07 Jun MODERN DAY CENTRISM

In the order of the

mishnayos, Maseches

Sotah follows

Masaeches Nazir. The

Talmud explains that

this is based on the

pesukim in parshas

Naso, where the parshiyos of nazir and

sotah are next to each other. The

reason for the juxtaposition is

explained by the Talmud as follows:

normally the Torah does not want us

to be extreme. The middos are referred

to as such because each must be

implemented with the proper measure

(the Hebrew word “middah” means a

measure). One who accepts upon

himself to become a nazir, i.e. to

become, in a certain sense, an ascetic,

and to totally abstain from wine, is

considered a sinner. However, once in

while we consider a nazir to be a

kadosh – a holy person. One who lives

in a generation (like ours) where there

is much corruption and pritzus, and

one who witnesses a sotah, must be

concerned that he too may follow the

path of the corrupt society. Under such

circumstances the Torah recommends

that we take extreme measures to

offset the improper influence of

society. The Rambam is famous for his

presentation of this idea in Hilchos

De’os. One of the modern Jewish

thinkers has attacked the Rambam for

having picked up this concept from the

Greek philosophers and presenting it

in Mishna Torah, as if it had a source in

Talmudic literature. But the truth is

that it is rooted in the rabbinic

comment regarding the juxtaposition

of the two parshiyos of nazir and sotah.

We live in a generation of instant

communication. Everyone around the

world is notified immediately about all

the ganovim and all the sotos

anywhere in the world. We do not just

see one sotah, rather we are made

aware of many sotos. Although under

normal conditions it would not be

healthy to follow an extreme path in

life, in our circumstances extreme

measures are recommended. This

recommendation is true not only in the

area of bein adam laMakom, but also

in the area of bein adam lachaveiro.

We are surrounded with many who

cheat in business, cheat on income tax,

sales tax, etc. We should be careful not

only to be honest and follow the law,

but even bend over backwards to

make sure that we don’t follow these

extremely improper practices of our

society. The Talmud describes

kosher fish as having a backbone,

and having the ability to swim

upstream, i.e. against the current.

Jews must always develop such a

backbone and see to it that they swim

against the current. The Rambam

interprets the mishna in Pirkei Avos

as recommending yet another

exception to “the golden rule.” The

Tanna Rabbi Levitas of Yavne used

to say, that one should always be

“very very” humble. The Rambam

interprets the repetition of the term

“very” to imply that one ought not to

follow the golden mean with respect

to arrogance and humility, but

should rather go to an extreme in

adopting the quality of humility. The

Rambam explains that biblically

humility and arrogance should be the

same as any other middos and one

should attempt to follow the middle

path, but just as the rabbis introduced

so many gezeiros and harchokos in

the area of bein adam laMakom and bein

adam lachaveiro, so too here did they

introduce a gezeira in this area of bein

adam le’atzmo. The rabbis were

concerned that many people, or perhaps

most people, would not be able to

determine where the midpoint is

between arrogance and humility, and

would most probably err on the side of

arrogance. Therefore the rabbis made a

gezeira derabanan that we must all go to

the extreme regarding humility.