Parshat Naso; Numbers 4:21-7:89 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
This week’s portion, Naso, describes a special group of people called Nazarites. The Nazir took special and unique vows that dedicated their service to God often in thanksgiving for something in their lives or to gain Divine blessing. They were set aside for God’s service. Both men and women could take these special obligations upon themselves. The Mishnah dedicates an entire book to discuss at length the Nazirite vows and there is a discussion as well in the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides about the some of the practices of the Nazirites.
As part of their commitment the Nazir must abstain from any alcoholic beverages or anything that fermented such as vinegar or wine or other intoxicants. They could not even eat grapes or raisins nor could they eat of anything even from a grape vine. Thus they could not enjoy food even wrapped in grape leaves! This abstinence from alcohol and grape products provided a super kind of discipline since wine and grape products were such a staple of ancient life.
As a sign of their special status the Torah tells us that the Nazirite may not cut their hair until the completion of their term. One could be a Nazirite permanently and then you could cut the hair once a year. But most were not Nazirites indefinitely. Usually this special vow of service to God had a specific time frame. It was at minimum 30 days and usually no more than six years.
Also a Nazirite could not come into contact with any corpse of any kind. No spiritual impurity from death is allowed. In fact if a Nazirite comes into contact with a corpse, even if it is a close relative like a parent or sibling, they must not become defiled. But if he or she does become ritually impure then the Nazirite must shave their head and bring an atonement offering to the Temple. The priest must make expiation on behalf of that Nazir and then they must rededicate to the term of the Nazirite. The previous time was null and void and the person must start counting their term as if from the beginning.
Once the Temple was destroyed any person who took a Nazirite vow became a Nazir for life—since they could not bring the specified offerings to the High Priest that would end his or her term. We know that there were famous biblical Nazirites such as Samuel and Samson. There were others through out history such Queen Helena of Adiabene who was a convert to Judaism (See note on p. 928 of revised Plaut).
But increasingly throughout the Middle Ages and into present time there are not records of anyone becoming a Nazir and taking these special vows. It is difficult I think for many of us to imagine taking this kind of special vow to God. In our day and time most people are familiar with wedding vows. These are sacred and solemn promises made before God to stay loyal and faithful to our partner in marriage. We are familiar with Catholic priests and nuns who take vows to God. But from a Jewish perspective we don’t really think today in these terms.
In fact in traditional Jewish circles people go out of their way to say “Bli Neder” meaning that specifically their words should not ever be interpreted as a vow of any sort!
Yet, all Jews take a vow really as part of the Jewish people—our commitment to our mitzvot and to keeping them is our promise to God. At Mt. Sinai we say we will do and we will observe them or listen —“Na-aseh v’nishmah” At Sinai our ancestors made a promise to uphold the covenant with God just as God made promises to us. At our Bar or Bat Mitzvah, at Confirmation a Jewish young person takes on these mitzvot consciously in a different way than at the Brit Milah or Brit Banot—ceremony at birth when parents enter us into this covenant. As the holy day of Shavuot is observed this week, we celebrate that moment of promise at Mt. Sinai. It is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to a Jewish way of life. And although it is not necessary to become a Nazir—we might want to reaffirm and vow to uphold our end of the covenant and spiritually renew our faith. May the joy of the holy days of Shavuot infuse us with the commitment to our tradition and may we be inspired to keep our pledge to our covenant and to God.
Posted by Lee at May 21, 2007 09:12 AM
