Parshat Naso 5781
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha the laws of the Nazir. After the Torah teaches the restrictions and obligations of the Nazir we read (Chapter 6, Pasuk 8), Kol Yemei Nizro Kadosh Hu L’Hashem. The Torah tells us that during this entire period, the Nazir achieves a special level of Kedushah. But how does he do this? Just because he stopped drinking wine he automatically becomes a Kadosh?
Rashi on the pasuk learns that the words Kadosh Hu reflect the fact that he is prohibited from becoming impure. In other words, these words are not an expression of a new status that he has. Rather, they reflect his halachic obligation to refrain from having contact with a tameh. He must ensure he remains pure.
The Sfas Emes teaches that the words Kadosh Hu are an indication of a new status. (See the Sforno who also explains it this way). But rather than being a newly acquired status, the Nazir is in fact actualizing the Kedushah within him. Every Jew has a holy Neshamah within their body. But the physical body hides and inhibits the Kedushah within. As long as one embraces his physical nature, his essential holiness remains hidden. Only when there is an attempt to minimize the physical is there a revelation of the holiness inside. When the Nazir takes a vow to refrain from the physical pleasure of drinking wine, he is unleashing his Kedushah, and hence the pasuk testifies, Kadosh Hu.
The Medrash Rabbah on Bereishis (1,3) teaches about the wonder of man’s creation. If one would take a skin flask filled with air and puncture it with a needle, all the air would leave. Yet Hashem created man with a Neshamah contained within a physical body. And though this physical entity is full of orifices, the holy spirit remains contained within. This miracle is explained through the words in the pasuk (Tehillim, Chapter 86, Pasuk 10), Ki Gadol Atah V’Ose Nifla’os. The word Nifla’os, wonders, expresses the miracle of the Neshamah being maintained within the Guf.
The bracha we make in the morning, Asher Yatzar, mentions this Medrash and the wonders of the human body. The Rema in Siman 6, Halacha 1 teaches that the reason we end the bracha with U’Mafli La’asos is because of the balance of the physical and the spiritual together in the body. The word U’Mafli is the same word as the word Nafla’os from the pasuk darshened in the Medrash above. The root of “peh”, “lamed”, “aleph”, expresses this miraculous coexistence of the physical and the spiritual.
Rav Hutner in the Pachad Yitzchak elaborates on this point and emphasizes that we follow the bracha of Asher Yatzar with the bracha Elokai Neshamah. Asher Yatzar describes the wonders of the body, and Elokai Neshamah describes the wonder of the soul. And the bracha at the end of Asher Yatzar connects Elokai Neshamah with the next bracha in order to make it “Semucha L’Chaversa”. And what is that point of connection? U’Mafli La’asos.
The Rambam in the Mishneh Torah calls the sefer that deals with the ability to make vows and create obligations upon one’s self through the mouth, sefer Hafla’ah. This is because the mouth is the one organ of the body that belongs to both systems; the physical and the spiritual. It has the physical components of the mouth and the tongue which allow us to speak, yet it expresses the spirit and the holiness of man. And this is why when we combine the two brachos of Asher Yatzar and Elokai Neshamah, they come together with the words U’Mafli La’asos. The mouth is the expression of the meeting point between the physical and the spiritual.
We have this word in our parsha as well. When one makes a vow of Nezirus, the Torah refers to it as (Chapter 6, Pasuk 2), Ish O Isha Ki Yafli Lindor Neder Nazir. Accepting this vow and obligation is expressed with the word Yafli; using the mouth, which is the organ of coexistence between the physical and the spiritual. And by making this vow, one is limiting his reliance on the physical and trying to emphasize and reveal his spiritual side. And this is the essence of the Nazir; giving expression to the holiness contained within, and expressing this through the mouth.
Just as there are attempts through vows to stress our Kedushah, there are unique times when this happens automatically. And that time is Shabbos. The Zohar Hakadosh refers to Shabbos as Yuma D’Nishmasin; the day of the souls. It is the day when there is the greatest expression of our holiness. We feel the Kedushah the most and we receive an extra dose of this holiness through the Neshamah Yeseirah. Both Shabbos and Nazir teach us that though our physical and spiritual coexist within our bodies, we must always strive to ensure that the spiritual dominates. And the best way for this to occur is by minimizing the physical and allowing for our holy Neshamos to shine forth.
Good Shabbos
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