Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

165
Naso
How to Judge Jews
Jeremy Goldner
T his week’s parsha discusses the laws regarding a sota, or a woman suspected of
infidelity to her husband. In the last pasuk that deals with this topic, it says, “ve-nika
ha-ish me-avon, ve-ha’isha ha-he tisa et avonah,” “And the man [her husband] shall be
free from sin, but the woman will bear her sin” (5:31). From what sin, exactly, is the
husband free?
Rashi answers that if his wife is found to not be a sota, the husband is halakhically
allowed to live with her afterwards. That’s fine, but then what about the rest of the
pasuk that says, “the woman will bear her sin”? This seems to imply that the woman
isn’t off the hook, even though Rashi is saying that she is innocent.
Rav Aryeh Brueckheimer expounds beautifully. While she is indeed innocent of
adultery, she is still guilty of the sin of maris ayin. She was obviously being immodest
in the way she was interacting with other men, or else she would not have become a
sota in the first place.
There is a very powerful lesson we can learn from this point. For a Jew, it is important
to embody our values both outwardly as well as inwardly. Our goal is to give people a
positive message of Hashem and Judaism, and maris ayin runs counter to that goal, so
we should be especially careful about how we act in front of others.
Lehavdil, let’s use a more modern example of maris ayin. Say you notice someone
you know, a fellow Jew, walk into a McDonalds. (For all intents and purposes, we’re