself, is of prime importance. The main way to fulfill the mitzvah of loving one’s fellow as oneself is via one’s spouse, the person closest to you who was selected for you by Hashem. So perhaps that is why it states “ish” twice in this example of a sin between a wife and her husband, to highlight its importance since Hashem was the shadchan, it was a sin against both the husband and Hashem.

It’s interesting that the Gemara Sotah 27a quotes the pasuk and explains Ish, Ish in a different way than Rashi brought. It quoted a baraisa asking why it states “ish” twice. It answered that it includes the wife of a deaf-mute and the wife of a man who went overseas or was imprisoned to teach us that the beis din gives the wife the warning for the husband (who can’t himself).

Why didn’t Rashi quote this Gemara?

It could be that this is not the classic case in which the husband gives a warning to his wife to not seclude herself with a different man, so Rashi stuck to the regular case, which is all-inclusive.

We should be careful in dealing with others since sinning against our fellow man is also a sin against Hashem.

Have a great Shabbos! 

R’ Mordechai Young can be reached for comments at [email protected].