This week’s Parsha, Parshat Naso, talks a lot about the priests and the Levites whose job was in the Mishkan. They didn’t have inheritance in the land, and it talks about their numbers in detail and their jobs.
And all of a sudden, the Parsha goes to a place which seems a little strange. We’re talking about holiness, and it goes to the issue of a man who suspects his wife. They go through a whole process of coming to the Kohanim. And after that it talks about the Nazir. I’m not really sure how to translate the word Nazir in English, but I guess you can call it a monk. A Nazir is someone who prohibits himself from things that are basically permitted to you in this world.
There are two kinds of holiness – I don’t like that word so much – separation, that we see in this week’s Parsha. One is the Kohanim and the Leviim. They’re in one category – the children of the Levite tribe, Shevet Levi. The sons of Aaron HaKohen and the sons of Moshe Rabbeinu are the Leviim.
So those are one type of Kedusha. And then another type of Kedusha is the Nazir, which in loose English would be called the monk.
Two Types of Holiness
The question is the following: When it comes to Kohanim and Leviim, that status is inborn. They’re born to the tribe of Levi, they’re born from Moshe Rabbeinu’s descendants or from Aaron HaKohen, and they are therefore either Kohanim or Leviim.
They seem to be at a higher status, a higher level than the rest of us. And the question is, number one, is that fair? Why should a person who’s born to a special family without earning it be at a higher spiritual level than me?
But the second spirituality, the holiness, the holy level, belongs to the Nazir. And everybody becomes impure in their lives. The idea is that at a certain point, we have to figure out how to become pure again from that impurity. But for instance, going to somebody’s funeral is actually a commandment. It’s called Chesed Shel Emet – the ultimate level of kindness. And these Nazirim, these monks, are no longer allowed to become impure. So it’s self-inflicted spirituality.
When it comes to Kohanim, I can’t do anything about it. I wasn’t born to the family, I can’t reach this level. When it comes to a Nazir, though, I can do that. The question is, does the Torah want me to do that? Does the Torah want me to separate myself from the rest of the world, and is that considered a higher level of holiness? Or am I supposed to be living in the world?
The Nazir’s Sin Offering
According to what we see in the Parsha, the Nazir is put up on a pedestal, on a spiritual pedestal. So the question is, should I, as a Jew, look up and say, “I want to become a Nazir”? Should I want that at all?
Well, the interesting thing is this: While the Nazir is put up on a pedestal, on a holy pedestal, at the same time, when the whole ordeal is over – when his Nazirut, when his time of being a Nazir is over – he has to give a sin offering.
And the question is, if the Nazir is on a spiritual high, if he’s a holy person, why does he have to give a sin offering? A sin offering is for somebody who does something wrong. And if a Nazir’s at a higher spiritual level, then what did he do wrong?
Example: Nadav and Avihu
Now, I want to look at two examples – one of Kohanim and one of a Nazir.
Kohanim are the birth line from Aaron HaKohen, from Aaron the high priest. So his two first sons, Nadav and Avihu, are literally the next generation. It’s not like someone who’s a tzadik, a righteous person – that’s not given from father to son. But kehuna, priesthood, is given from father to son.
So Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu – the future of the priesthood – they die. And how do they die? They die inside the Tabernacle. They die by the fire of God. They die inside the spirituality, the holiness of the Mishkan. That’s where they die.
Wait a second. If they were at such a high spiritual level, how does that happen? How did they mess up so badly?
They messed up, and if they’re at such a spiritual level, how do they do that? I mean, I barely went to Har HaBayit, to the Temple Mount, because I’m scared of the holiness there. They messed up when they got it right from their father. So what happened to that level of spirituality?
Example: Shimshon (Samson)
Number two, when it comes to Nazir – this person who prohibits himself from things that are permitted to him in life – who’s the most famous Nazir in Judaism? Who is the famous Nazir who is also a shofet, a judge?
The most famous Nazir was Shimshon, Samson. And he was not even a Nazir by his own choice. His parents made him a Nazir before he was born, so he was holy on a spiritual level before he was born.
Shimshon, Samson, had two jobs. One is to judge the nation of Israel, and two is to take care of the Pelishtim, the Philistines. This spiritual man who was a Nazir reached that level of spirituality before he was born. How does he fall? He marries one of the women of the people he’s supposed to destroy.
Well, what happened to that holiness? What happened to that spirituality? And should I yearn to reach that spirituality? Should I become a Nazir?
The Torah’s Answer
So I think that the Torah is telling us this: Yes, the Nazir reached a level where he prohibited himself from things, but he has to give a Korban Chatat, a sin offering. Because God, according to Judaism, does not want us to live in caves. He does not want us to be separate from the world. He wants us to use the world – to make a blessing on the wine. We do it every Shabbat. We make blessings on the wine.
It’s not about separating yourself from the world. Yes, you’re supposed to bring the world up to spirituality. You’re supposed to say, “Okay, I’m gonna bring the world up to a spiritual level.” But you’re not supposed to close yourself off from the world.
And so therefore, even though the Nazir separated himself from this world – the Nazir is a tool. When does a Nazir become a Nazir? A Nazir becomes a Nazir, according to Rashi, when he sees what happens to people who are not behaving properly between man and wife, between husband and wife. The way they’re misbehaving, he says, “Okay, that’s it. It happened because of wine. I’m not drinking wine anymore.”
It was an emotional reaction. So yeah, he has to be careful, and that emotional reaction for him is good – but not for the rest of us.
Living in the World
God created the world for us to use the world. And therefore, the Nazir itself is not looked upon as, “Oh, that’s what I wanna do.” If you have to do that, if you have to do that, then you should do it. But we don’t look up to that. We say, “No, you’re supposed to live in this world.”
When it comes to the Kohen, he’s not on a higher spiritual level than us. He has responsibilities. He’s not on any higher level. We see that they sinned. We see that they were killed by their sin. These are tools on how to live a spiritual life.
The ultimate goal of Judaism is to live life the way it’s supposed to be lived according to the Torah in this world. You’re supposed to eat. You’re supposed to drink wine. You’re supposed to make a blessing on the wine. Of course, you’re supposed to go to funerals and do kindness to people who died. That’s the goal of Judaism.
The Nazir and the Kohen, yeah, they’re put on that level, but it’s responsibility. It’s not that we should look forward to becoming them. We’re not supposed to be a Nazir. You’re supposed to live life according to Torah. And we’re not supposed to be separate from the world. We’re supposed to be in the world, and we kadesh et ha-chol – we sanctify the mundane.
The Message
I think that is the message of this week’s parshah – and why the Nazir exists in the Torah even though we don’t believe in monks in Judaism. We don’t believe in living in caves. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did that, and he lost the argument. People did not succeed in his way of life.
We’re supposed to live life with the tools that God gave us. Eat, drink, make blessings on the food, sanctify what we do in this world. You’re working – whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, whatever it is – be honest. Sanctify everything we do in this world. Don’t separate yourself from the world. Be a holy person within the world. That is why God gave us the world.
And again, like my grandmother always said about the Holocaust – after surviving, people ask, “Where was God in the Holocaust?” My grandmother says, “No, no. Where was man in the Holocaust?” Don’t yell at God. He gave you the tools to be perfect. We mess it up. From the beginning of time – He put us in Gan Eden, we messed it up.
So let’s look forward and be motivated to live in this world the way we’re supposed to live with the tools that God gave us. Don’t shut out the world. Live in this world. Sanctify the world. Tell the truth. Let people understand the truth. At the end of the day, that is the way to become a righteous person in this world.
Shabbat Shalom from beautiful Hashmonaim in the beautiful land of Israel.