Rashi, Women & Wine

(12) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: Any party whose wife has gone astray and broken faith with him, (13) in that another man has had carnal relations with her unbeknown to her husband, and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself without being forced, and there is no witness against her, (14) but a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about the wife who has defiled herself—or if a fit of jealousy comes over him and he is wrought up about his wife although she has not defiled herself— (15) that party shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. No oil shall be poured upon it and no frankincense shall be laid on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance which recalls wrongdoing. (16) The priest shall bring her forward and have her stand before ה'. (17) The priest shall take sacral water in an earthen vessel and, taking some of the earth that is on the floor of the Tabernacle, the priest shall put it into the water. (18) After he has made the woman stand before ה', the priest shall bare the woman’s head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest’s hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell.

ופרע AND HE SHALL PUT IN DISORDER [THE WOMAN’S HAIR] — i.e. he pulls away her hair-plaits in order to make her look despicable. — We may learn from this that as regards married Jewish women an uncovered head is a disgrace to them (Sifrei Bamidbar 11).

(6) And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not bare your heads [Or “dishevel your hair.”] and do not rend your clothes, lest you die and anger strike the whole community. But your kin, all the house of Israel, shall bewail the burning that ה' has wrought.

פרע — The word פרע is punctuated (as to its first syllable) with Patach-Katan (Segol) because it is in construct state to שער ראשו and the meaning is: the פרע, the wild growth of שער ראשו — The meaning of the word פרע is over-growth of the hair; similar is (Leviticus 21:10) “He shall not let his hair grow wild (יפרע)”. Growth of the hair of less than thirty days’ duration does not come under the term פרע (Sifrei Bamidbar 25; Sanhedrin 22b).

(Bamidbar 5:18) "And the Cohen shall stand the woman before the L-rd": Where he stood her before (viz. Ibid. 16), he stands her afterwards, (after she had been moved away from her original position [They would walk her from place to place to "weary" her into confession]). "And he shall uncover the head of the woman": The Cohen moves behind her and uncovers her hair to fulfill the mitzvah to do so. R. Yishmael said: From here (i.e., from the fact that he is to uncover her hair) we derive an exhortation for the daughters of Israel to cover their hair. And though there is no proof for this, there is an intimation of it in (II Samuel 13:19) "And Tamar put earth upon her head … and she put her hand on her head." R. Yehudah says: If her top-knot were beautiful, he did not expose it, and if her hair were beautiful, he did not dishevel it. If she were dressed in white, she is dressed in black. If black were becoming to her, she is divested of it and clothed in ungainly garments. If there were golden ornaments upon her — necklaces, nose-rings, and rings — they are taken from her to render her unattractive. R. Yochanan b. Beroka says: The daughters of Israel are not made more unattractive than the Torah prescribes, viz. — "… before the L-rd and he shall uncover the head of the woman." They would spread a sheet of linen between him and the people. The Cohein would walk around her in order to fulfill the mitzvah of disheveling her hair. They say to him: Just as she was not solicitous of the honor of the L-rd, so, we are not solicitous of her honor — wherefore she is demeaned in this manner. And all who wish to look at her may do so except her man-servants and her maid-servants, for she is callous in their presence. Both men and women, kin and non-kin, may look at her, as it is written (Ezekiel 23:48) "and all the women will be chastised and not act according to your lewdness." (Devarim, Ibid.) "and he shall place into her hands the offering of memorial" Abba Channan says in the name of R. Eliezer: So that she is "wearied" into confession. Now does this not follow a fortiori, viz.: If the L-rd is so solicitous of the transgressors of His will, how much more so, of the doers of His will! "and in the hand of the Cohein will be the bitter waters": Scripture herby apprises us that the waters turn bitter only in the hand of the Cohein. Variantly: They are called "bitter" because of their effect — they impart bitterness to the body and convulse the eye.

מאשר חטא על הנפש [AND THE PRIEST … MAKE EXPIATION FOR HIM] FOR THAT HE HATH SINNED BY THE DEAD — i.e., that he has not been on his guard against defilement by a corpse. — R. Eleazer ha-Kappar said, “his sin consists in that he has afflicted himself by abstaining from the enjoyment of wine (Sifrei Bamidbar 30; Nazir 19a).

As it is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Elazar HaKappar, the esteemed one, says: What is the meaning when the verse states with regard to a nazirite: “And make atonement for him, for he sinned by the soul” (Numbers 6:11)? And with which soul did this person sin by becoming a nazirite? Rather, in afflicting himself by abstaining from wine, he is considered to have sinned with his own soul, and he must bring a sin-offering for the naziriteship itself, for causing his body to suffer. And an a fortiori inference can be learned from this: Just as this person, in afflicting himself by abstaining only from wine, is nevertheless called a sinner, in the case of one who afflicts himself by abstaining from everything, through fasting or other acts of mortification, all the more so is he described as a sinner.