Slowly Straying

Rashi says כי תשטה – תט מדרכי צניעות ותחשד בעיניו.  The Shem MiShmuel asks is this the only issue here, that she strayed from the path of tzinuit, she violated an issur by being miyached with another man?

Rashi says למה נסמכה פרשת נזיר לפרשת סוטה, שכל הרואה סוטה בקילקולה יזיר עצמו מן היין, שהוא מביא לידי ניאוף.  Although it is true that יין מביא לידי ניאוף, there are other things involved as well, why is the acceptance of nazir the appropriate response?    

Rashi says about the korban mincha of the sotah, קמח – שלא יהא מסולת.שעורים – ולא חטים, היא עשתה מעשה בהמה וקרבנה מאכל בהמה.לא יצק שמן – שלא יהא קרבנה מהודר, שהשמן קרוי אור והיא עשתה בחשך.ולא יתן עליו לבנה – שהאמהות נקראו לבנה, אל גבעת הלבונה (שיר השירים ד׳:ו׳), והיא פירשה מדרכיהן.  Rav Bloch asks if the point is to recognize that the sotah is disgraced, why make a few small, barely noticeable differences, put up a neon sign sotah here and that would make a greater difference?  

We say in krias shema וסרתם ועבדתם אלהים אחרים.  The word וסרתם indicates a slight deviation, slightly of the derech, how does that mean automatically avodah zarah?  The Baal Shem Tov says we see that a slight difference can snowball and lead one to stray totally to the other side.  Says the S.M., the sotah that sinned due to the רוח שטות didn't immediately fall off a cliff but rather she started with a mere slight deviation from the proper path of tzniut and this led her to be a sotah.  The woman is called a sotah ע"ש the catalyst for the issue, not what it led too.  Says the S.M. if it is that way in a negative sense, ק"ו in a positive sense.  Hence, the appropriate response is to take upon one's self a kabbalah.  Even though the kabbalah of nezirut, to abstain from a few things for a month is not such a tremendous action, but it is the fact that there is a resolution from the person to go in the right path that will lead one to greater and higher heights.  

In a similar vein in a physiological sense, explains Rav Bloch, it is not the big things that leave a lasting impression upon a person but rather the small things.  When big fanfare is made of a event, all of one's energy is expended in the event and it doesn't become absorbed into the psyche of a person.  It is when there are small little things that one hardly notices and doesn't get all involved in the matter that it the event can take time to take root and get properly absorbed into one's mind.  Hence, it is the small differences in the mincha of a sotah that leave a indelible impression, not a neon sign and great fanfare.