Naso- Human Dignity
Background
In this week’s Parsha we are taught the halachos (laws) about a Nazir. A Nazir is someone who, out of a desire to become more spiritual, and to not be hindered by the inherent challenges that physical pleasures and enjoyment cause, takes a vow of abstinence from certain physical enjoyments for a period of time.
Because of this, the Torah sets down rules which will enable the Nazir to gain the most out of this program that the Nazir has accepted upon him/her self. One of these rules is that the Nazir is not allowed to become impure to anyone- even close relatives- in the event of their death.
When a Jewish person dies, their body becomes a source of impurity to anyone who comes in close proximity to it. For relatives and friends of the deceased, it is recommended and even a mitzvah, to busy themselves with preparing the body for burial and to then bury the person in a dignified way. However, for Kohanim this is not always the case. Kohanim need to remain pure in order to perform the service of the Beis Hamikdash. Therefore, there are only certain close relatives that a Kohen is allowed to become impure to.
A Nazir has an even a higher level of spirituality and therefore has rules which demand an even more stringent level of maintaining purity. There is however, an exception to this rule- if the Nazir encounters a ‘mes mitzvah’.
‘Mes mitzvah’ refers to a situation where someone encounters a dead body on the road where there is no one else around to give the person a proper burial. If a Nazir were to encounter a dead body that no one else is around to bury, the Nazir must become impure and busy themselves with the burial of the ‘mes mitzvah.’
Question
Isn’t this still not befitting of the Nazir’s exalted spiritual status? It may be a profound kindness to this unfortunate dead person who has no one to bury them, but the Nazir is of such lofty spiritual status that dictates that they cannot become impure! The fact that this Nazir happened to encounter this dead person should not mean that they should have to become impure and ruin their mission of becoming closer to Hashem!
There is a concept of ‘a mitzvah that comes to one’s hand, you should do it.’ That concept would compel the Nazir to do this mitzvah that he encountered, but in this situation, to do so would injure the Nazir’s very delicate and lofty level of spirituality! If so, why should the Nazir bury this ‘mes mitzvah’?
Answer
The Gemara in Brachos (19b-20a, see Rashi there) explains that the reason why a Nazir must bury this ‘mes mitzvah’ is because of the ‘honor of creations’, which refers to Human beings. Because of the honor that one must accord every Human being, therefore the Nazir must break from his spiritual ‘high’ and become impure.
Even though the Nazir is on a spiritual mission of accomplishing great things which are matters which ‘stand in the lofty levels of this world’, nevertheless, the honor of another Human being trumps that spiritual mission.
Why is this so?
Without a person having the proper respect and appreciation for a Human being, they themselves cannot truly accomplish much. For what is the Nazir themselves but a Human being? A Human being who is climbing great heights of spirituality, but fundamentally and most importantly- they are a Human being. If the Nazir were to ‘turn a blind eye’ and make themselves callous to the honor of another Human, this would so severely injure the Nazir’s spirituality that to remain pure but have that disregard for Human dignity would come to be a net loss and a negative to the Nazir becoming a better person.
Lesson
How important it is to make sure that one goes about accomplishing great things in the right way! The goal of what one is attempting to accomplish can sometimes justify overlooking other, less important values, but never such a great value as that of Human dignity. Respect and sensitivity to the honor of people is of such great importance that one must even be concerned about the dignity of a Human being who is dead, how much more so that of one who is alive.
A person can NEVER, not even if they are the Kohen Gadol who is also a Nazir, who is on his way into the Kodesh HaKedoshim (Holy of Holies) to do the exalted service of Yom Kippur, trample on the dignity and honor of another Human being- regardless of how great or insignificant that person might be, even if they are dead.
Benefits of this…
When one realizes the great importance and value to honoring and valuing another person’s dignity and esteem, the person will be well prepared- and have their values properly aligned- to become a great person. When one realizes that the path to becoming a great person ALWAYS is on the side of according other Human beings honor, dignity and respect, a person will be better protected from the many pulls, rationalizations and arguments to be made for a person degrading and devaluing others in their quest to accomplish.
And ultimately, one who realizes the value and respect that a Human being is deserving of, on account of their merely being a Human being, will benefit the most important beneficiary of such an insight: themselves.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Shabbos!
