One of the more well known figures in the Bible is Samson. Samson was sort of the Superman of Bible times. I don't know if he could leap tall buildings but his physical strength was incomparable. That is until he met up with his own Doomsday Delilah who cut Samson's hair which resulted in his loss of strength. The very beginning of Samson's life appears in our Haftarah taken from the book of Judges. Samson would have fit right in forty years ago this summer at Woodstock with his long unkempt mane. The reason for this is that his parents pledged him to be a life long Nazarite which is described in our Parsha this week.
The Nazarite, in Hebrew known as the Nazir, can best be described as a Jewish ascetic. This is not to be confused with Hasidic. They sound alike but there is a world of difference. The Nazarite makes a vow to drink no alcoholic beverages, to never cut his hair and to refrain from those things that might otherwise bring us pleasure. For Samson, the vow was to last a lifetime but for most Nazarites, it was for a limited amount of time. Most interesting, at the end of the time of the vow, in biblical days, the Nazir was to bring a sin offering to the Tabernacle or the Temple. The question then is, why would the Nazir have to bring a sin offering? What sin did he commit? As a point of information, this category has nothing to do with Jesus of the New Testament. That is Jesus of Nazareth not Nazarite.
There are two main opinions which are, as you might guess, in total disagreement with each other. One is by the Rambam also known as Maimonides and the other is that of the Ramban also known as Nachmanides. Though their names are similar, they most often are of two differing minds.
The Ramban, who was a mystic, explained that the sin offering was because the Nazir ended his days of ascetic purity and was again entering the ordinary world. Maimonides, the Rambam disagrees. The Rambam argued that the sin offering was that the Nazir denied himself the many pleasures and blessings that G-d planted in this world to enjoy. To deny ourselves of life's joys is sinful.
We have a classical Mahloket between the Rambam and the Ramban. Is the sin offering, like Nachmanides maintained because the Nazir terminated his period of asceticism? Is there greater holiness and purity in abstaining? On the other hand, do we hold according to the Rambam, the offering is because he spent that amount of time in the ascetic realm removed from life's pleasures.
A third Rabbi simply known as Rav might help us resolve this dilemma. There is a teaching in the Jerusalem Talmud of this sage Rav which advises us "In the world to come people will have to account for all the good food G-d put into the world which they refused to eat." I am sure Rav meant Kosher food here. Rav's teaching can better be understood by replacing the words good food with blessings, or worthy pleasures or worthwhile enjoyment. We all know, there is enough and more than enough in life that naturally saddens us, pains us and depletes our joy. We don't have to add to it. We have to find ways to add joy and pleasure and happiness to our lives.
The psalmist says "Worship Adonai with joy, come before G-d in celebration." We are not told to come before G-d ungebloosen as they say in Yiddish, with a long face but with Simcha with joy.
I mentioned above that the ascetic and Hasidic have nothing to do with each other. Not at all. The great Hasidic master, Reb Nahman of Bratzlav taught us "it is a great Mitzvah to be happy always." I don't know if it is possible for anyone to be happy always but happiness is a goal to strive for. Some people feel guilty being happy. Some believe that they don't deserve happiness. The reality is life does not permit us to be happy always. There is much that intrudes but we should grab and celebrate every chance we get. We picture the Hasidim approaching G-d singing and dancing, in joy and celebration. As Judaism develops, that is more Jewish than the Nazir.
I am surely not promoting the life of the hedonist. That is very much not Jewish. With Rambam, I would say everything in moderation. We learned this past week that a glass of red wine a day might well slow the aging process. We learned some time ago that glass of red wine is good for the heart. Another study, some time ago, showed that white wine is good for your lung capacity. I guess it would be good to drink red Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and white on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and enjoy until any future studies come to conflicting conclusions.
The teaching of Rav is good for us to remember. Not only in the world to come but in this world, we are asked the question of whether we take advantage of and enjoy the many blessings, sources of joy that G-d puts before us. If we don't, we are to bring a sin offering. If we do, we are living our lives fully and fulfilling what G-d intends for us, to be able to come before Him in joy.
June 7, forty years ago was the exact day that Israeli paratroopers entered the Old City of Jerusalem and reached the Kotel. A united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty is reason for our joy. Sunday night at sundown begins the holiday of Shavuot when we celebrate the gift of Torah which brings us great joy. We can each add our own personal joys to this list of Jewish communal joys and go out and celebrate. So, go out and enjoy, it's the Jewish thing to do.
Shabbat
Shalom
