Shavuot and Moshiach

This week, Parashat Nasso (Numbers 4:21–7:89) is read the day after Shavuot. Of course, this gives the portion special significance for the Jewish community around the world. Within the narrative of Nasso, three seemingly unrelated matters are taught: the problem of tza’arat, the ordeal of the Sotah, and the concept of the Nazir.

Yet these three are linked.

In Nasso, the Torah instructs Israel to remove from the camp anyone afflicted with tza’arat, a skin condition associated by the Sages with slander. Then there is the Nazir, who takes a vow to abstain from wine, even grapes, and to refrain from cutting his or her hair. In the ordeal of the Sotah, a wife is suspected of breaking her wedding vows, a situation that also holds the potential for publicly slandering a faithful wife.

There is a remarkable story in the Talmud (Berachot 31b) about Hannah, who lived during the period of the Judges. In her fervent desire for a child, Hannah petitions HaShem with such intensity that, according to Rabbi Elazar, she says:

“Master of the Universe, if You take note of my suffering and grant me a child, great. But if not, then You will see! I will go and seclude myself with another man in front of my husband Elkanah. And when I seclude myself, they will give me to drink the water of the Sotah. And You will not belie Your Torah, for it is stated [with regard to an innocent woman who drinks the Sotah waters]: ‘Then she shall be proven innocent and she shall bear seed.’”

This is especially meaningful because Hannah’s child was Shmuel, the prophet who would eventually anoint David as king. In this way, Hannah’s appeal to the law of the Sotah is indirectly connected to the Davidic line from which Moshiach will come.

The Sotah passage, then, may offer a redemptive pattern: the faithful bride, falsely suspected and publicly shamed, is ultimately vindicated by God, and that vindication is revealed through the birth of a child. Hannah saw in this law a promise of life where there had been sorrow. And through Hannah’s child, Shmuel, the Davidic kingship itself was eventually anointed.

There is another striking narrative that deepens this pattern. According to rabbinic tradition King David’s mother came under a cloud of suspicion when she became pregnant with David. Those around her, including her husband Yishai, believed she had committed adultery, yet she bore the shame in silence.

Torah and the prophets liken the relationship between the nation of Israel and God to a marriage:

“For the One who made you—whose name is ‘GOD of Hosts’—will espouse you. The Holy One of Israel—who is called ‘God of all the Earth’—will redeem you. GOD has called you back as a wife forlorn and forsaken. Can one cast off the wife of his youth?”—said your God. (Isaiah 54:5–6)

The teaching of the Sotah also recalls the sin of the Golden Calf at Sinai. There, the idolaters, having broken their vow to “do and to hear” the words of Torah, were forced to drink bitter water mixed with the powdered remains of the idol. The Sotah drinks bitter water mixed with dust from the floor of the Mishkan as a test of her faithfulness.

It is called an “ordeal” for a reason. In the Mishnah, we learn that the Sanhedrin would counsel the accused wife to admit her guilt rather than suffer the life-threatening consequences of drinking the water if she were guilty. However, if she was innocent, she would survive and bear a child.

In essence, the birth of a child became clear evidence to her husband and to the community that she had been innocent all along.

Today, it has become an everyday occurrence to slander the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Some claim that today’s Jews have no connection to ancient Israel. Others accuse Israel of all manner of atrocities. Then there are religions that practice Replacement Theology, acknowledging Israel’s original acceptance of Torah while teaching the slander that God no longer considers the Jewish People His bride.

This denies God’s promise that He will never abandon His people. As stated in Deuteronomy 4:31:

“For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which He confirmed to them by oath.”

The Sinai covenant uniquely binds Israel to HaShem and to His instruction, called Torah. Its teachings radiate outward to enlighten the peoples of the world. As the Torah declares, “This is your wisdom in the eyes of the nations” (Deuteronomy 4:6). Israel’s task is to live and embody Torah so that the nations may learn from them be uplifted, and ultimately, blessed through it.

That is why reading Nasso immediately after Shavuot is so meaningful.

At Shavuot, God gave the Torah to Israel under the “chuppah” of Sinai. In Nasso, the law of the Sotah shows how a wife falsely accused may be vindicated, restoring faith between husband and wife and restoring her standing before the community.

Perhaps, then, the current flood of slander against Israel may also be read through this pattern: the faithful bride of HaShem experiences bitterness, only to be vindicated before the nations.

Like the Sotah, Israel will be shown to be faithful.

Perhaps the final vindication of unique Israel’s role in God’s plan will come when the nation brings forth the child of redemption whom the world will finally recognize as Moshiach.