The Peace Process
Torah can bring about peace between husband and wife, body and soul, one person and another, because Torah has the capacity to bring about peace between G-d and the world.
First Post Shavuos Message
The first Torah portion that is read after the Holiday of Shavuos, is this week’s portion, Naso. Our sages have taught us, time and again, that nothing occurs by chance. This is especially true with respect to occurrences associated with Torah matters.
Accordingly, the fact that we read this Torah portion immediately after the Holiday of Shavuos, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, must have significance.
Uplifiting
The name Naso, which means, literally, to uplift, tells us that Torah is more than just knowledge and a code of behavior. It has the capacity to uplift us and the physical world around us. Torah is not just geared to our souls, enabling it express itself more easily, but is directed to our bodies as well. Torah has the capacity to elevate and transform even the most physical aspect of our existence.
Beyond the general theme of “uplifting” that characterizes this Torah portion, there are, at least, four distinct themes discussed in the parsha that revolve around the singular ideal of peace, shalom. This, too, is associated with Torah, as our sages declared: “The Torah was given to bring peace to the world.”
Peace between Us and G-d
There are four applications of peace in our lives that all derive from the peace the Torah provides:
The first level of peace is the peace that must exist between ourselves and G-d. This peace is highlighted in the efforts the Jewish people made to build the Mishkan, the desert Sanctuary, oversee it, preserve its sanctity and dedicate it, discussed at the beginning and the end of this week’s Torah portion.
Only the Torah and its Mitzvos can bring about this unity between G-d and His world. Every Mitzvah – a Divinely instructed physical act – we do, because it is a composite of both the Divine and the material. Therefore only a Mitzvah can bridge the gulf that exists between an Infinite Creator and a finite being.
Peace Between Husband and Wife
Peace between G-d and His world is also reflected in the peace between husband and wife, the second theme the Torah discusses in this parsha. When there is a threat to domestic harmony, it undermines G-d’s very relationship with His world.
In the words of the Talmud: The word for man and woman is ish and isha, respectively. Each of these words contains the word aish, fire. In addition, ish has the letter yud and isha the letter hay, two of the letters that form G-d’s name. When a husband and wife invite G-d into their marriage, there is peace. Otherwise, the powerful fires within them can bring about their destruction.
Peace between Body and Soul
The third form of unity is the one between one’s body and soul. Thus the third theme of the parsha is the Nazir, the person who seeks to distance himself from wine and other pleasures. Although this is occasionally necessary to help curb powerful desires, the Torah requires this individual to bring a sin offering, to atone for his act of self-deprivation.
The Torah’s ideal of peace extends to the body and soul, to ensure that they live in total harmony with one another, not by scorning the body, but by making the body and its needs vehicles for spiritual growth..
Peace between one Jew and Another
The fourth theme in this week’s portion is the Priestly blessing, which underscores the sentiment of love and concern for the well-being of others. Appropriately, this blessing concludes with the word: shalom. This blessing is a most dramatic way of expressing the fourth crucial form of peace: peace between one person and another.
In the words of Rabbi Akiva, the mitzvah to love one another is a major principle of the Torah. In the words of Hillel it is the essence of the whole Torah, because, the ultimate objective of Torah to bring peace between G-d and His world, can only be realized within a community of peace.
Torah can bring about peace between husband and wife, body and soul, one person and another, because Torah has the capacity to bring about peace between G-d and the world.
Messianic Peace
One of the most vaunted benefits of the Messianic Age is the state of peace between nations that will prevail. The Biblical reference to the world and the lamb coexisting, according to Maimonides, is a metaphor for the peaceful state of coexistence of the Jewish people with all other nations.
How does Moshiach accomplish this unprecedented feat? Dos it happen by the waving of a magic wand?
The answer is that in the Messianic Age, Torah will have its desired effect of solidifying G-d’s relationship with us and therefore, then and only then, will we realize true and lasting peace in all other areas of life.
Division and fragmentation is not the default position of the world. It came after there was absolute unity on day one of creation. The division between the upper and lower waters occurred on day two.
Moshiach will only have to restore the world to its original state. He is empowered to do this and to empower us to be part of this process by revealing the innermost and most unifying aspects of Torah.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Naso by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
