Slander, the Sotah and Redemption

"AND SHE SHALL CONCEIVE SEED" - God will give her seed in recompense for the shame which befell her." Ibn Ezra on Numbers 5:28

Within Parashat Nasso (Num. 4:21-7:89), the Torah sets before us the enigmatic ritual of the Sotah—a woman suspected of adultery. Her shame is public, her innocence uncertain, her restoration dependent on divine revelation. Part of the ritual involves writing the sacred name God on a slip of parchment which is then dipped into water, dissolving God's name. This act underscores a major precept demonstrating HaShem's loving regard for peace in the home.

And yet, the deeper currents of Torah hint that this is more than a private drama—it is a symbol of Israel herself. For throughout the Tanakh, the Prophets portray Israel as the bride of G‑d, but in some places, a wife accused of infidelity. She is called rebellious, even acting like a harlot.

Yet has never G‑d revoked His covenant:

“I will betroth you to Me forever... with righteousness and with justice, with lovingkindness and with compassion” (Hosea 2:21).

To see Israel through this lens is to see the Sotah not as a fallen woman, but as the misunderstood wife—subjected to slander.

This is the reality of today's Israel, a nation subjected to slander on a daily basis, falsely accused of genocide.

Prior to reading of the Sotah we are introduced to the Nazir—the one who, in witnessing shame takes a vow of restraint and elevation. The Nazir represents the spiritual awakening that follows heartbreak—a people who, having tasted exile and degradation, now turn inward to seek the holy. As if to crown this process in this Torah portion, we arrive at the Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing that seals the nation with divine peace. It is the final chord in a progression from suspicion, to striving, to shalom. And there is an added another dimension—tzara’at, the spiritual affliction caused by lashon hara (slander).

The Sages taught that those who speak falsely or unjustly about others open the gates to chaos and estrangement.

According to the Midrash, it is slander that isolated David as a young man, within his own family. His mother was suspected of infidelity. He was treated as an outcast. The most cited version of this tradition appears in the "Sefer HaToda’ah" by R. Eliyahu Kitov (based on earlier Midrashim), and referenced also in the Yalkut HaMachiri on Tehillim 118. The narrative goes like this:

David's father, Yishai, after years of righteous living, began to question his lineage, because his ancestry included Ruth the Moabite. Even though halachically Ruth’s conversion was valid, the stigma of Moabite ancestry troubled him. Wishing to separate from his wife Nitzevet bat Adael (David's mother), he devised a plan to have children with his maidservant instead. In a twist echoing the story of Rachel and Leah, the faithful maidservant, switched places with Nitzevet on the wedding night—and thus Yishai was unknowingly intimate again with his rightful wife. When she became pregnant, Yishai suspected infidelity. Her sons (David’s older brothers) shared this suspicion and treated David as a mumzer or “bastard-born.”

Today, Israel is treated as the slandered wife. Maligned by nations, misjudged even by some of her own children, she bears ancient accusations and new scorn. Yet this is not new—it is the rhythm of redemption. In Parashat Nasso, the concepts of the Sotah, the affliction of tzara’at, the birth of David all collide stages of the labor through which the Moshiach will emerge, “Three things come with suffering: Torah, the World to Come, and the Messiah” (Berachot 5a).

Midrash Tanchuma (Nasso 5) notes that that if the Sotah is innocent, she receives a blessing:“If she was innocent, she is rewarded with children.”

This literal reading becomes the basis for mystical and homiletical readings: the birth of children after suspicion and trial reflects Israel's spiritual rebirth after exile and false accusations, a direct metaphor for the messianic process. The Ramban emphasizes how the process involves God intervening directly to judge hidden matters. This rare divine intervention through the Name of God being erased into the water (Bamidbar 5:23) hints at a future divine judgment of the nations and vindication of Israel. Israel, though slandered, remains G‑d’s beloved bride. And these are her birth pangs. From suspicion to sanctification, from affliction to anointing—the story ends not in shame, but in crowning glory as she brings forth Moshiach.