Musar sobre Números 6:4

The Torah next deals with the regulations governing the behavior of the Nazirite. Our sages in Sotah 2a, state that the reason why this paragraph follows the paragraph dealing with the Sotah is that anyone who has seen the latter in her state of disgrace may decide to abstain from drinking wine in order to fortify himself against the temptation of adultery. He will abstain from anything connected with the fruit of the grapevine. The Zohar on our verse explains that we are dealing with the mystical dimension of the fruit of man, i.e. his deeds. It is taken for granted that the fruit Adam/Eve ate from was the fruit of the grapevine, that in fact she squeezed out the grapes. This seems based on Deut. 32,32, ענבמו ענבי רוש, "its grapes are grapes of poison.” Wine, grapes and grape juice are all perceived as deriving from the "left" line of the diagram depicting the ten emanations (the passive, feminine side). Its particular source is בינה, which is also described as יין המשומר, wine that has been preserved for a long time. We know that שכר is also from that side, because it stems from grapes. Crapes in turn collect all this (poison) from the "higher” emanations, since they are a simile for the emanation מלכות. The descent on the left side from בינה to מלכות, is of course, via דין, (also known as גבורה). This is the tree with which Eve sinned. If both “wet” grapes and “dry” grapes are forbidden to the Nazirite, this is because the former represent the attribute of דין קשה, the 'hard' attribute of Justice, whereas the latter represent מדת הדין הרפה, the softer attribute of Justice.

The following is an excerpt of the סמ"ג’s introduction to the list of negative commandments: " Maimonides includes a widow and an orphan as a collective entity whenever the Torah enjoins us to treat the widow or orphan in a certain way, or not to treat them in a certain way. Similarly Maimonides lumps the Moabite and the Ammonite together. Whenever we read in the Torah that a Moabite or a member of the people of Ammon is prohibited from something, this constitutes a single prohibition in Maimonides' count. Maimonides also treats the prohibition of שאור ודבש, leaven and honey which are forbidden to constitute a smoke or incense offering on the altar, as a single negative commandment (cf. Leviticus 2,11). Maimonides similarly views the physical blemishes mentioned in Deut. 23,2 (someone whose member is cut off, or whose testes have been crushed and who is therefore prohibited from marrying a Jewish woman), as a single negative commandment. The same applies to someone eating the Passover sacrifice whether it is raw or boiled in water (Exodus 12,9). Because Maimonides has thereby reduced the number of negative commandments making up the required number of 365, he was forced to look for other negative commandments to make up the required number. We have already demonstrated in the name of Rashi that the prohibition of offering leaven or honey on the altar constitutes two separate Biblical prohibitions. Rashi also admits that though the widow and the divorcee that the High Priest is prohibited from marrying (Leviticus 21), are mentioned together we deal here with two separate prohibitions. When discussing these respective commandments in our book, we have demonstrated clear proof that this is so." So far the introductory comments of the סמ"ג.

The סמ"ג goes on to quote a Rashi in the name of a Rabbi Yitzchak demonstrating that Rava considers such a transgression as a transgression of at least two if not four prohibitions. [Although the Rashi in our edition of the Talmud on that folio merely mentions that four penalties of lashes are administered, this does not change the point the סמ"ג tries to make. Ed.]