Commentaire de citation sur Isaïe 1:4

וינזרו THAT THEY KEEP AWAY [FROM THE HOLY THINGS etc.] — The term נזר always denotes “keeping aloof". Similarly it is said (Ezekiel 14:7) "and he separates himself (וינזר) from following Me”; (Isaiah 1:4) "They are gone away (נזורו) backward”. The meaning of this verse therefore is: they (the priests) shall keep aloof from the holy things during the time of their uncleanness (Sifra, Emor, Section 4 1).

Kap. 22. V. 2. וינזרו. Die Grundbedeutung von "נזר" enthält entschieden den Begriff des Ausschlusses aus einem Kreise und zwar nach beiden Seiten: deprimierend, als Nichtberechtigter, Unbefugter, und erhebend, als über dem Kreise Stehender. Im קל und נפעל ist die deprimierende Bedeutung die vorherrschende. נזרו אחור Jes.1, 4 נזורו מעלי Jechesk. 14, 4 וינזרו מעלי daselbst 6. Auch das הגִוָרֵ (Secharja 7, 3) als Ausdruck für Fasten ist ja ein sich Ausschließen von Nahrung als dazu nichtberechtigt oder deren nicht würdig. Offenbar ist "נזר" fast identisch mit "זור", wie נדה und נהם ,דוה und נמל ,הום und נסג ,מול und נסך ,סוג und נפח ,סוך und נפץ ,פוח und פוץ u a. m. Das Gebot וינזרו מקדשי בני ישראל setzt somit an die כהנים die Forderung, daß sie sich nicht als die zu den Heiligtümern, die ihnen vom Volke übergeben werden, ohne weiteres Berechtigten betrachten sollen. Es gibt Zeiten, wo sie sich von ihnen ausgeschlossen, ihnen "fremd" zu halten haben, ihnen wie זרים gegenüber stehen, und sie weder zur עבודה handhaben, noch sie genießen dürfen. Es ist dies der Zustand der טומאה, der hinsichtlich אכילת קדשים בטומאת הגוף im weiteren Verfolg besprochen wird. In וינזרו ist aber sowohl שימוש בטומאה als אכילה בטומאה begriffen (תוספ׳ Sebachim 15b). Die fast identische Bedeutung von נור und זור und die dem gemäße Auffassung des וינזרו als das Gebot, sich zu Zeiten "den קדשים gegenüber als זרים zu halten" dürfte vielleicht einem Sebachim 15b enthaltenen Lehrsatze eine Erläuterung gewähren, die die gewöhnliche, ungemein schwierige Auffassung entbehrlich machen könnte.

You will find a passage in the Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 2,1 which describes a similar phenomenon. Rabbi Levi, when asked the meaning of the expression ארך אפים, said it meant “to keep destructive anger at a distance.” The whole matter can be illustrated by a parable.” A king had two heavily armed divisions of troops at his command. He reasoned that if he were to allow the soldiers of these divisions to dwell in his proximity this would have dire consequences for his citizens in the event that those would commit acts angering their ruler. The soldiers would take immediate drastic steps against such disobedient citizens. The king therefore decided to station his troops some distance from his capital so that in the event the people became guilty of a misdemeanour they would have time to repent before falling victim to the wrath of these soldiers in their fierce loyalty to their king. Here G’d informed Moses that He had stationed His agents (who would act as executors of His decrees) far enough away to afford the errant sinners an opportunity to repent in time.
There are some Biblical verses which appear to support this idea, such as Isaiah 13,5: “they come from a distant land, from the end of the sky; the Lord with His weapons of wrath, to ravage the earth.” [In other words, retribution, though on its way, is some time away. Ed.] Rabbi Yitzchak goes further, basing himself on Jeremiah 50,25: “the Lord has opened His armory and brought out the weapons of His wrath;” he interprets these verses as describing how much time will elapse between the sin causing the wrath of the Lord and the enactment of punitive decrees against the sinners in question. During all this time the attribute of Mercy may be activated through prayer and repentance. Rabbi Meir interprets the word יוצא, “comes forth,” in Isaiah 26,21: ”the Lord shall come forth from His place to punish the dwellers on earth,” as G’d leaving (forsaking) the attribute of Justice in favor of the attribute of Mercy. [The prophet speaks about the Gentiles who will become the object of G’d’s wrath thus affording the Jewish people a breathing space, i.e. treatment by the attribute of Mercy. Ed.] Thus far the quote from the Jerusalem Talmud in Taanit 2,4.
Our sages in Rosh Hashanah 17 also mention that the covenant G’d made with Moses concerning these thirteen attributes includes the promise that the people who invoke them will not return empty-handed from their prayer. They base this on the wording in verse 10 הנה אנכי כורת ברית נגד כל עמך, “here I enter into a covenant with you in the presence of all your people, etc.
Nonetheless, if the sins of the people are too numerous and have accumulated, G’d will reverse the attributes of Mercy mentioned here; this is what was meant by Isaiah 1,4 when he said: ‘they have forsaken the Lord, spurned the Holy One of Israel, turned their backs on Him.” The words נזורו אחור in that verse describe that the behavior of the Jewish people caused G’d to reverse the attributes with which He relates to them. Concerning the words: “they have abandoned the Lord,” G’d asks rhetorically: “I who have been known as the compassionate and gracious G’d have now been forced to reverse My attributes and have appeared to them as the cruel G’d.”

and its pillars Meselins in Old French, posts, pillars. All the pillars mentioned in this account were sort of round trees made of hewn stone, standing in the entrance, one to the right and one to the left, in place of posts, in place of doorposts, and so did Jonathan render (Isa. 1:4): “And the doorposts (אַמוֹת הַסִפִּים) quaked”: אֵילְמַת סִפּיָא. And they are called אֵילִים because they were round like the terebinth and like the oak (וְכָאַלוֹן כָאֵלָה).

and evildoers Wicked. Comp. (1:4) “Evildoing seed.”

נזיר אחיו means what the Targum has: פרישא דאחוהי. i.e. the one who was separated from his brothers. The word נזיר is of a root signifying separation, as in (Leviticus 22:2) “that they separate themselves (וינזרו) from the holy things of the children of Israel”; (Isaiah 1:4) “they have separated themselves from God (נזרו) turning backward”.