Musar sur Les Nombres 8:7

The Kabbalists are agreed that כהן, לוי, ישראל, represent the emanations of חסד, גבורה, תפארת respectively. We have practical examples of this when we look at the Nazirite legislation, where the Torah forbids the Nazirite to cut his hair, i.e. תער לא יבא על ראשו (Numbers 6,5). The reverse is the case when we read about the Levites being consecrated in Numbers 8,7, where the Torah commands the Levites to shave off all the hair on their bodies, i.e. והעבירו תער על כל בשרם. In the case of the נזיר, the Torah stipulates that he must retain the "crown," i.e. nezer, just as a כהן wears a "crown," i.e. מצנפת. Both are forbidden to defile themselves through contact with the dead. Just as the sanctity of the כהן derives from the emanation of חסד, so do the special "powers" of the נזיר derive from that emanation. His hairs allude to the צנורות עליונות, conduits from "higher regions," and divinely inspired characteristics which are derived from the attribute of חסד. This is why he is commanded not to destroy them (the linkage to that attribute). The Levite's spiritual strength, on the other hand, derives from the attribute of גבורה=דין and unbroken contact with this source, which is also the source that inspires negative manifestations here on earth, and must be avoided. That is why he must proceed in manner opposite to that of the Nazirite. This is then why the Torah commands that he shave off all his hair, i.e. all that is reminiscent of conduits connecting him with that source. It is the task of the Levite to frustrate the powers of impurity, to prevent them from gaining ascendancy anywhere. He does so symbolically by destroying his hair, i.e. "by removing the thorns from the vineyard." כהן, לוי, ישראל, can also be viewed as representative of חסד, גבורה, תפארת.

Immediately afterwards the Torah mentions the prohibition of shaving off corners of one's beard seeing that imitating pagan practices has been forbidden. One must not destroy the very symbols representing the emanation חד. This is a profoundly mystical aspect to which I have already alluded when discussing Genesis 49,22: בן פורת יוסף, where we discussed the mystical dimension of man's features, that the hair alludes to divine forces found in אדם העליון, the Celestial equivalent of terrestrial Man. Some of these are spiritual outgrowths of the attribute of חסד, whereas others are outgrowths of the attribute of דין. The former are the ones that one must not destroy by shaving them off. This is the mystical dimension of the injunction in 21,5 that: לא יקרחה קרחה בראשם, "The priests must not make bald spots on their heads (in mourning for someone who died). The priests, who more than anyone, originate in the emanation חסד, are forbidden to do this, whereas the Levites who originate in the emanation גבורה, are on occasion even instructed to shave off all the hair on their bodies (Numbers 8,7) in order to weaken the forces of דין. We observe that Gentiles, especially their clergymen, who are the recipients of abundant influences from the emanation גבורה, i.e. the attribute of Justice, and upon whom the spirit of impurity rests, make a point of destroying the hair around the corners of their beards, even though they act like a blind man looking for a window [they do not realize the mystical dimension of what they are doing. Ed.]. Similar considerations are at the root of the prohibition to inflict tattoos on one's flesh (19,28). Once you understand this you realize the reason that women are not subject to the injunctions not to shave off the hair on their heads. They are comparable to the Levites.