Nezirut Today

Nezirut is in effect while the Temple exists as well as when the Temple doesn’t exist, because the Creator obviously doesn’t limit the times available for holiness. As evidence for this, we will bring the great early posekim who say so.

The Rambam writes in Yad HaChazakah, Laws of Nezirut 2:20:

Nezirut is in effect both while the Temple exists and while the Temple doesn’t exist. Therefore, someone who vows to be a nazir in this time is a lifelong nazir, because we don’t have a Temple for him to bring his sacrifices at the end of his period of nezirut.

In other words, since he decided to be a nazir in this time, he knew that there was no other option but to be a lifelong nazir.

Rabbi Mosheh of Coucy writes in Smag, negative commandment 250:

We learn in the Mishnah in the fourth chapter of Nazir: “A man can vow his minor son as a nazir even though he didn’t reach the period of vows, but a woman can’t vow her son as a nazir.” Rabbi Yochanan says that this is a halachah from tradition, and doesn’t apply to other vows. Nezirut is in effect while the Temple exists as well as when the Temple doesn’t exist. Therefore, someone who vows to be a nazir in this time is a lifelong nazir, because we don’t have a Temple for him to bring his sacrifices at the end of his period of his vow.

The same is found in the Smak.

This is what Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona writes in Sefer HaChinnuch, commandment 374:

One who vows to be a nazir in this time is a lifelong nazir. And this commandment obligating whoever vows to be a nazir to grow his hair applies everywhere, in every time, for males and females.

The author writes the same in the other commandments of the nazir, except for the commandment for a temporary nazir to offer sacrifices, which only applies during the time of the Temple.

And this is what Rabbi Mosheh Parnas of Rotenburg writes in Sefer HaParnas 418:

Nezirut is in effect both while the Temple exists and while the Temple doesn’t exist. Therefore, someone who vows to be a nazir in this time is a lifelong nazir, because we don’t have a Temple for him to bring his sacrifices at the end of his period of nezirut.

All the rest of the great posekim write the same.

Rabbi Eshtori HaParchi writes in Kaftor VaFerach chapter 10, laws of nezirut:

The Rambam writes that nezirut is in effect both while the Temple exists and while the Temple doesn’t exist. Therefore, someone who vows in this time is a lifelong nazir, because we don’t have a Temple for him to bring his sacrifices at the end of his period of nezirut. … One who vows nezirut to HaShem in a holy manner is fitting and praiseworthy, and about him it is said (BaMidbar 6:7): “The crown of his God is on his head.” And the verse likens him to a prophet, as it is said (Amos 2:11): “And I established prophets from your sons, and nezirim from your youths.”

But despite all that has been said, the Ra’avad disputes all the posekim and ruled that today it is forbidden to become a nazir everywhere, as is said in the Hasagot HaRa’avad on Rambam, Yad HaChazakah, Laws of Nezirut 2:21:

The Rambam wrote: “Therefore, if someone vows in this time outside of Israel, we force him to move to the Land of Israel.” The Ra’avad says: Why do we force him to go to Israel and count his days of nezirut? Is there purity there? We are all impure in the impurity of corpses, and there is no distinction between the Land of Israel and outside the land, and it is forbidden to become a nazir everywhere.

His language is extremely surprising, since he goes against an explicit Mishnah and Gemara.

Indeed, how does a Jew who vows the vow of a nazir cease being impure from corpses, since we are all impure from corpses?

This matter is explained well in the Talmud Bavli, Tractate Nazir 16b. The Mishnah says:

If one became a nazir in the cemetery, even if he was there for 30 days, they don’t count against his count, and he doesn’t bring a sacrifice for impurity. If he leaves and comes back, they do count against his count, and he brings a sacrifice for impurity.

Now, the Gemara explains there:

It was said: If someone became a nazir in the cemetery, Rabbi Yochanan says: Nezirut applies to him. And Resh Lakish says: Nezirut doesn’t apply to him.

Mar bar Rav Ashi said: No one disagrees that nezirut applies to him. When they disagreed, it was about lashing him. Rabbi Yochanan holds: Since it applies to him, he is lashed. And Resh Lakish holds: He is not lashed, but it still applies to him.

Come and hear: If someone was impure and became a nazir, he is forbidden to shave and to drink wine. And if he shaved or drank wine or became impure to corpses, he receives forty lashes.

