Parshat Naso: The Nazirite Vow

(15) [Delilah] said to [Samson], “How can you say you love me, when you don’t confide in me? This makes three times that you’ve deceived me and haven’t told me what makes you so strong.” (16) Finally, after she had nagged him and pressed him constantly, he was wearied to death (17) and he confided everything to her. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head, for I have been a nazirite to God since I was in my mother’s womb. If my hair were cut, my strength would leave me and I should become as weak as an ordinary man.”

(1) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any men or women explicitly utter a nazirite’s vow, to set themselves apart for ה׳, (3) they shall abstain from wine and any other intoxicant; they shall not drink vinegar of wine or of any other intoxicant, neither shall they drink anything in which grapes have been steeped, nor eat grapes fresh or dried. (4) Throughout their term as nazirite, they may not eat anything that is obtained from the grapevine, even seeds or skin. (5) Throughout the term of their vow as nazirite, no razor shall touch their head; it shall remain consecrated until the completion of their term as nazirite of ה׳, the hair of their head being left to grow untrimmed. (6) Throughout the term that they have set apart for ה׳, they shall not go in where there is a dead person. (7) Even if their father or mother, or their brother or sister should die, they must not become defiled for any of them, since hair set apart for their God is upon their head: (8) throughout their term as nazirite they are consecrated to ה׳.

(9) If someone dies suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated hair, the [nazirite] shall shave the head at the time of becoming pure, shaving it on the seventh day. (10) On the eighth day that person shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (11) The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make expiation on the person’s behalf for the guilt incurred through the corpse. That same day the head shall be reconsecrated; (12) and that person shall rededicate to ה׳ the term as nazirite, bringing a lamb in its first year as a penalty offering. The previous period shall be void, since the consecrated hair was defiled.

One time, a particular man who was a nazirite came from the South and I saw that he had beautiful eyes and was good looking, and the fringes of his hair were arranged in curls. I said to him: My son, what did you see that made you decide to destroy this beautiful hair of yours by becoming a nazirite? A nazirite must shave off his hair at the completion of his term. If he becomes impure before the completion of his term, he shaves off his hair and starts his term of naziriteship again. He said to me: I was a shepherd for my father in my city, and I went to draw water from the spring, and I looked at my reflection [babavua] in the water and my evil inclination quickly overcame me and sought to expel me from the world. I said to myself: Wicked one! Why do you pride yourself in a world that is not yours? Why are you proud of someone who will eventually be food in the grave for worms and maggots, i.e., your body? I swear by the Temple service that I shall shave you for the sake of Heaven. Shimon HaTzaddik continues the narrative: I immediately arose and kissed him on his head. I said to him: My son, may there be more who take vows of naziriteship like you among the Jewish people.

If one should argue: since envy, passion, and pride and such are an evil path... then I shall divorce and separate myself utterly from them until I eat no meat nor drink wine, nor marry, nor reside in a comfortable dwelling nor wear fine clothes but only wool and sackcloth after the manner of the heathen priests – this is also an evil path and it is forbidden to walk therein as is stated in the case of the Nazirite, who is called a sinner, since it is said of the Nazir: 'And make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the soul.’ And our Sages go on to say that if the Nazir only separated himself from wine and needed to make expiation, then one who separates from all things--all the more so. Therefore our Sages commanded that a person should only deny oneself those things denied him by the Torah, and should not--by vows or oaths--forbid himself from other, permitted things. One should not inflict on oneself vows of abstinence on things permitted to them. From this principle, we can derive that the path of total abstinence is not a good one.