IF SOMEONE IN HIS

PRESENCE DIES UNEXPECTEDLY OR SUDDENLY, AND CAUSES  THE NAZIRITE HEAD TO BECOME DEFILED, HE SHALL

SHAVE OFF [THE HAIR OF] HIS HEAD ON THE DAY OF HIS PURIFICATION… AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY, HE SHALL BRING TWO TURTLEDOVES OR TWO

YOUNG PIGEONS… THE PRIEST SHALL PREPARE ONE FOR A SIN

OFFERING AND ONE FOR A BURNT OFFERING AND ATONE ON HIS BEHALF FOR SINNING BY

COMING INTO CONTACT WITH THE DEAD

(Bamidbar 6:9-11)

for sinning by

coming into contact with the dead – He did not take precautions against

becoming defiled by the dead. Rabbi Eleazar Hakappar says: He afflicted himself

(Rashi Bamidbar 6:11, Judaica Press translation)

and atone on his

behalf for sinning by coming into contact with the dead: Even though

his defilement was involuntary it is still called a sin. Ibn Ezra states that

the involuntary [defilement] befell him as a punishment for some other sin he

committed, and a transgression comes as recompense for a transgression.

(ShaDaL ad loc)

Since it is referring

to the case of a corpse that appeared by surprise and the nazirite is in no way

guilty [for becoming ritually unclean through contact with it], it is clear

that the sin is that he abstained from wine. If this circumstance did not

befall him he would not have been called a sinner, since it was proper for him

to abstain from physical pleasures in order to achieve the spiritual pleasure

of clinging to God, however, since that circumstance [of ritual defilement] was

forced upon him it served as a sign that he was unworthy [of being a nazirite],

and thus he had pointlessly caused himself grief by abstaining from wine and

sought something of which he was unworthy.

(The NeTziV of Volozhin, Ha'Amek Davar Bamidbar

6:11)

For the entire duration of his abstinence, he is holy to the

Lord. This is the [verse's] interpretation: Do not

imagine that he is sanctified only in his actions and not in his essence. That

is why it says, For the entire duration of his abstinence, he is holy to the

Lord, for he is made holy in his essence and lofty in his station. When he

separates himself from desires and luxuries and guards himself from them all,

he becomes pure in his materiality and excellent in his essence. That is why it

says: If

someone in his presence dies unexpectedly or suddenly – he was involuntarily

brought into a state of defilement and was not expected to be on guard against

such an event. He shall bring… prepare… atone on his behalf for sinning

by coming into contact with the dead. This is the

interpretation: Since he was a holy man of high station, he requires atonement

for the fact that a man happened to die in his tent. As it states in Makkot

11a, the murderer remains in the city of refuge until the High Priest dies

because the latter should have asked for mercy upon his generation but failed

to do so. The nazirite has a station similar to that of the High Priest, since

they both bear the crown of his God upon their heads. That is the meaning of

his for

sinning by coming into contact with the dead.

(R. Meir Simkha MiDvinsk: Meshekh Hokhma 6:8)

And

grant you peace – There is no

vessel that can contain blessing other than peace

Haim

Rubinstein

One concept links together the Festival of

the Giving of the Torah, the Book of Ruth, and this week's parasha: the concept

of blessing. We find it in the blessing of the Torah, in Boaz's blessing of the

reapers, and in the triple blessing of the priests. A blessing is a prayer for

bringing down abundance and bounty, a prayer of thanks for a commandment we can

observe or for a kindness received, or a prayer relating to an unusual event.

God is the source of abundance addressed by the blessing; ability and

governance are His alone, as we read in our parasha, Nasso: They shall

bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, so that I will bless them

(Bamidbar 6:22). This should send a message to all those who believe that it is

within man's power to grant blessing and abundance.

So that I will bless

them. From whence do we learn that Israel should not say that their

blessings are dependent upon the priests? It is learned from the verse: so

that I will bless them. From whence do we learn that the priests should not

say, "We shall bless Israel"? It is learned from the verse: so

that I will bless them. (Sifri 43:6:27)

The number of words found in the three verses

of the triple blessing matches the mathematical series of prime numbers (3, 5,

7). Perhaps this fact points to origin of the blessing as found in the first

verse: May the Lord bless you and watch over you. The source of the

blessing is prime and the first member of the series is mentioned in its second

member: it is the name and appellation of the First Prime – the Lord.

The number three connects the triple blessing

with "the secret of the speech of the holy Seraphs, those who sanctify

Your name in holiness; 'Holy, holy, holy.'" The next prime number, eleven,

ahad asar kokhvaya – eleven stars – may allude to this connection. The

priests act as seraphs, bringing down God's blessing to the Israelites. During

the three festivals of pilgrimage the Israelites who visit the Temple receive

the triple blessing from the priests. This is the only element of Temple ritual

that persists in our own times; every day the priests stand up before the

worshippers in the synagogue to offer the blessing originally uttered in the

Temple.

