Halakhah for Numbers 6:11

Perhaps a person might say: "Since envy, lust and glory and the like, are bad character traits that remove a man from the world, I will completely abstain from them, and keep away from them entirely," to the point that he will not eat meat, nor drink wine, nor marry a woman, nor live in a comfortable dwelling, nor wear decent clothes, but he will put on a sackcloth, or something similar; this too is a bad way of life, and it is forbidden to follow it. Anyone who follows this life-style is called a sinner. For in regard to the nazir it is written,²¹Numbers 6:11. (Nazarite) "To atone for him who sinned by the dead,"²²מֵאֲשֶׁר חָטָא עַל הַנֶפֶשׁ—is translated by the Rabbis as “for committing a sin against his soul,” “against himself,” by denying himself things which are permitted. and [our Rabbis] of blessed memory said, "If a nazir who abstained only from drinking wine, needs an atonement, a person who abstains from everything, how much more so does he need [an atonement]."²³Ta’anis 11a. Therefore, our Rabbis of blessed memory ordained that you should abstain only from those things which the Torah prohibits, but do not prohibit to yourself, things which are permitted by means of vows and oaths. Thus said our Sages of blessed memory, "Is not what the Torah forbids enough for you that you have to prohibit to yourself things which are permissible?"²⁴Yerushalmi, Nedarim 9:1. And our Rabbis of blessed memory have forbidden us to inflict pain on ourselves with more fasting than is required. Concerning all these and similar matters, King Solomon, peace be upon him, said, "Do not be excessively righteous, nor overly wise, why destroy yourself."²⁵Ecclesiastes 7:16. And he said [in the same vein],²⁶Proverbs 4:26. "Measure well the path of your foot then you will stay on a straight course."²⁷Malbim explains the word paleis as a form of peles, the name of a measuring instrument. Man should measure carefully to find the middle road of life, staying clear of the extremes.

And do not wrangle [with] me from what they, may their memory be blessed, said (Nazir 19a), "He must bring an atonement offering for himself, for he pained himself by avoiding wine." For this also works with our explanation. Since I have already said that a person does not have the right to destroy his house and to wreck anything of the building that was built by the First Builder, it is fitting for him to bring atonement for his soul. For perhaps he has overstepped the boundary that obligates him with regard to his body and his soul. As perhaps being a nazirite is overly afflicting to his soul according to his nature and constitution. And all 'the ways of God, may He be blessed, are righteous and the just follow them.' And Ramban, may his memory be blessed, wrote in his commentary (Ramban on Numbers 6:11) according to the simple understanding that the reason of the sin-offering that the nazirite bring for atonement [is] that he requires atonement for returning to become impure with the desires of the world. As once this person had had a 'spirit of God' upon him and began to become a nazirite to God, it would have been fit to stay that way for his whole life. And there are seventy faces to the Torah.