This week's parashah discusses the laws of a nazir. A nazir may not drink wine or become tamei to the dead, and he cannot cut his hair. Unless specifically undertaken differently, a standard nazirus is for thirty days. So, it is just a bit of prishus, a small undertaking. How hard is it to refrain from wine, etc., for thirty days? And yet, about the nazir it states (6:8) 'לה הוא קדוש נזרו ימי כל, "For the entire duration of his nezirus, he is holy to Hashem." The Lev Simchah (5743, איש ה"ד) writes, "This parashah teaches us a profound lesson, and it is a great wonder. A person accepts upon himself not to drink wine for a short period, just thirty days, and he reaches the level of הוא קדוש ראשו על אלקיו נזר כי 'לה, 'The crown of Hashem is on his head... he is holy to Hashem.' We learn from this the power of a kabbalah tovah. A person accepts on himself a small amount of prishus, and Hashem's crown is on his head."
The Lev Simchah added, "The practical lesson is that when one has trouble overcoming a certain yetzer hara, he should make a kabbalah to refrain from something, and in the merit of the kabbalah, he will receive divine assistance, and he will be able to overcome that yetzer hara."
The Torah writes (6:2) יפליא כי איש, and the Ibn Ezra writes, "יפליא means doing something amazing (פלא דבר) because most people follow their temptations and this person distanced himself from his temptation for wine. He did this for Hashem because wine ruins the mind and ruins avodas Hashem."
Rebbe Yisrael of Husiatin zt'l was once walking with his gabbai, and a passing goy was impressed by the majestic appearance of the rebbe. He asked the gabbai, "Who is this rabbiner?" The gabbai replied, "He isn't a regular rabbiner. He is a Vunder (Wonder) Rabbiner." "What does a Vunder Rabbiner mean?" the goy asked. The Husiatener Rebbe overheard their conversation and replied: "There are rabbis who rule over a city; other rabbis rule in a neighborhood. But there is a rabbi who rules over himself. He is a Vunder Rabbiner."
The Husiatener Rebbe's son-in-law recounts this story in his sefer Ohalei Yaakov, and he adds the Ibn Ezra we quoted above, which states that יפליא כי ...איש means that he did something amazing (פלא דבר), because most people follow their temptations. A person in control of his desires is indeed wonderous.
A kohen may not become tamei to human bodies, but he may become tamei to attend the levayah of his close family. The laws of a kohen gadol are more stringent; he may not become tamei to his own, close family, either. The nazir acquires the halachah of a kohen gadol, because he may not become tamei to the dead, and not even to the dead of his close family. The Alshich HaKadosh writes, "The nazir acquires the kedushah of the 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 pesukim 'לה הזירו ימי כל, since he became a nazir for Hashem, it is proper that he be like a kohen hedyot. Therefore, על יבא לא מת נפש, he shouldn't become tamei to the dead. However, we will be even more strict with him, יטמא לא 'וכו לאביו, he may not even become tamei to his close family. This is because he attains the level of a kohen gadol. The reason is ראשו על אלקיו נזר כי, Hashem's crown is on his head, like a kohen gadol."
The Alshich adds, "The nazir is even greater than a kohen gadol because a kohen gadol’s crown is the holy oil, and the nazir’s crown is Hashem himself." As the pasuk writes regarding the kohen gadol (Vayikra 21:12) עליו אלוקיו משחת שמן נזר, "for a crown – the oil of Hashem's anointment – is upon him." However, about a nazir, it states על אלקיו נזר ראשו, "for the crown of His G-d is on his head." It is wondrous. All these levels for a small prishus. We learn from this the great levels one attains with prishus.
The Baal HaTurim (6:6) explains that the nazir's primary prishus is from wine. This small prishus causes the Shechinah to reside on him, to the extent that people will notice it. They will look at him and see that he has a spiritual presence about him. This will cause people to suspect that the spirituality that suddenly came to him might be a result of tumah. They aren't sure that the spirituality is from kedushah. This is the reason a nazir is not permitted to become tamei. He may not go to the graveyard. The reason is that no one will say that he attained his "spirituality" from the tumah, from visiting the impure graveyards.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 65:) explains the prohibition of (Devarim 18:11) המתים אל דורש: "This is a person who refrains from food, and sleeps in a cemetery to attain a ruach tumah, an impure spirit. When Reb Akiva would reach this pasuk, he would cry: 'If a person who refrains from eating in order to receive a ruach tumah can succeed in receiving the impure spirit, kal v'chomer if a person refrains from eating so he can receive a ruach taharah, a pure, holy spirit, he will certainly succeed to attain it."
Even after the thirty days of his nazirus pass, the nazir remains with his kedushah. The Alshich proves this from the pasuk (6:20) יין הנזיר ישתה ואחר, "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 made an imprint on him, and he is no longer the same person as before.