The commentators disagreed in their

interpretations of the blessings. Rabbi S.R. Hirsch viewed the three parts of

the blessing as constituting three stages that complete each other:

May

the Lord bless you and watch over you – The end of the verse (and watch

over you) refers back to its beginning (May the Lord bless you). We

learn from it that this blessing refers chiefly to those goods that need to be

protected even after they are granted. They must be watched over to insure that

they are realized by us and that they serve us as a genuine blessing.

From here R. Hirsch infers that the first

blessing relates to material wealth. Such wealth must be guarded against loss;

we must also take care to make worthy use of it.

May the Lord cause His countenance to shine to you –

The Lord will be revealed by the valor of His governance. And favor you

grant man his heart's wishes… We find that the gift referred to here is of

the following kind: God will grant us the spiritual abilities needed in order

for us to see God's countenance that has been illuminated for our eyes… He

will equip you with spiritual abilities to understand His words as they appear

in the Torah and in prophecy." As it is written in Psalms (67): God will be gracious to us and bless

be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Rabbi Hirsch views this blessing as calling

for the granting of spiritual assets needed by those who would know God by

understanding His Torah.

May the Lord raise His

countenance toward you – "This blessing concerns closeness to God. We

shall gain such nearness if we make proper use of all the material and

spiritual assets He has given us." Rabbi Hirsch finds three parts in the

three blessings. These are three ascending rungs which might be implied by the

number of words in each verse. The blessings relate to material possessions

used for good purposes, to spiritual assets gained through God's illumination,

and to the joint use of these possessions and assets to gain knowledge of God's

"countenance" by way of the commandments, the Torah, and prophecy. Knowledge

of the divine world is the human ideal.

And grant you peace – The complete

utilization of these gifts is the ideal world, the world of peace. This is not

the peace of war and conflict followed by compromise, but rather a world whose

basic condition is one of peace – a state of being that leaves no cause for

conflict or aggression. That is the condition for the fulfillment of the

blessings. It is a state of the world in which the governance of men will

follow God's path, governance in which each person will control his own

inclinations, demonstrate gratitude, and perform kindness. The aspiration for

peace is the aspiration for a God whose name is Shalom – Peace. Peace is an

excellence greater than all others – it is the foundation of God's world. Peace

is the ideal of the Torah world, and many verses and prayers mention the

concept of Shalom. Peace as an ideal upon the earth.

And

so it says: Go out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze upon King Solomon, upon

the day of the joy of his heart (Song of Songs 3). On the day of his

nuptials – that is [the day of] he giving of the Torah. And on the day

of the joy of his heart – that is [the day when] the Temple will be built. May

it be built soon and in our days – amen! R. Ovadiah MiBartenura comments: upon

King Solomon – that is the Holy One blessed be He, for peace is His; his

mother – that is the congregation of Israel. (Mishnah

Ta'anit 4:8)

Every

mention of Solomon [Shlomo] in the Song of Songs is considered to be

holy [i.e., a reference to God]; it is a song to Him for Whom peace is His. (Shavu'ot 4, 35b)

Pinchas,

son of Elazar, son of Aaron the Priest – said The Holy One, Blessed Be He,

it is proper that he receive his reward, Say, therefore, I grant him My pact

of peace. Great is the [gift of] peace given Pinchas, for the world cannot

function without peace, and the entire Torah is peace, as is written, Her

ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths, peaceful (Proverbs 3:17), and if

one comes from a journey we bless him with peace. In the morning we beseech

peace, and at evening we ask for peace; the [blessing following] Shema

Yisrael concludes with “Who spreads a sukkah of peace over his people;” the

prayer service ends with a plea for peace; the priestly benediction ends with

peace. Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta said: There is no vessel that holds blessing –

but peace, as is written: The Lord will give strength to his people, the

Lord will bless his people with peace. (Bamidbar

Rabbah 21:1)

Haim Rubinstein, one who

blesses himself with the triple blessing

Acceptance of the Torah by Coercion vs. Acceptance by

Free Choice

And they stood

beneath the mountain

Rabbi Hanina bar Hama bar Hassa said: – This

teaches us that the Holy One, Blessed Be he, suspended the mountain over them

as though it were a basin.

(Shabbat 88a)

External and Internal Peace: the Juxtaposition of Sections in Parashat

Naso

…It would seem that this passage (5:5-8; the section dealing with the guilt-offering

for theft) is intended to remove

from the camp an evil that could encourage fights and disagreements; that is –

that one must be careful not to unjustly damage the property of others, or try

to exploit the weakness of others who lack avengers.

…and so this section (pertaining to the sotah, 5:11-31) follows upon a passage intended to remove controversy and conflict from

Israel in general, for this [the sotah] passage is meant to remove

conflict from the household, and household peace comes before the nation's

peace…

…and this section (regarding the nazir, 6:1-21) follows sotah passage, whose purpose is to remove conflict and

loss from the household, because the point of this [the nazir] section

is to calm the individual's internal conflict and loss that is associated with

physical desire that can lead to sin…

…and after it recalled that which removes strife between a person and

himself, and that which removes conflict and disagreement and loss from the

household and from the entire nation, it brings up this passage, which is that

of the priestly blessing, thus making a wonderful comment about perfection and

genuine peace.

