Parashat Naso 5780

(1) Introduction From here until the end of the tractate, the mishnah teaches various things that the rabbis discontinued or for some reason ceased. The first thing mentioned is the ceremony we have been discussing in this chapter, the ceremony of breaking the heifer’s neck. The second thing discontinued was the sotah ritual, the main topic of this tractate. The third thing was not so much discontinued but ceased. The mishnah teaches that at a certain point there were no more men who were both learned and fully righteous.

(2) When murderers multiplied, the [ceremony of] breaking a heifer’s neck ceased. That was from the time of Eliezer ben Dinai, and he was also called Tehinah ben Perisha and he was afterwards renamed “son of the murderer”. When murderers multiplied, murderers such as Eliezer ben Dinai (who had several other names), the rabbis discontinued the neck-breaking ritual. This is because there was no longer any doubt about who the murderer was. Since everyone knew who the murderers were but couldn’t do anything about it, the ritual was no longer applicable.

(3) When adulterers multiplied, the ceremony of the bitter waters ceased and it was Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai who discontinued it, as it is said, “I will not punish their daughters for fornicating, nor their daughters-in-law for committing adultery, for they themselves [turn aside with whores and sacrifice with prostitutes]” (Hosea 4:14). The word “adulterers” here refers to men (in Hebrew each word has a gender). In a time when many men were committing adultery, the water-drinking ceremony was discontinued. This is based on a midrash found elsewhere on Numbers 5:31, “The man shall be clear of guilt; but that woman shall suffer for her guilt.” The midrash on this verse says that the waters are effective in testing the woman, only if the husband is free of guilt. If he is also engaged in illicit sex with other women, he cannot use the sotah ritual to test his own wife. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who lived through the destruction of the Temple, discontinued the practice. The mishnah also brings a verse from Hosea according to which God will not punish the daughters and daughters-in-law at a time when their fathers are also committing grave sins. In both of these sections we can see that these two mysterious rituals which deal with the most serious of crimes, murder and adultery, are only effective in cleansing Israel of guilt at a time when Israel is in general acting in a righteous and lawful manner. The ceremonies deal with the few deviants in society who do not observe society’s most basic laws. They cannot deal with an entire community gone awry.

(4) When Yose ben Yoezer of Zeredah and Yose ben Yohanan of Jerusalem died, the grape-clusters ceased, as it is said, “There is not a cluster [of grapes] to eat; not a ripe fig I could desire [The pious are vanished from the land, none upright are left among men” (Micah 7:1-2). The two sages mentioned here are the first “pair” mentioned in Avoth 1:4. When they died, there were no longer any people who were like “grape clusters”. This refers metaphorically to people who were both wise and performed good deeds. The idea of comparing the righteous to clusters of grapes is derived from the verse in Micah.