Hello Everyone,
For those of you who are new readers, this post is a Daf Yomi post and not a post on the weekly parsha. I am student of Daf Yomi (a page of Talmud a day) and we are in year three of the cycle of seven years. I learn highlights of the daf by listening to podcasts, so my knowledge is not broad and not deep. It merely scratches the surface.
I have been writing poems for the of each of the talmudic tractates (Masechtot) of the past three years. This is the fourteenth Masechet. You can find my other poems listed on this site under the heading Daf Yomi.
When you think of Masechet Nazir, you might conjure images of Samson, the best known Nazir. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what a Nazir is, a Nazir or N'zira gives up wine and grape products, contact with the dead and most importantly, he or she is forbidden to cut their hair during their period of N’zirut, which is a the very minimum, thirty days. At the completion of their period of N’zirut, participants are commanded to shave their hair and make a sacrifice, including burning the hair which they had cut. Of course, as it is in Daf Yomi, nothing is simple and there were a myriad of complicating circumstances to N’zirut, with the rabbis reaching far and wide for exceptions and conditions that would negate N’zirut or extend it.
There were many side topics to study including lots of blood and guts and creepy crawly things, but when thinking about the big lessons of Nazir, I am left wondering what prompted someone to become a Nazir? Was it a desire to cleave to God, an ancient way to improve oneself, and as I recall hearing, perhaps a way to cut back on bad habits.
It is interesting to imagine an ancient street with people walking around in various garbs and getting a glimpse of a few N'zirim and N'zirot walking down a street. Some are bald, some are bushy and some in between. How different did they appear to others? How did others react to them? Did they feel part of an exclusive club or were they monastic; carefully keeping their distance from others?
As I learned, the rabbis were mixed as to whether becoming a Nazir is a positive thing to do or problematic. Accepting N'zirut was voluntary but it was not encouraged. Once becoming a Nazir, though, it could take longer than expected to finish a term of N'zirut.
For some N’zirim their period of abstaining might go without a hitch, but for some, a period of N’zirut might be extended for months or longer !
This Caveat Emptor poem is about just that.
The next Masechet is Sotah. I am not sure I am excited about learning about the Sotah, but I am committed to continuing. Feel free to jump in now!
Shabbat Shalom,
Leann
TO BE A NAZIR
Wait!
Before you sign on the dotted line ......................................................
Make sure you read
Between
the lines
and
the
fine
print.
Before you open your mouth
W I D E
and
D E C L A R E!
out loud
to the world.
T H I N K,
because
what you do
as
WHIM
or
FOLLY
or perceived obligation
or
perhaps
to lift you
HIGHER
or
bring you
CLOSER.
It may
not
be
as
SIMPLE
as it seems.
Being a Nazir is so much more than hair.
SO
Beware of jumping in
before you are ready;
without understanding
the entire package.
ASK
yourself,
is this the only way you can
achieve?
Because it is in your hands.
(and your hair).
CAUTION
Before you utter a word
That might
(you never know )
commit you
to something
you never intended
or really understood.
KNOW
before you speak.
You long to join the club.
To walk tall.
To be different from the rest.
A cut above?
SO
REFRAIN
because once you are in
there are
deadlines to meet,
unexpected challenges,
pitfalls,
LIMITATIONS
Things you may have never
even
dreamed about
which stand between
YOU
and
a higher
spiritual
LEVEL.
You may
be on the inside
much longer
than you ever
intended
or
imagined
and perhaps N'zirut is not what it seemed
from the outside.
You ask yourself why?
Be careful what you wish for.
AFTER ALL,
A VOW IS A VOW
Perhaps
there are other ways
to honor,
to
CLEAVE
to
SERVE.
So, run your hands
through
your
HAIR
Fluff it,
Rumple it.
Feel the wind
run through it.
Take a deep breath
before the change you make
changes you.
A thought to finish Masechet Nazir. The last page of Nazir speaks about which is better, to say a blessing or say amen to someone else's blessing?
The Gemara asks: Is this to say that one who recites a blessing is preferable to one who answers amen? But isn’t it taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: The one who answers amen is greater than the one who recites the blessing? And Rabbi Nehorai said to him: By Heavens, it is so.
Nazir 66B (From Sefaria)
Which is more important?
To be the Nazir
or to be the person who witnesses
the Nazir?
Who supports?
Who affirms?
Are we the Nazir's Amen?
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