(RaLaBaG, as quoted by

Nehamah Leibowitz, z"l's Iyyunim le-Sefer Bamidbar, 45-6)

Growth of Hair As An Expression of

Mourning Or A Partition Between the Nazarite and Society

Throughout the

term of his vow as a nazirite, no razor… Why did God command that the

nazirite not shave his head? Because shaving beautifies one, as is illustrated

by Joseph: And he shaved and he changed his clothes. Letting the hair

grow long is an expression of sorrow and mourning. Therefore the Holy One, Blessed

Be He, said: After this nazirite enjoined himself from wine in order to

distance himself from indecency, let him grow his hair long so that he become

unsightly and sad, lest the evil inclination assail him; throughout the period

of his vow to be a nazirite holy to God, they are forbidden him as though they

are sanctified objects from which one may not derive pleasure, for he has

sanctified them to the name of Heaven.

 (Bamidbar

Rabbah 10:10)

And the nazirite

shall shave – The shaving of the hair ordered here and the

placing of it on the fire which is cooking the shelamim meal forms the

most striking expression of the meaning of naziritism just ended, and of its

value only being relative to the happy life to be lived henceforth before God.

His life as a nazirite was only to have been a preparatory provisional

training. If letting the hair grow was the sign of a sanctifying separation and

withdrawal into oneself (v. 5), the complete shaving is the expression of

thenceforth ceasing this separation and thenceforth completely re-entering the

whole social life of the community. This complete re-entry into the whole

social life of the community is not merely something permissible, it is a just

commandment. It is a commandment to be happy and have pleasure before God, to

live a life permeated with the spirit of the shelamim. This kind of life

transcends a life of naziritism, of renunciation and abstention, which reveals

its moral strength only in seclusion and retreat. Naziritism has no value

unless it leads to complete social integration.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch 6:18)

The Torah Should be Accepted

through a Personal Decision, "Not in order to receive a reward."

…That is why Israel was not given the Torah immediately after the

splitting of the Red Sea, because if they had received it after the splitting

of the Red Sea, it would have looked as if they accepted the Torah in order to

receive a reward, as a result of the great miracles that had just been

performed for them. That is why God waited a bit – meanwhile they could

partially forget the miracles performed for them, as it says, there was no

water for the community, and they complained. Afterwards, they received the

Torah, saying that they would do it and hear it, which proves that they

accepted the Torah solely out of love for the Torah.

(From Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of

Berdichev's Kedushat Levi)

Reception of the Torah:

Forced or Freely Taken?

And they stood beneath the

mountain:

R. Avdimi bar Hama bar Hasa said: This teaches us that the Holy One blessed be

He held the mountain over them like a basin and told them, "If you accept

the Torah, all is well, but if not here shall be your graves." R. Aha bar

Yaakov said: This implies a great claim against [the validity of the acceptance

of] the Torah. Rava said: Even so, the generation received it [again] in the

days of Ahasuerus, for it is written, the Jews observed and accepted

(Esther 9); they observed what they had already accepted.

(Shabbat 84a)

…It is important to reiterate and stress

that the religious decision does not result from events, but derives from man's

judgment and decision. In this context it is proper that we return to the

RaMBaM as he deals with an issue which is ostensibly a purely halakhic ruling,

but which has deep ideological significance.

In The Responsa of

the RaMBaM (ed. Freiman, Chap 30),

the RaMBaM is asked regarding the wording of the conclusion of the blessings

over the Torah… should it be "Blessed are you, O Lord, who gives the

Torah" or perhaps "Who teaches Torah to His people Israel"? It

should be mentioned that both phrases are found in our daily prayer book, in

the "Blessings of Dawn", but the version "who gives Torah"

is also the accepted benediction recited by one who is called up to the Torah.

RaMBaM responds and

rules that the correct version is "who gives Torah"; he rejects

"who teaches the Torah to his people Israel," emphasizing:

Inasmuch as the ending

"who gives the Torah" is the essence of the benediction, for its

substance is that He charged us with its reading.

It should be understood that

for the RaMBaM, "its reading" means "its study", and this,

too, is the meaning of its "being given." The Giver of Torah gave us

the Torah so that it be studied. RaMBaM adds:

This is the substance

of the benediction, to beseech assistance in its study, and whoever concludes

with "He who teaches Torah" sins (variant reading errs"),

because God does not teach us, He commanded us to study it and to teach it.

This is based upon a primary principle of the Torah – that observance of the

commandments is in our hands; we are not forced to perform them by God.

The importance of the giving of the Torah to

the Jewish people lies not in what is described in the famous Aggadic

embellishment: 'The Holy One, Blessed Be He, suspended over them a mountain as

if it were a tank", but rather in Israel's accepting the Torah of their

own accord, and this is not what happened at the Revelation at Sinai, which was

acceptance by compulsion – which did not succeed.

This story represents a

great devaluation of the significance of faith base it upon revelation and

miracles and wonders, and they ignore the fact that there can be no true faith

unless it comes from within man's self.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parshiyot

HaShavu'a, pp. 300-301), if men wish to

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