פרשת נשא
This week’s Parsha contains the chapter concerning the person who accepts upon himself the vow to become a Nazir. This vow consists of refraining from three things. A person must abstain from wine or all grape products, from haircuts, and from visiting the cemetery or coming in contact with any dead body. Rashi explains that the proximity of the chapter concerning the Nazir, to the chapter which discusses the laws of the Sotah, or the woman who is unfaithful to her husband, is trying to teach us that when a person sees the untimely, gruesome end that the Sotah suffers, he will undoubtedly accept upon himself a vow to abstain from wine, which commonly leads to licentiousness. The Gemorah in Nedarim (63) says that vows keep a person away from sin and the Ibn Ezra adds that one who accepts upon himself to become a Nazir, is adorned with a crown, because he has mastered his passions and has achieved sovereignty over himself, as opposed to the majority of the world, who are enslaved by their infatuations and do not deserve such a crown.
From all that we have said, it is clear that the Torah regards one who accepts upon himself such a vow in great esteem. It should then come as no surprise that the Slonimer Rebbi points to the Gemorah in Nazir (19) with immense consternation. The Gemorah in Nazir says that anyone who accepts upon himself the vow to become a Nazir is a sinner because he chooses to refrain from the pleasures that God has given mankind to enjoy! How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? Similarly, the Rambam writes in the Laws of vows that one who takes an oath to correct his actions and improve his ways is considered extremely praiseworthy. Yet the Rambam in the Laws of conduct says that one should take the middle path and never refrain for too long from any given thing!
The Slonimer Rebbi and many others answer this obvious inconsistency by explaining that as opposed to many other faiths in the world, Judaism wants a person to partake of all the pleasures of this world, with the condition that he does so only to serve God. They explain from many different sources that every resource on this earth was given to mankind to aid us in our service of Hashem. The Rambam himself says in Daos (2:2), “When a man goes out to work, his sole intent should not be to merely gather as much money as he can, but rather to provide the necessary means for himself and his family, in order that he should be healthy and be able to serve God”. If a person uses the resources of this world wisely, in order to meet his needs and to do the will of his Creator, than each bite of food that he ingests, or every drink that he imbibes is a great merit and to deny himself these needs would be sinful. But if a person begins to overindulge himself, and to eat and drink merely for the pleasure that those actions can offer him, he has gone against the intentions of the Torah and the only way he can rectify himself is to deny himself these pleasure in order to return to the middle path. For such a person, it is a Mitzvah to take an oath of abstinence, because there is no other way he will be successful in getting himself back on track.
The Slonimer Rebbi concluded by quoting the Gemorah in Nedarim (9). The Gemorah relates that the great Tanna R’ Shimon never ate from a Nazir offering until he met one youth who was on his way to bring such an offering at the conclusion of his period of Nezirus. R’ Shimon asked the youth what it was that prompted him to accept upon himself such a hefty vow. The youth responded that he was employed as a shepherd, and it once happened during the course of his workday that he brought his flock down by the riverbed to quench their thirst. While there, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the water and for the first time, realized what a handsome individual he was. He began to fantasize about all the great sins he could accomplish with his dashing good looks. He quickly caught hold of himself and said, “Wicked person, how could you be haughty in a world which does not belong to you?” The youth concluded his inspiring tale by saying that he then immediately accepted upon himself a vow of Nezirus. At that point, the Gemorah relates that R’ Shimon stood up, and kissed this youth on his forehead, and said, “If only every Nazir would be as righteous as you!” We see from R’ Shimon’s response that it was not the fact that this boy was a Nazir which earned his respect, and in fact R’ Shimon held that for most people, becoming a Nazir is a sin! However, in this case, this youth showed that his intentions were clearly well-intended. Just as one should eat and drink for the sake of Heaven, sometimes one must also refrain for the sake of Heaven.
Truthfully, God did not mean for His people to live in a state of abstinence or asceticism, but rather each one of the worldly pleasures are here for us to enjoy and use as a tool to do the will of Hashem. R’ Volbe expounds on this point and says that most people do not have a proper understanding of their body and its needs. Most people believe that the body is an entirely physical entity whose singular use is to generate pleasure, and the soul generates the spiritual needs of person which must be met. However this is not so. The proper outlook is that the body is a vessel which contains the soul and which must be treated properly in order to do adequately allow the spiritual part of a person to do the will of Hashem. This understanding will cause a person to at the same time take care of his body properly, with great respect and honor, and meet all of its needs, but to never give in to its non-stop demands merely for the sake of pleasure. The same guidelines will apply to a person’s choice in clothing. One should not dress overly showy, with an outlandish haircut, as this conduct leads one to haughtiness and conceit, but should also not dress himself in rags as this would be neglecting to recognize the fact that he was created in the image of God, but rather should take the middle path and always have in mind that his actions are for the sake of Heaven.
The Midrash in Vayikra (34:3) relates that Hillel was once teaching a class to his students in which he was obviously discussing very profound subjects, at which point he excused himself and began to leave. His students asked him what was so pressing that it pushed off his and their Torah study. He responded that he had to take care of a Mitzvah. When asked which Mitzvah, he said that he was going to take a shower. His students were a bit surprised that their Rebbi considered taking a shower to be a Mitzvah. Hillel explained that man was created in the image of God, and to neglect or to ignore that lofty idea would be a grave sin, so yes, taking a shower is indeed a great Mitzvah!
When one looks at the world this way, one realizes that his day could be filled with Mitzvos. This is a very inspiring message. As opposed to drudging about one’s daily chores with the same old bored expression, one could recognize that every time he meets one of his needs, he is performing a great Mitzvah, one which only he can do for himself, and his daily tasks can, and should, become a great source of inspiration and fulfillment. As he fosters this awareness, he will realize that each time he eats and sleeps, he is growing by leaps and bounds. This type of outlook is in stark contrast to every other religion in the world who view one’s bodily needs as primarily evil and insignificant and promote the idea that one should try to ignore them and conquer them as much as possible. Instead, the Holy Torah teaches us to meet each and every need that the body has, by always concentrating on the fact that we are building ourselves into a vessel which is befit to serve our Creator, and by doing this, we can transform our daily hygiene into the greatest source of spirituality in our lives. When one does this successfully, one begins to train his limbs in the art of spirituality and to sanctify them to the point that the body itself becomes so accustomed to the spiritual, that it pushes one in that direction. The Midrash in Bechukosai says that King David was once on his way somewhere and he ended up in the Beis Midrash. His legs wouldn’t carry him anywhere but to do the greatest good that he could do at that moment.
May we all merit to properly understand, and to build the spiritual use of our body!