Parshas Naso contains
the mitzvah of the nazir (נזיר). One who decides to
become a nazir is not permitted to drink wine and quite possibly any other
alcoholic beverage (see Ibn Ezra on Numbers 6:3); not get a haircut and let the
hair grown unruly; and not to perform the duties of a mortician. At the
conclusion of his tour he brings a burnt offering, sin offering, and peace
offering. All of the time he is a nazir, he is sacred to Hashem.
The commentaries see
the mitzvah of the nazir as an act of dedication to purity. For example one is
less likely to become involved with promiscuity if one is sober and
unattractive. Hence one abstains from wine and lets their hair grow wild. A
question arises as to why the nazir should bring a sin offering as it seems
that he committed no sin. Rashi brings an answer that it is because he
abstained from wine (Bamidbar 6:11). The idea is that one should not forego
life’s pleasures.
The haphtarah adds a
human dimension to the concept of the nazir with the story of Samson (see
Judges 13-16). Samson is a nazir from birth but his story is a difficult one.
At the time Israel has been bad and consequently they have been delivered into
the hands of the Pelishtim. Shimshon is the one who has been born to free them.
As a young man Shimshon marries a Pelishtim girl over the objections of his
parents. He is extremely strong and wishes to use this to provoke the Pelishtim
into a fight. Scripture records that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is with him on this.
During the wedding
feast, Samson asks the Pelishtim a silly riddle and bets all those present,
thirty men, a suit of clothes that they will not be able to figure it out. The
Pelishtim take the bet. When they can’t figure it out, they tell his wife that
they will burn her to death and loot her father’s house in order to pay their
obligation, unless she can get Shimshon to give her the answer, which she will
then relate to them.
The ruse works and
Shimshon loses the bet. However, he protests saying that they only got it
because they plowed with his cow. He then randomly kills thirty Pelishtim takes
their clothes and pays off the bet. The mischief continues and in the next
incident he ties torches to the tails of foxes and releases them into the
fields of the Pelishtim burning their crops.
His end is similar but
not so funny. Samson falls in love with Pelishtim woman. Delilah harasses him
to tell her what the secret of his great strength is. When he is sick to death
about it, he reveals that he is a nazir and if his hair is cut he will only
have the strength of an ordinary man. When he is sleeping the Pelishtim give
him a haircut. With that Hashem departs from Shimshon, and the Pelishtim
capture him and blind him.
Later on they gather
for a festival and fetch Samson to torment him, chaining him to a column in
their temple. His hair has since grown long and he prays that G-d should
restore his strength and his prayer is answered favorably. Shimshon then says,
“let me die with the Pelishtim”, and knocks down two support pillars causing
the building to collapse. He is killed along with thousands of Pelishtim.
Samson is buried by his brethren in the crypt of his father. He had judged
Israel for twenty years.
It comes out that
Shimshon was a very good hearted individual. He was possessed by divine
inspiration and it’s not really clear if he ever sinned. Even so one would not
wish to live the life he lived or die the way he died. One can say that he was
a tool that had been summoned into the hands of the Almighty, whose ways can be
mysterious indeed.
The lesson seems to be
that the heights of purity are not for all men. Impurity is generally
considered negatively but not totally. Burial of the dead is considered true
kindness and serving on a burial society is considered an honor. Ordinary
sexual relations within a married couple renders both of them ritually unclean.
The rectification, though, is a simple one. They are required to bathe and at
sunset purity returns. During that day they are not permitted to ascend the
Temple mount nor eat sanctified food (see Leviticus 15:18).
Examination of a
nebulous discussion in the Gemara (Brachos 22a) yields some insight and
understanding of this issue.
Our Rabbis
taught: A person with a seminal emission, on whom nine kabs (about 12 gallons
or 50 liters) of water have been thrown, is clean:
Nahum the man
Gimzu whispered it to Rabbi Akiba, and Rabbi Akiba whispered it to Ben
Azzai, and Ben Azzai went forth and repeated it publicly to his students.
Two sages in
the West differed in regard to this, Rabbi Yosi ben Abin and R. Yosi ben
Zebida.
One taught he repeated
it, and one taught, he whispered it.
The one who
held ‘repeated’ said it was in order to prevent absence from Torah and
absence from procreation. The one who held ‘whispered’ said it was so
wise students would not be found by their wives as often as roosters.
Rabbi Yanai
said: I have heard of some who are lenient in this matter, and I have heard of
some who are strict in it, and if anyone is strict with himself in regard to
it, his days and years are lengthened.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
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