נשא: From the Nazirite to the Modern Rabbi?

This past Shabbat we read the Torah portion נשא which is partially dedicated to discussing the Nazirite and their vows. Aside from detailing what the Nazirite must abstain from and what should be done if they come into contact with something forbidden or are at the end of their term of service, the portion brings up an interesting idea for me as a modern Jewish woman. The Torah explicitly indicates that men AND women can take on the vow of a Nazirite and take on the extra religious obligations for themselves. Any Israelite could become a Nazirite and would not need to be of a certain tribe or a priest and could choose to serve God in this way. I’m going to go out on a crazy philosophical limb here and compare the ancient Nazirite to the modern rabbi, specifically the modern woman rabbi.

If a Nazirite is not a priest and still chooses to servce God in some ritual capacity, and the Nazirite can be a man or a woman, perhaps it can be further reasoned that the rabbinate is logically open to both men and women and not just men, as traditionally seen. Simply put, rabbis are not priests, but rather regular Jews who have chosen to take on this extra religious obligation to serve their fellow Jews in the capacities of ministers, teachers, counselors, etc. People who enter the rabbinate have done so to dedicate themselves to God in a way that goes above and beyond the regular religious obligations of being a Jewish adult and as such are similar to the Nazirite described in Naso. Obviously there are significant differences between a modern rabbi and a Nazirite–the rabbi can cut their hair, can consume wine and grape products, can be in the presence of a dead body. But the presence of the Nazirite in the Torah is a precedence of both men and women dedicating their lives to God and it is not hooked in specifically to the male-dominated temple cult.

To be fair, the ancient rabbis didn’t always look favorably on the Nazirite. Talmudic sages and Maimonides had a problem with Jews taking on extra vows. Though Rambam pointed out that the need for the purification ritual at the end of the Nazirite’s term was because of their readiness to return to a less demanding life. Later the Rav would say it was a sin for seeing the pleasures of God’s world as a source of evil and temptation. The commentary in Eitz Chaim points out that we are uncomfortable with such religious fervor and extremism, but I would argue this is why there was a ritual for ending the term of the Nazirite—because it would eventually come to an end.

All of this was just a bit of an intellectual exercise, to be sure. I firmly believe that women have just as much to be rabbis as men and to take on religious obligations and mitzvot that are traditionally only done by men. But, I also am firmly of the belief that using the lessons and ideals of the Torah to help guide our modern lives even if it means working through a process that may or may not work. Part of what I love about studying Torah is the process and trying to relate it to current situations and ideas.