Parashat Naso: On Peace

Veyasem Lekha Shalom – And He will grant you peace. This is the culminating blessing of the tri-partite priestly blessing in this week’s parsha. It is the highest of the blessings, as the gradual increase in the number of words in each part of the priestly blessing -- 3, 5, 7 – makes clear (a point made by Nechama Leibowitz). The midrash Sifre Bamidbar says – Gadol HaShalom. Great is peace.

Gadol HaShalom, the midrash says over and over, and lists a series of proofs that indeed peace is among the greatest of Torah virtues. Gadol HaShalom because God is willing to cede His honor for the sake of shalom, for the sake of shalom bayit, household peace between spouses. This week’s parsha also deals with the sotah, the woman who is suspected of adultery. What the midrash is referring to is that as part of the test she undergoes, God’s name is erased in the water she is to drink, showing that He yields His honor for the sake of shalom.

Yielding is part of the essence of the pursuit of peace. Peace generally comes at the price of some other value. In this case, it is God’s Honor. The other example the midrash offers is that of Sarah and Avraham, where God purposely misreports Sarah’s assertion that her husband is old in order to avoid causing strife between husband and wife. Here it is the value of truth that is surrendered in the pursuit of peace.

This is our daily experience of peace, that it requires some ceding, some relinquishing of our strong hold on our own sense of honor and often, also of our sense of truth. We think we are in the right; often maybe we are in the right (on some cosmic level maybe both positions are “true”), but that does not help the cause of peace. Learning to make those concessions, to swallow pride and our innate sense of “justice” is the cost of peace.

We are not just called on to pursue peace in our own relationships, but to help others in this goal. Hava’at shalom beyn adam lehaveiro, “bringing peace between a person and his friend,” is one of the 10 things listed in our morning prayers whose fruits we eat in this world as well as the world to come. God is our model. He took care in the phrasing of his words to Avraham in order to avoid causing any conflict. We are often less careful with our words – sometimes we may even purposely repeat something in a way that incites conflict.

The midrash also points to a human model, Aaron, a known peace-lover. It is said that when two people were in a fight, he would go to one and say: “So and so is very upset about the fight. He is beating himself up about it and feels that he acted terribly toward you.” Then he would go and say the same thing to the other party, so that when the two met, they would embrace and forgive each other.

Aaron, like God, was a catalyst to peace. We – rightly – worry about global peace. But peace begins at home, with those around us. Perhaps that is why we say of God in our prayers first, Oseh Shalom Bimromav – He makes peace in His heavens, and then, Hu Ya’aseh Shalom Aleinu – He will make peace for us. It is out of the strength of God’s ability to make peace in His home above that He can make peace in the world below. Peace spreads outward.