The Rema (Toras Haolah) writes that the purpose of conducting a period of nezirus is to help someone who had witnessed the disgrace and downfall of a Sotah to strengthen oneself so that the terrible trauma of being exposed to such an event would not have a deleterious effect upon him. The way to successfully do this would be to extend his limits to an extreme and abstain from physical pleasures for a while, after which his routine would gravitate back to a balanced middle ground.
We see, explains the Rema, that in many situations, one’s nature and habitual conduct are altered after a period of thirty days. For example, if we want to change our speech habits in davening, and be sure that we have become accustomed to saying משיב הרוח as the seasons change, we rely upon the fact that one’s habit of saying this phrase properly has changed after thirty days. Also, in regard to certain civil obligations, a person is considered a member of his new city after residing there for thirty days. This time period establishes a new pattern, and a person’s status is evaluated according to the newly-adopted situation. So, too, is the time period used in regard to abstinence from pleasures. It takes a thirty-day unit of time to determine a change in habit and routine, and this is when a person’s character will be affected.
The Rema concludes that this is why the Torah declares יהיהקדש using the future tense. The objective of what the nazir hopes to accomplish will finally be attained after יהיה - after the thirty days have elapsed.
The Chofetz Chaim notes that this halacha is indicated by means of a gematria, a numerical hint, in the letters of the word “יהיה”. We should be impressed, he says, that if a simple gematria results in several pages of discussion in the Gemara, how much more so must we heed every word and sentence throughout the Torah and give our full attention to the lessons that are contained within them!
Thirty - ל - Lamed
- Thirty days of the month
- Thirty blows of the Shofar
- "Malchus" is acquired through thirty attributes
- Thirty-shekel value of an adult woman
- The thirty tzadikim in whose merit the world stands
- Thirty generations from Abraham to the destruction of the First Temple
- Thirty levels of Kingship
- Thirty categories of tzadikim in the World to Come
ENTER HEBREW WORDS (ALL CONTAINING A LAMED)
- 1 Down - Sefer in Tanach
- 1 Across - Number
- 2 Down - Holidays in Torah
- 3 Across – Sefer in Tanach
- 3 Down - Famous woman in Tanach
