פירוש על במדבר 6:1

According to the opinion of the sages of the Midrash, the legislation dealing with the Nazirite follows hard on the heels of that dealing with the Sotah, the woman suspected of marital infidelity, as what may have inspired the Nazirite to impose the vows upon himself he is described here as doing is that he had seen the disgrace which the Sotah had brought upon herself by giving in to her temptations. The Nazir, ideally speaking, uses his vows to reinforce his determination not to fall victim to excess consumption of alcohol, etc. We learn from Hoseah 4,11 that זנות, יין, ותירוש יקח לב, “lechery, wine, and even new wine destroy the mind.” Allowing the hair on one’s head to keep growing without restraint is a conduct diametrically opposed to the people, mostly young men, who style their hair excessively, something that Joseph was considered guilty of as the commentators say on the beginning of parshat vayeshev. Our sages have always objected to people who are overly concerned with their exterior. Extreme growth of one’s hair leads a person to worry that he may not contract ritual impurity; such a concern in turn leads one to strive for holiness. In practice, the Nazir voluntarily imposes upon himself a mode of conduct that every priest is duty bound to observe from his earliest youth. This brings us to the question of why the Torah demands that at the end of his term of such abstention the Nazir has to bring a sin-offering, חטאת; surely we would have expected the very opposite, that the Torah would compliment him on his vow! Nachmanides draws attention to the fact that the Torah does not offer an explanation for this. According to the plain meaning the reason appears to be clear. The person who had assumed the vow of being a Nazir would indeed have been lauded if he had not placed a time limit on his spiritual elevation. The fact that he is content to voluntarily lower his spiritual niveau is something that must be criticized. The sin offering is the vehicle by means of which the Torah calls such a Nazir to order. We know from Amos 2,11 ואקח מבניכם לנביאים ומבחוריכם לנזירים, “I will choose from amongst your sons some as prophets, and from amongst your young men some as Nazirites,” that the prophet equates the prophets with the Nazirites. Just as the former is appointed for lifetime, so it is expected that the Nazirite will maintain his status indefinitely. Seeing that the Torah wrote of the Nazir: כל ימי נזרו קדוש הוא לה', that he will remain holy only as long as he is a Nazir, it is clear that he requires atonement for voluntarily abandoning his lofty status.

Kap. 6. V. 1 Es folgt nun die dritte פרשת נזיר ,פרשה parallel dem שילוח טמא מת aus מחנה שכינה.