פרשת נשא תש"ב - פרשת נזיר

מאשר חטא על הנפש [AND THE PRIEST … MAKE EXPIATION FOR HIM] FOR THAT HE HATH SINNED BY THE DEAD — i.e., that he has not been on his guard against defilement by a corpse. — R. Eleazer ha-Kappar said, “his sin consists in that he has afflicted himself by abstaining from the enjoyment of wine (Sifrei Bamidbar 30; Nazir 19a).

כי יפליא, he will separate himself from all the vanities and physical pleasures in life.

לנדור נדר נזיר, to become a Nazirite and the life of self denial which comes with this.

'להזיר לה, to separate himself from all the pleasures in order to devote himself exclusively to the service of the Lord, to study His Torah and practice walking in His ways.

Peradventure man will say: Seeing that envy, desire and vainglory and like tendencies are evil tendencies and remove man from life, I will separate myself from them exceedingly and reach their remotest extreme. Until he will eat no meat, drink no wine, marry no woman, dwell in no comfortable quarters, dress in no proper clothes but in a sack and coarse wool, and the like, as for instance the idolatrous priests do. Even such is an evil way, and it is forbidden to follow it. He who follows this way is called a sinner, for it is said of a Nazarite: "And make an atonement for him, because he hath sinned against the soul" (Num. 6.11), whereupon the sages said: "If the Nazarite, who did not separate himself from aught but wine must have atonement, he who deprives himself from each and every thing how manifold must his atonement be" (Baba Kama. 91b)!¹See Ta’anit, 11a. G. Therefore did the sages command, saying: A man shall not deprive himself of ought save the things which the Torah itself deprived him of; nor shall he bind himself by vows and oaths to abstain from things which are permitted. They have even said: "Is it not enough for thee what the Torah has forbidden, that thou doest forbid thyself even other things" (Yeru. Nedarim. 7.37)? And in this rule are included such who are continuously fasting, for they are not in the good way, and the sages prohibited one from punishing himself with fast days. Concerning such and like matters Solomon admonished saying: "Be not righteous overmuch; neither show thyself wise; why wouldst thou destroy thyself" (Ecc. 7.16).

נדר נזיר — The term נזר wherever it occurs denotes “keeping aloof from something” (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 22:2). Here, too, it means that he keeps away from wine (Sifrei Bamidbar 22).

קדש יהיה means HOLY SHALL IT (not “he”) BE viz., his hair shall be holy. inasmuch as he must let grow freely the hair of his head (lit., so as to let grow the over-growth, פרע, of the hair of his head) (Sifrei Bamidbar 25; Taanit 4a).

כל ימי נזרו קדש הוא ALL THE DAYS OF HIS NAZARITESHIP HE IS HOLY — This refers to the holiness of his body which consists in his abstaining from defiling himself by reason of a corpse (Sifrei Bamidbar 27).

קדוש יהיה, separate from base urges and addiction to the pleasures of the flesh.

'קדוש הוא לה. He will merit the light available for those enjoying eternal life, as well as be able to instruct the spiritual leaders of his generation. This may have been what Elkanah referred to when he said: “may the Lord keep His word” (Samuel I 1,23). What he meant was that he agreed with Chanah his wife’s vow that the child she would bear would spend his life on earth as a Nazirite. He did not add any additional request regarding the child that would be born to them. If G’d would allow Chanah’s prayer and vow to come true this would be more than enough satisfaction for him.

And the priest shall prepare one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the dead; and he shall hallow his head that same day.

And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin-offering, and his burnt-offering.