Our Parashah speaks of the "Sotah" woman, who deviated from moral conduct and modesty. Specifically, it refers to a woman whose husband warned her, "Do not hide with so-and-so," and she disregarded the prohibition. It is known that husband and wife on the earthly plane symbolize the Most High (the man) and the people of Israel (the woman) on the heavenly plane. It follows, then, that the laws applied to the "Sotah" (wayward) woman in the earthly dimension also apply in the spiritual dimension of the relationship between Israel and God. "Just as the husband warns his wife, so too does God warn the congregation of Israel, admonishing each Jew personally, in the singular: 'You shall have no other gods before Me'\u2014you shall not hide with another god\u2014just like the warning to the husband and wife.".<\/p>\n
But this warning is not clear. How is it possible to hide from God, whose glory fills the whole earth? It is already written: \u00abIf a man hides himself in a secret place and I do not see him?\u00bb and also, \u00abThere is no place free from him.\u00bb How, then, can there be a situation of \u00abhiding\u00bb from the Most High?<\/p>\n
This "hiding place" refers to pride. When a Jew is proud, God declares, "I and he cannot coexist." God does not encounter the proud person, and, so to speak, does not even see him. As the Baal Shem Tov interprets the aforementioned verse, "If a man were to hide in a secret place and I\u2014I will not see him!" If a person feels self-importance, ego, pride, then I will not see him; the Most High, so to speak, does not see him.<\/p>\n
So what should be done in a situation like this? Let's look at the laws of the Sotah: the Talmud says that if the husband disregards the warning, he automatically forgives the wife "as long as the writing on the scroll has not been erased" (referring to several verses, including the name of God, written on parchment, submerged in water, and then given to the suspected woman to drink). In other words, if the Jew is in a state where "the scroll has not yet been erased," Divine forgiveness will suffice.<\/p>\n
The concept of erasure involves removing the letters from the parchment, thereby revealing that even before erasing, the letters and the scroll were two separate elements (ink and parchment). If they had ever constituted a single entity, it would not have been possible to separate them.<\/p>\n
Unlike this, the engraved letter constitutes a single entity with the stone on which it is engraved, so it is impossible to separate them from the stone (without destroying it).<\/p>\n
This, then, is the suggestion: to become like the engraved letter, which is one with the stone, and not like the written letter, which can be separated from the parchment. This means that the bond with the Torah must be one of absolute union with it, until it becomes impossible to "erase" its letters from the person.<\/p>\n
In that case, even if a feeling of pride is introduced into man, Divine forgiveness will help, since He is "great to forgive.".<\/p>\n
But if the scroll is erased, if the Torah and the Jew are two separate entities, then pride will truly separate the Jew from God. Then he must act like the woman named Sotah who brought a barley offering, food for the animal. He must realize that he is "poor in conscience," like the animal that lacks conscience, and he must awaken his inner self-nullification toward the Most High. Then, "the perfectly righteous cannot stand where the repentant stand.".<\/p>\n
Adapted from www.jabad.org.ar<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our Parashah speaks of the "Sotah" woman who deviated from moral conduct and modesty. Specifically, it concerns a woman whose husband warned her, "Don't hide with so-and-so," and she disregarded the prohibition. It is known that husband and wife on the earthly plane symbolize the Almighty (man) and the people\u2026 Read More \u00bbWho can hide from God?<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1012,950,971,980,954,994,1024,969,998,1026,942],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-naso","tag-ciencia","tag-di-s","tag-hombre","tag-jabad","tag-judio","tag-mujer","tag-ofrenda","tag-parasha-2","tag-perdon","tag-talmud-2","tag-tora"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Esconderse.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"\u00bfQui\u00e9n puede ocultarse de Di-s?<\/a><\/blockquote>