A wife who had been warned by her husband from secluding with a man he suspects may have immoral intentions, and then ignores her husband's wishes, may be forced by her husband to drink the 'bitter waters' to prove her innocence or face the horrific consequences if she committed adultery.
The husband must bring a meal-offering on her behalf before the test of the Sotah water. It consists of barley rather than the usual ingredient of meal-offerings, wheat. The departure from the norm is to symbolize her having acted like an animal who normally feeds on barley, so too her offering is the 'meal' of an animal.
We also omit the customary oil that is mixed into a meal-offering to signify her having done a dark deed, denying her the medium that produces light.
Lastly, we also withhold Levonah — frankincense, the fragrant incense the Matriarchs are likened to, emphasizing this woman having departed from the sweet-scented ways of her ancestors.
There is a bit of incongruity here in our taking her to task on the one hand for having behaved like a beast, and at the same time for not having risen to the elevated stature of her matriarchs. There is quite a distance from demanding her to be unshackled from animalistic instinct and expecting her to conduct herself as a daughter of nobility!
How can we reprimand her simultaneously for both?
What causes a person to suddenly engage in beastly acts of instinct?
Is it merely overwhelming temptation that stifles clear thinking?
King David offers us insight into what transforms a human into a beast.
Man is in his glory, but he does not understand; he is compared to the silenced animals. (Psalms 49 21)
This doesn't simply mean that one who does not delve into the Torah and its wisdom will wander meaninglessly.
It is attributed to the great Gaon Rav Chaim Brisker, that it is man's not fathoming his inherent worth in the eyes of G-d that turns him into a beast of instinct. He famously added that a horse who may way a ton allows a measly two-hundred pound human to ride atop him, who lashes at him with a stick prodding him on and digs in his spurs to get the horse to halt. If only the beast understood the power he possesses, it could toss the rider off like a flea. But 'a ferd bleibt a ferd', a horse remains a dumb horse.
If only man would appreciate his inner greatness; his worthiness in the eye of our Father in Heaven, he would never succumb to his animalistic instincts and handily buck the evil inclination off his back!
King David was fortunate to have a mother in the image of the Matriarchs who instilled this confidence in her beloved son, never permitting him to forget his nobility of spirit, no matter the challenges he may face.
The mother of King David was a woman named Nitzeves the daughter of Adael. David was the eighth and youngest son of Yishai but was shunned by his family. The reason for this, according to tradition, is that people questioned David’s legal status. Apparently, his father Yishai had separated from his wife, Nitzeves, after their seventh son was born because he began to doubt the legitimacy of his grandmother, Rus. The law that descendants of Moav are prohibited from marrying within the nation only applies to male descendants and not females had not been established yet. If indeed it applied to female Moavites as well then Yishai and all his children were tainted as well, and he was prohibited from marrying a regular Jewish woman such as Nitzeves. He therefore refrained from family life with Nitzeves. In an effort to father an unblemished child, he took his Canaanite maidservant as a concubine, which was permitted to him. The status of a child born to a Canaanite maidservant follows its mother, thus being born a Canaanite slave. He would subsequently emancipate this 'slave child' transforming him to a legally valid full Jew detached from any Moavite connection. Unbeknownst to Yishai, the maidservant plotted with Nitzeves, and in a page taken from the history of our Matriarchs, Rachel and Leah, having her clandestinely sleep with Yishai instead on the night of their intended union. When Nitzeves’ pregnancy was discovered several months later, they suspected her of adultery and bearing an illegitimate child, for she had not revealed that Yishai fathered him. She and her child were degraded and treated as outcasts for twenty-eight years until the prophet Shmuel revealed the truth, selecting and anointing David from among the eight sons of Yishai as the future king of Israel.
The suspected adulteress only engaged in beastly behavior because she lapsed in an awareness of her own greatness and nobility.
Wasn't it Rachel and Leah, who, despite living under the influence of their nefarious father Lavan, who never forgot the greatness that resides within them and aspired to become the wives of Yaakov who would mother the 'Bais Yaakov' and Bais Yisroel'?
One might never rise to the elevated levels and accomplishments of our illustrious matriarchs, but we can live with their message that whatever we face we are worthy and loved in the eyes of G-d.
With that ingrained into our consciousness, we will be empowered to buck the mindless animalistic instincts that blind us from our true inner strengths!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן
