Parshas Nasso: ONE HIT WONDER!

The paradox of the Nazarite vow presents one of Judaism's most fascinating spiritual riddles - why would someone who successfully fulfills a voluntary commitment to holiness need to bring a sin offering?

Through a masterful analysis of Nachmanides' commentary, we unpack this contradiction to reveal a profound truth about human potential: once we demonstrate what we're capable of, we establish a new standard against which our future actions will be measured. The Nazarite's "sin" isn't failing their commitment but rather returning to ordinary life after proving they could achieve something greater. This insight fundamentally reshapes how we understand spiritual growth and personal development.

Yet there's remarkable comfort within this challenging perspective. Even after the Nazarite period ends, the Torah continues referring to the person as "a Nazir" - suggesting that achievements, once attained, become part of our permanent identity. Like what we might call a "one-hit wonder" in contemporary culture, the experience of reaching a peak, however briefly, changes us forever and cannot be taken away.

This teaching invites us to reconsider our approach to personal growth. Every time we exercise discipline, overcome a challenge, or reach a new height in any area of life, we simultaneously earn an indelible achievement and create a new responsibility. The person who manages to learn with focus for three days, who prays with perfect concentration once, or who masters a difficult concept has genuinely acquired something permanent that becomes woven into their identity.

Are you ready to pursue your own version of the Nazarite journey? Consider what peaks you might reach, even temporarily, knowing that the experience will forever change how you understand your own potential. The burden of greatness comes paired with the beauty of permanent achievement - a paradox worth embracing in our spiritual lives.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Nazarite's Two Questions
• 5:14 The Sin Offering Paradox
• 10:19 Ramban's Interpretation: Leaving Holiness
• 13:40 The One-Hit Wonder Perspective
• 19:31 Never Losing Your Achievements
• 22:49 Applying The Lesson: Potential Demands Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Okay. So the plan is simple we're going to have two questions, we're going to have one answer to answer both of these questions and we're going to conclude with some inspiration and motivation kick in the pants, if you will all from a topic that you should be well acquainted with. This one essay, that will be the answer to the two questions that we pose, will be a critical analysis of the Nazarite authored by the great medieval sage Nachmanides the Heligaramban. Our story begins with the Almighty spokeeth to Moses, saying Speak to the Israelites and say to them If any man or woman explicitly utters a Nazarite vow to set themselves apart for the sake of God. Dot, dot, dot.

Speaker 1: 1:10

The verses continue to tell us and outline all of the halachos of the Nazirite, how he's not allowed to cut his hair, he's not to become ritually impure with contact with corpses or graves, to abstain from wine, any grape or vinegar type of product aware of, because it's often quoted by the sages or by speakers or by anyone who wants to be involved in Torah as the place to point to when you want to figure out how to work on discipline and how to refrain from encroaching too closely to sin. Refrain from encroaching too closely to sin, Because this Nozir has had some moment of inspiration. How he separated himself and what he did to make it possible and see that he actually fulfilled his vow is fundamental to what it means to be a free and God-fearing Jew. But there's two questions about the Nazir that are rather glaring once you hear them, and once you hear these questions, you read the text afterwards and it'll kind of stick out to you, these two facts that need to be examined, to facts that need to be examined. Question number one about the Nazir is after his term is it's been completed, terminated, the Qayin shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make expiation on this person's behalf for the guilt incurred through the corpse. The same day the head shall be shorn, the hair burned. This is all how the Kohen helps this person to take a step down from his Nosirite pedestal, his Nozierite pedestal.

Speaker 1: 3:23

What sticks out is that at the end of his stint he's to bring a karbon chatos. He's v'chipur alov me'asher chatah. A sin offering, a karbon chatos it's explicit in the verse is what he offers. For the sinful act he requires atonement and our honest question is it seems incorrect, what sin has this fellow done. His Nazir stint is over. But being a Nazir isn't required. Not everyone is a Nazir, not everyone has to become a Nazir, at least we assume. So this fellow, he brings a karbon chatos. What sin has he committed? He took on something extra. He did it Brilliantly, like Hercules. Well, I think Hercules is from a different religion, but he had a Herculean effort in getting this done and now he needs a sin offering because he's completed it.

Speaker 1: 4:41

The Ramban succinctly asks this question the reason why the Nazarite must bring a sin offering when his Nazarite-hood have been fulfilled, it has not been explained, says the Ramban. Generally, we assume that a sin offering is brought for the atonement of a sin, of a committed and said error. But here the Nazarite has kept the days of consecration in its complete and totality, a fulfillment of his vow. So the question remains why does Scripture obligate him to bring a carbon khatas? Question two, chapter six, verse 20. I think I botched that leaning, but the Patek says that as this carbon is being brought, the priest shall elevate them as a carbon. Ola, bring it before Hashem. It shall be a sacred donation for the Kohen, in addition to the bringing of the breast of the elevation offering and the thigh of the gift offering.

Speaker 1: 6:11

And after this karban, this process has been finished. His karban has been offered v'achar yishta ha-nazir yayin. After that, the Nazarite may return to drink wine. If we read the words conscientiously, deliberately and delicately, we have a question here. After the carbun has been offered, it's very nice that he can go back to drinking wine, but he is no longer a nazir.

Speaker 1: 6:47

At this point Our verse says and afterwards he can drink. He is not a nazir anymore. This is in fact the first moment after he is officially no longer a nazir. It should just say v'achar yishtah yayin. He can go back to drinking wine. Maybe don't even say at all that he needs to return to drink wine. There's no commandment to drink wine. He has to drink wine.

Speaker 1: 7:24

Maybe the scripture should be mute and not say anything about his returning to his regular indulging of the cabernet sauvignon. But to be direct, the question is he's no longer a Nazir. It seems factually incorrect and even though you can kind of squish this question down and maybe take a bit of the hurt out of it by saying no, it's referring to the Nazir what he just was a Nazir before. That's not how we learn Torah. Everything's precise and if this is stated here, that he's still a Nazir, we must understand in which way, if it seems his stint is over the answer. I like to kind of make a trip back to Yeshiva to learn up a Ramban that asked this first question and we're going to use it to answer the second question. We're going to learn it up and try to understand not just what the words say but what they mean and what the ramban is trying to convey to us. As if we're in the room with him, we're paying attention to get what the underlying message that the Ramban is trying to convey to us. The Ramban's words are the reason why the Nazirite must bring a carbon. Hatas has not been explained. The Ramban gives us his interpretation Following the pshat mahalich, an explanation at the most basic level Ki ho'ish hazeh chotei nafshel.

Speaker 1: 9:01

This person has sinned against his soul, his soul sinner. He's done something wrong. He has sinned. Where's the sin? B'malos ha'naziras. He sinned as soon as he's completed his naziras. Ki hu ata nazor mikidusha so v'avodas hashem. He sinned as soon as he's completed his Naziris. For at this moment now, he has been careful and he has shown holiness in his service of God, and it's fitting that this person should remain a Nazir forever and he should be able to spend all of his days as a Nazirite. Holy to God. This person has shown an ability to do something incredible. So he gets a sin because he should maintain this level of gloriousness, this level. This is a madriga in his avodah Hashem.

Speaker 1: 10:10

So now, just throwing in the towel and going back to regular life, that's a sin. What I think Thuram Ban is really getting at here. Why is it a sin? Why is it something that he did, something great and now he's come back to his regular status? Why is that a sin? But I think what the underlying theme here, the rationale to this, is that once a man has shown his abilities, once a man has shown his abilities, he's taken the step forward and become a superstar. You show that you have that ability. You're not cut from the average cloth of mediocrity. You can accomplish more, more. So now going back to regularhood mediocrity-ville is now a sin, because when you have great moments, it shows that this is something that you can do.

Speaker 1: 11:10

And now it's a bit of a sin to not remain there, to not continue it, to not make it your new standard, because once someone has become a Nazir. That shows that you're different, that you can accomplish more. Al-avai, the prophet, says that we all should be Nazirim. This person is now has biting criticism from the Navi because he's somebody that could become a Nazir. He's at that Madrega, and now, when you come back to earth, he could become a Nazir. He's at that Madrega, and now, when you come back to earth, you're giving up a Madrega that you really could attain. And once a Madrega becomes into focus, into perspective, and it's an attainable Madrega, well then it's a little bit of a sin to not maintain that Madrega.

Speaker 1: 11:54

To make this very clear if a person was a I don't know, he didn't have any self-control and could never become an Uzzier, I don't think he would bring a Karban Khattas because he hasn't shown any ability to be a superstar the Mashal. I want to bring a Mashal to try to show what the Ramban maybe means here, before we answer this second question, there's something called a one-hit wonder. It's this idea or reality of a musical artist or sports player who achieves mainstream popularity for a single song, a single play, something great that he has accomplished, but the rest of his career fails to match the success of that one moment. A one-hit wonder he had a great game, he was the champion and the hero for one night.