The same is said in Tosefta, Tractate Nazir 2:14:

Come and hear: If someone was impure and became a nazir, he is forbidden to shave and to drink wine. And if he shaved or drank wine or became impure to corpses, he receives forty lashes.

It is thus clear from here that it is possible to become a nazir irrespective of one’s state of impurity, and even in the most impure place in the world – a cemetery.

The Rambam rules the same in Yad HaChazakah, Laws of Nezirut, 6:8:

If someone vows while in the cemetery, nezirut applies to him, even if he stayed there a number of days.

The other rishonim rule likewise. The Rambam further rules (ibid., law 7):

If someone vowed to be a nazir while he is impure from a corpse, nezirut applies to him. And if he became impure another time or drank or shaved, he is lashed.

And the Ra’avad makes no note on this.

It is entirely clear that a worldwide posek couldn’t contradict himself, especially so coarsely, and furthermore to go against the Oral Torah. Of course not! A simple conclusion can therefore be drawn, namely, that what is said in the Hasagot HaRa’avad is not from him, but an addition by the censor. The censor, as is well-known, is a body of Jewish apostate scribes, which was established by our enemies when holy books were first being published, and its goal is to distort the holy writings and Judaism itself.

The question may be asked: Why is someone who vows the vow of a nazir in a cemetery liable to lashes only if he contaminates himself another time, and not through the very act of vowing in a place of impurity?

The answer is: One who vows the vow of the nazir leaves his original impurity and is made pure. Although he is impure from corpses, after he became a nazir he rose to the level of “holy,” where is no place for impurity!

Furthermore, this entire issue deals with a temporary nazir, whose holiness is limited in time, and therefore impurity can be attached to him. However, a lifelong nazir’s holiness is eternal, and there is no possibility for impurity to be attached to him, amazingly.

A nazir is not forbidden to be in the company of those who are impure from corpses, as can be derived from the words of the Mishnah, Tractate Nazir 7:2-3:

The nazir shaves because of these impurities: for a dead body, an olive-sized piece of a dead body, an olive-sized amount of corpse fluid, a large spoonful of corpse rot, the spine, the skull, a limb from a dead body, a limb from a living body that has enough flesh on it, half a kav of bones, half a log of blood, for touching, carrying and being with them in a tent; and for a bone the size of a barley seed, for touching and carrying it. For these, the nazir shaves, and is sprinkled on the third and seventh day, and cancels the previous days and doesn’t begin to count again until he is purified, and brings his sacrifices.

But for trees with distinct branches, objects protruding from a wall, a threshed field containing a grave, the land of the nations, the cover of a tomb and a tomb, a revi’it of blood, a tent with a quarter kav of bones, vessels that touch a dead body, and his days of counting and seclusion – for these the nazir doesn’t shave, and isn’t sprinkled on the third and seventh day, and doesn’t cancel the previous days, and begins to count immediately, and he has no sacrifice.

In truth they said: The days of a zav and zavah and the days of seclusion of a metzora count for him.

The Rambam rules likewise (Laws of Nezirut 7:1-3, 6-8):

There are impurities for which the nazir does not shave or cancel the previous days, even though he became impure during them for a seven-day period, because it doesn’t say about him “And if he become impure by contact with a corpse,” but “If someone dies to him” (BaMidbar 6:9) – only if he becomes impure from impurities that come from the dead body itself, after which he brings sacrifices of impurity, shaves a shaving of impurity, and all the previous days are canceled.

And these are the impurities from a dead body for which the nazir must shave: for a miscarried fetus, even if its limbs were not connected by sinews; for an olive-sized piece of a dead body; for an olive-sized amount of corpse fluid; for bones which are the main structure of the dead body, even if they are less than a quarter kav; for half a kav of bones, even if they don’t contain the majority of the structure or quantity of bones in the body, provided that all the bones are from one dead body and not from two dead bodies; for the spine which comes from one dead body; for the skull of one dead body; for a limb of the dead body which comes from one dead body, and for a limb from a living body from another person, which have enough flesh for a scab to grow if it were alive; and for half a log of blood which comes from one dead body; for two handsful of corpse rot.

What is corpse fluid? This is the flesh of the dead body that dissolved and became a foul secretion.

Similarly, a nazir who touched the bone of a dead body, even a bone the size of a grain of barley, or carried it, must shave for it, and he brings sacrifices of impurity, and he cancels the previous days. But a bone the size of a grain of barley doesn’t transmit impurity in a tent.

But if he was contaminated by one of the following twelve things – earth from the land of the idol worshipers; or a field in which a grave was threshed which transmits impurity through touching and carrying; or if a tent covered him along with the vines that extend from trees; or the stray wood that comes out of a fence; or a bed, or a camel or the like; or if he was contaminated in a tent with a quarter kav of bones which have neither the majority of the structure or quantity of bones in the body; or if he was contaminated by a revi’it of blood from the dead body which transmits impurity by touching, carrying, and in a tent; or if he was contaminated by the cover of a tomb and a tomb, which transmit impurity by touch and in a tent; or if he was contaminated by a limb from a living person or a limb from a dead person which don’t have enough flesh on them – he does not cancel the previous days.

Although all of these contaminate him for seven days, and he is sprinkled on the third and seventh day, he doesn’t shave the shaving for impurity, nor bring sacrifices, nor cancel the previous days; but none of the days of impurity count for the days of his nezirut.

If he touched the tent of a dead body, or vessels that touch a dead body, he isn’t sprinkled on the third and seventh day. And it appears to me that this law is singular to the nazir, but anyone else who is made impure for seven days by a vessel must be sprinkled on the third and seventh day, as will be explained in the Laws of Impurity of the Dead. It further appears to me that the nazir isn’t sprinkled on the third and seventh day so that his days of impurity from a vessel will count as part of the days of his nezirut.

We thus learn that the derivatives of the impurity of the dead body are not forbidden to a nazir. And therefore, Rabbi Yosef Karo in Kesef Mishneh, Laws of Nezirut 2:20 expressed surprise at the aforementioned Ra’avad and unreservedly rejected his opinion in these words:

And the Ra’avad wrote: “The Ra’avad says: Why do we force him to go to Israel and count his days of nezirut?” etc. But I don’t know why it would be forbidden to become a nazir now in the Land of Israel. Although we are impure from corpses, if he will be careful not to be contaminated by a corpse after he becomes a nazir, what prohibition is there in this?

The surprise of the author of the Kesef Mishneh is understandable, because there is no prohibition to become a nazir even at this time. In fact, the author of the Kesef Mishneh, Rabbi Yosef Karo, was himself a lifelong nazir. The Ra’avad’s words have no basis to forbid nezirut after the destruction of the Temple, since nezirut isn’t connected to the Temple, as we have proven.

And in truth, there couldn’t even be an initial consideration to limit nezirut in time or place, because holiness has no limit.

The Ramak brings the same in Pardes Rimmonim 8:9:

Holiness and atzilut are unlike other things, because holiness always increases. And when the levels were emanated from binah, which is the place of the first planting, to the place of grafting, the existence of the planted object is not totally nullified because of this, but on the contrary, the first existence remains thinner and brighter than the second. And the first existence is a root, a source and a path, through which the lower second existence receives the bounty.

It is thus clear from the aforesaid that there is no prohibition for a Jew to become a nazir today because of impurity or any other factor, and in fact, each one of us in our time is amazingly given an opportunity to leave the status of impurity entirelys!

The sages in the Talmud Bavli, Tractate Nazir 2b wanted to clarify if a nazir could ever possibly be a sinner:

Is nezirut a sinful thing, and yet we call him “beautiful”? Yes, because even according to Rabbi Elazar HaKappar who says that a nazir is a sinner, this only applies to an impure nazir, who must cancel his previous days because of this, as the Torah says (BaMidbar 6:12), “And the previous days will be canceled, because his crown was defiled.” It is only in that case, where he might transgress his nezirut, but a pure nazir is not called a sinner.

From the aforesaid, it can be understood that the Sages spoke of a temporary nazir who decided to transgress his nezirut, meaning to transgress the holiness and abandon it, and this is his sin. However, a lifelong nazir’s holiness is eternal, and he therefore merits all honor and praise.

The Rambam writes the same in Laws of Nezirut 10:14:

If someone says, “I am a nazir if I do such-and-such,” or “If I don’t do it,” and similar things, this person is wicked, and such a nezirut is the nezirut of the wicked. But one who vows to HaShem in a holy manner is beautiful and praiseworthy, and about this it is said (BaMidbar 6:7), “The crown of his God is on his head, he is holy to HaShem.” And the verse likens him to a prophet, as it is said (Amos 2:11): “And I established prophets from your sons, and nezirim from your youths.”