Robbing the Almighty – Naso
There is a puzzling verse about robbery in the sidra we read this Shabbat: “When a man or woman commit any sin that people commit, to commit a trespass against the Lord, and that person is guilty…” (Num. 5:6).
What is meant by a sin “that people commit”? A parallel verse in Vayikra gives more detail, stating that you commit a trespass against the Lord by dealing falsely with your neighbour “in a matter of deposit or pledge or robbery”.
Very strange. You wrong your neighbour, and it is regarded as a sin against God?
Samson Raphael Hirsch explains, “Every transgression committed by man against his neighbour is tantamount to rebellion and trespass against the Almighty… He is, as it were, the unseen witness to all human transactions and the guarantor that they will be conducted honestly… Since there is an eye above that sees, and an eye that hears, all transgressions that are committed are trespasses against God.”
The comment that God is part of all we do, accords with a rabbinic view that each of us is made by three partners – our mother, our father, and God.
Another passage notes that the words for man – ish – and woman – ishah – each contain a letter of the name of God – yod and heh respectively; in a harmonious marriage God is there and his name is complete.
What Hirsch is saying is that when you make an agreement with someone else, there is no guarantee that the other person will keep their part of the bargain unless the unseen presence of God is there as the guarantor. Let another person down and you let God down too.
