A man or a woman who sets himself/herself apart by making a nazirite vow to abstain for the sake of Hashem (Bamidbar 6:2)

The beginning of this week’s parsha discusses the specialness of the tribe of Levi. Within the tribe of Levi, there is even more specialness to the Cohanim. Within the Cohanim, there is even more specialness for the Cohain Gadol. But to be part of any of them, a person needs to be born into the tribe. If a person is not born as a Levi or a Cohain, then he cannot be part of this very holy tribe. So, an Israelite person might think that he can never reach a holy spiritual level because he was not born into the right tribe.

This is wrong thinking though. The Torah tells us that each Jewish person, a man or woman, can make himself or herself holy by becoming a Nazir and separating himself or herself from worldly things. The Alshich points out that a Nazir is so holy that it is forbidden to him to come in contact with a dead body, just as strict as it is for the Cohain Gadol! Every person can make themselves holy, even if they were not born to a holy tribe.

This week, we are celebrating Shavuos and many have a custom to have a dairy meal on Shavuos. Many different reasons are brought for why we eat dairy on Shavuos. Rabbi Sharfman (from Yeshiva Toras Chaim in North Miami Beach) told me a very interesting reason which I had never heard before. Shavuos is the day we received the Torah and the Torah is compared to milk and honey (note: I am not sure why we do not have a custom to have honey on Shavuos… maybe this is saved for Rosh HaShana?). Honey comes from bees, which are a non-kosher animal. Milk comes from a cow, which has many detailed laws to make it kosher. The cow needs to be slaughtered properly, salted, and soaked to be able to be kosher. The lesson is that milk and honey both begin from impure sources — neither of them are acceptable immediately. But if they are processed in the right way, then they become kosher. Therefore, milk and honey are things that are mundane but are transformed into something holy. The same is with Torah – it transforms the mundane into holy.

This is a lesson we should remember on Shavuos: transforming the mundane into holy. A Nazir takes a regular person and makes him holy. Even if a person was not born holy, he can make himself very holy by connecting to Torah and can be transformed into a very holy person.

Good Shabbos and Good Yom Tov!
-yes
please send any comments or questions to: [email protected]
to see previous Divrei Simcha on the Parsha, please go to www.divreisimcha.com OR www.chesedclub.com > Torah Study