דַּבֵּר֙ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֖ אֲלֵהֶ֑ם אִ֣ישׁ אֽוֹ־אִשָּׁ֗ה כִּ֤י יַפְלִא֙ לִנְדֹּר֙ נֶ֣דֶר נָזִ֔יר לְהַזִּ֖יר לַֽיהוָֹֽה: Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man or woman who sets himself apart by making a nazirite vow to abstain for the sake of the Lord. (Bamidbar 6:2) Who is the Nazir? The Nazir is either a man or a woman who takes an oath to abstain from drinking wine, cutting their hair or coming in contact with the dead. Generally a Nazir took this oath for a limited amount of time (though it is permissible to do so for the entirety of one's life) at the end of which they would come to the Beis HaMikdash, cut their hair and burn it and bring a special korban. There seems to be an inherent contradiction in the Torah's portrayal of the Nazir. On the one hand we are taught that the Nazir is "abstaining for the sake of the Lord" and on the other hand the Nazir is obligated to bring a korban at the end of their Nezirus. Which one is it? Is the Nazir someone we should look up to, perhaps even strive to be like or are they committing an egregious sin? The Authentic Nazir The Gemara (Nedarim 9b, Nazir 4b as well as in the Tosefta Nazir 4:7) relates to us the following story. Shimon Ha-Tzaddik said: In all my days, I never ate the guilt-offering of a ritually impure nazirite except for one occasion. One time, a particular man who was a nazirite came from the south and I saw that he had beautiful eyes and was good looking, and the fringe
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