The nazir is a colorful but complicated personality.

The Torah refers to him as kadosh (sanctified), elevated by his aspirations to a life of stringency and heightened halachic sensitivity. By abstaining from wine, maintaining personal purity, and distancing himself from death, a nazir upgrades his religious condition.

Yet, paradoxically, he is required to bring a korban hatat (sin offering) at the conclusion of his term. What transgression has he committed? What sin demands atonement?

Disrupting the balance

Rambam identifies the nazir’s sin as a disruption of the delicate balance we all must strike between engagement with the world and separation from it. We are expected to carefully navigate between excessive abstinence and reckless hedonism. God desires that we enjoy the pleasur

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