04 Jun NASO: KABBALOS TOVOS

The Torah says
about a nazir (6:8)
that throughout the
time that as he is a
nazir, he is kodesh to
Hashem.
The Lev Simchah of
Gur zt’l (Naso, 5743)
asks, what did the nazir
do already that he is
referred to as holy? It
was just that he made
a kabbalah that he
won’t drink wine for
thirty days. Is that all it
takes to become holy?! This shows us the
power of a kabbalah tovah, and even of a
relatively tiny one. It has the potential to
make a person holy.
A nazir also has potential to be a place
upon where the Shechinah rests, as we will
explain. It is forbidden for a nazir to visit
cemeteries or to become tamei to meisim.
The Baal HaTurim (6:6) explains, “If
the Shechinah resides on him because he
became a nazir, people shouldn’t say that he
transgressed the aveirah of (Devarim 18:11)
doresh el hameisim and that he received an
impure spirit from being in contact with the

dead.” We see from this Baal HaTurim that
it is likely that the Shechinah will reside
on the nazir, and therefore, he has to be
cautious that people shouldn’t think that his
spirituality came from an impure source.
Once again we are amazed at the levels a
nazir can attain, ,and all from a kabbalah
tovah that is relatively easy! Let this be a
lesson for us of what we can attain when we
make a kabbalah tovah!
The Baal HaTurim explains that the nazir’s
prohibition to become tamei is so we should
know that his holiness and Hashem’s
presence, which reside on him, are from a
holy source (and not from him receiving an
impure spirit chalilah from the dead).
The Alshich explains it another way. The
prohibition of becoming tamei is because
the nazir acquires the kedushah of a kohen,
and even that of a kohen gadol, and even
more than that. We quote the Alshich:
“In addition to the shefa of kedushah that is
poured onto him when he is poresh (refrains
from drinking wine), he acquires another
kedushah – the kedushah of kohanim.
Therefore, he may not become tamei to
the dead. Furthermore, he receives the
kedushah of a kohen gadol who may not

become tamei even to his
closest relatives. He attains
the level of a kohen gadol
because of his prishus and
chassidus.
“These ideas are hinted at
in the pasukim: Kol Yimei
Haziru L’Hashem, since he
became a nazir for Hashem,
it is proper that he be like
a kohen hedyot. Therefore,
he shouldn’t become tamei
to the dead. However, I will
do even more for him, he
can’t even become tamei to
family. This means he is on
the level of a kohen gadol.
The reason is Hashem’s
crown is on his head,
similar to a kohen gadol.
“The nazir is even greater
than a kohen gadol because
a kohen gadol’s crown is the holy oil,
and for the nazir, his crown is Hashem
himself.” As the pasuk writes regarding the
kohen gadol (Vayikra 21:12) nezer shemen
mishachas elokav aluv.
Even after the thirty days of nazirus pass, the

nazir remains with his sanctity. The Alshich
proves this from (6:20) “Afterwards [when
the nazirus is completed], the nazir may
drink wine.” Even after the term ends and
he drinks wine, the Torah still calls him
a nazir. This is because his short stint of
prishus impacted him, and he is no longer
the same person as before.