A GENTILE PRISONER AND THE NAZIRITE VOW

QUESTION:

A Gentile prisoner in the penitentiary wishes to take upon himself the Biblical Nazirite vow and has asked the Rabbi, who is a Chaplain in the penitentiary, to induct him into Naziriteship. May the Rabbi do so? (Asked by Rabbi Daniel M. Lowy, Wheeling, W. Va.)

ANSWER:

The Nazirite vow is based upon Scripture (Numbers 6:1 ff.). It vows a complete abstention from wine, from contact with dead bodies and from cutting the hair. Naziriteship can be taken to last for a period of seven days or for thirty days or even to last for a lifetime (as with Samson). If this is to be a lifetime vow, it is of course questionable whether the warden of the penitentiary would permit a convict to let his hair grow long and never cut it again. But this, of course, is not the direct concern of our question.

There are many reasons why the Rabbi may not induct the prisoner into the special status of Naziriteship. First of all, the vow does not at all require any priestly or rabbinical sponsor. Naziriteship was adopted by the person himself upon his own initiative. The only role a Rabbi might possibly have in this regard is under certain circumstances to release the Nazirite from his vow. The Mishnah records that a group of Nazirites came to Jerusalem (from overseas) just after the Temple had been destroyed. Rabbi Nahum said to them: “Had you known when you made the vow that the Temple would be destroyed and so you would be unable to bring the sacrifices to end your Naziriteship, if you had known that, would you have made the vow?” Those who said “No” were released from their vow by Rabbi Nahum (Nazir 5:4). Moreover, the vow, which is taken by the individual on his own initiative, is essentially valid only in the land of Israel. This rule is based upon the Mishnah (Nazir 3:6) and is recorded by Maimonides, Yad Hil. Nezirut 2:21. The Mishnah tells that Queen Helena of Adiabene vowed that if her son returned safely from war, she would take upon herself a seven-year-long Nazirite vow. Her son returned safely and so, in Adiabene, she observed a seven-year Naziriteship. However, since the ending of any Nazirite vow requires a special ritual of sacrifice to be conducted in the Temple in Jerusalem, Queen Helena came to the Temple in Jerusalem for the sacrificial ritual of ending her vow. But the Rabbis declared that the seven years Naziriteship that she observed in Adiabene were of no significance and she had to spend seven more years in the Holy Land before she could end her vow with the sacrifice in the Temple.

In general, the Rabbis discouraged any Nazirite vow being made outside of the Holy Land. In fact, the person who made such a vow was given the duty of coming to Palestine to absolve the vow, and since the vow cannot be released except by the sacrificial ritual in the Temple, therefore when the Temple no longer is in existence, the man had to live in Palestine under his Nazirite vow for the rest of his life. There is one final consideration involved with this case. The Mishnah in Nazir 9:1 says that the Nazirite vow applies only to children of Israel. That does not imply any deprecation of non -Jews, because when the Temple stood, sacrifices were offered and brought by non -Jews (cf. Bertinoro to the Mishnah). But the Nazirite sacrifice and vow are especially Jewish, being based upon the verse in Numbers 6:2: “Speak unto the children of Israel.” Thus, the Mishnah and the Talmud (Nazir 61a) and, of course Maimonides, agree that the Nazirite vow is a specifically Jewish institution and does not apply to non-Jews.

Furthermore, the Rabbis were opposed in general to all such ascetic vows, or at least they deprecate them. They quote the verse in Ecclesiastes 5:4: “Better do not vow at all than make a vow that you will not fulfill.” And Rabbi Meir says that means it is better to avoid vows altogether especially since there is a probability that the vow will not be fulfilled (Nedarim 9a).

To sum up, then: The Nazirite vow applies only in the Holy Land and could be carried to its conclusion only when the Temple was in existence. It applies specifically to children of Israel and, at all events, requires no rabbinical or priestly authority. When the above conditions were possible for the vow to be made, the Israelite made it for himself. The Rabbi, therefore, has no function in this matter and besides, in this case, a valid Nazirite vow could not be made at all.