Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Naso: Mischief from Above

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

וגם בדואר אלקטרוני    ניתן באתר   http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il


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