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The Nazir – A holy sinner

Written by Anonymous

All the days of his abstinence, he is holy to God. (6:8) “The Kohen shall make one as a sin-offering and one as an elevation-offering, and he shall bring atonement on him for having sinned against the person; and he shall sanctify his head on that day.” ( 6:11) The nazir who vows not to drink wine is elevated to a level of holiness similar to that of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Like the Kohen Gadol, he is prohibited from defiling himself for the dead, even his closest relatives, and the Torah describes his hair, which he must let grow, as sanctified. Yet this very same nazir must bring a korban chatas – a sin offering – at the termination of his vow. The Talmud explains that this sacrifice is to atone for the sin of denying himself the pleasure of wine. Thus the same vow which elevates him to a level of holiness also causes him to be adjudged a sinner. Why? “All that the Holy One, Blessed is He, created in His world, He created solely for His glory.” (Avos 6:11) G-d created the world for man to utilize in His service, not to be retreated from. Every aspect of creation can and must be utilized to aid one in understanding and drawing closer to its Creator. The Torah outlook on the physical world is diametrically opposed to the certain Christian viewpoints which teach that the material world is inherently evil. Any enjoyment of the pleasures of the physical world is permissible only as the lesser of two evils. The only sacrifice a non-Jew may bring is an olah, which is wholly consumed. The holiness [often] understood by the nations of the world is negation of the material world. By contrast, the Jews’ most exalted sacrifice is the shelamim (literally a perfect, harmonious offering), where only a small portion of the offering is burnt on the altar. Most of the offering is eaten by the one who brought the sacrifice and the Kohen who offered it. Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, explained the verse, “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2), to mean that just as God is intimately involved in every aspect of the physical world – since only His will at every moment allows anything to exist – so, too, must we have contact with the entire physical world. But our involvement must imitate God’s: we must elevate and sanctify the physical, and not let the physical drag us into materialism devoid of spirituality.

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