Changing Direction

By Rabbi Joshua (symptomatically known as The Hoffer)

The Torah’s description of the spiritual status of the nazir is somewhat difficult to understand. The restrictions that he accepts upon himself are not excessively severe. He refrains from indulging in wine products for thirty days, does not cut his hair or shave during that period, and does not come into contact with a human corpse then. For engaging in this process, the Torah equates his status with that of the kohein gadol, who cannot defile himself even for his seven closest relatives. What, asks Rav Mordechai Gifter in his Pirkei Torah, is so special about the restrictions accepted by the nazir, that grant such a high spiritual status to him?

Rav Gifter answers by citing the midrash brought by Rashi, which explains why the laws of nazir follow the laws of sotah, the suspected unfaithful wife, to teach us that someone who sees the suspected sotah at her moment of disgrace should distance himself from wine, as a nazir. The nazir, then, says Rav Gfter, is someone who, seeing an unusual event occurring, takes it to heart and changes himself in response, rather than just continuing on with his regular routine. In reaction to what he witnesses, he changes, if ever so slightly, the direction of his life. Generally, people witness unusual, sometimes disturbing events during their lives, but nevertheless often continue living as they did before them, not trying to learn from what they have seen. The nazir however, takes a different approach, and for this, is singled out for praise.

Rav Moshe Wernick, in his Leiv Moshe, asks the same question as Rav Gifter, and conveys a similar idea, with a more specific orientation. He says that the nazir who see the disgrace of the sotah becomes aware that one’s life should not be directed toward the fulfillment of his physical desires. As the Mesilas Yesharim teaches, these desires increase continuously, and can never be satisfied. Concurrently, the human soul yearns for spiritual fulfillment, and it, too, can never be satisfied. The nazir, by accepting restrictions upon himself, changes the orientation of his life away from physical desire, toward the direction of spiritual fulfillment, and that is why he merits such a high status. Perhaps we can add that the Torah in the mode of aiding someone who comes to purify himself, helps the nazir along in this process, treating him, to a degree, like the kohein gadol.

Rav Mordechai Katz, in his Be’er Mechokek, points out that preferred method of spiritual self-improvement is achieved through an increased devotion to Torah and mitzvos. This approach changes one’s overall personality in a more complete way. The approach of the nazir is taken only after one has encountered or witnessed sin and is in danger of spiritual descent. The nazir process treats the symptom, the effect of contact with sin, rather than the general ailment, the need for general spiritual elevation. In this sense, perhaps, we can understand the remark of the Rama in his Toras HaOlah, that the Torah says of the nazir, not that he is holy, but that he will be holy. Once the symptom is treated through the process of nazir, the person is ready to pursue the more general approach to spiritual self-improvement.