Speaker 1: 12:56

We normally view this as a negative thing, and that's probably what is at the heart of that is because it's a little bit sad that you weren't able to maintain it. You were a one-hit wonder, you did something great, but now how come you can't come through in the clutch in the World Series next year? And how come you were never able to put out another hit single, a hit song? You were only a one-hit wonder. You showed potential, but you could never kind of make it last, you couldn't make it endure. But it's not all terrible. It's not all bitter, sad, macabre and falling of the countenance. It's not so sad.

Speaker 1: 13:45

To be a one-hit wonder is incredible, because after somebody does something that is so special, although he may be a one-hit wonder, he never loses the title of accomplishing that one great thing. See, this is Nazir, who has stepped forward and was a Nazir and, yes, he should try to maintain it. But after he goes back to regular life, you never lose that one hit wonder status. You, after the Nuzir period is over, you're still a Nuzir, not in the way that you're living by it practically, but in the same way that you were the guy who hit that game-winning shot. You never lose that title, even if you didn't hit it the next time, the next game.

Speaker 1: 14:40

You're always that guy who's famous for hitting that one half-court shot at the buzzer or the game seven bottom of the ninth grand slam to walk it off the Achar Yishta Hanozer Yayan. I heard this shot one time from my Rosh Hashiva about these words that once you have a madriga and you've done something great in Judaism, that never leaves you. Once a nazir, always a nazir, because you are always that famous guy who went 30 days with discipline. That's what it means. The achar yishta hanazir yay means Because you went forward and did something great and while we want you to maintain it and you're failing to maintain it, that isn't pulling away of your accolades, your laudations Of what you have previously done. You are still going to be remembered for life as the hero, the one hit wonder, in a positive light, because you did something that no one else has done. He's done something extraordinary to become a Nazir, to do Nazirite things.

Speaker 1: 15:46

People scoff at it and they say it's really not that big of a deal 30 days without some wine, no haircuts. But what they don't understand is that they may be lying to themselves To be as nauseous as Yafli. The Torah knows how hard it is to change our habits. The Torah knows more than we know and the Torah knows that someone who dug his feet into the bottom of the riverbed and started to walk upstream like a salmon while everyone else is falling down this wake, this canal of lust and desire where they can't possibly say no to themselves, a 30-day period where you continue to march upward towards the top of the riverbed and you're swimming upstream, that's unbelievable. And it's yafli, it's wondrous, this Nazirite status.

Speaker 1: 16:37

I had a bunch of examples of this concept written down to try to describe what it is to be a one-hit wonder and what the Ramban means. I was going to go through different times that will really show you whether you are a music fan or a sports fan, a Torah fan. All about how somebody has one famous piece, one famous doing a Jeremy Lin style, who was good for one month in the NBA but never amounted to much else. He was a one-hit wonder, but forever. This Taiwanese basketball player that you may or may not know was a superstar. He did something great for 30 days and you'll never take that away from him. I bet you he can still retire on the amount of money that he made. It was called Linsanity back when he did it. It's like this insane Jeremy Lynn basketball player situation. It's a good muscle Because he's forever the guy who was Lynn Sanity, even though he may not be good at basketball anymore and he never was able to maintain it.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, how about the English neurologist and the middle distance athlete who ran the first mile in four minutes, in under four minutes, the first four-minute mile. It's a great story how he did it. And once he did it he kind of opened up the door for everyone else to run the four-minute mile because now it was doable and he had brought down that energy and power down into this world. It's pretty cool how that works. And even though he may not have ever attained nearly the same amount of accolades and gold medals in his running career, doing something great one time doesn't mean that you aren't going to be known, understood and praised for that one great accomplishment forever. A one-hit wonder is not such a terrible thing. After all, you never lose this marvelous feat.

Speaker 1: 18:45

We have two very clear takeaways from today's idea and this from Bon about how you can remain a Nuzier forever and also still bring a sin sacrifice because you weren't able to maintain that greatness. These takeaways are that bursts of greatness, attaining, acquiring, amassing a remarkable feat. They obligate and mandate a maintaining and sustaining of that level because you have shown what you're capable of. That's one very powerful and kind of in-your-face asking-a-lot-of-you type of idea. I mean, just you wake up early in the morning one day. You've shown yourself that you can do that. So every other day that you sleep in, it kind of is compared to when you actually did get up on time that you weren't really capable of it.

Speaker 1: 19:51

And point number two is that don't let anyone tell you ever that you're really doing that just for a day. You're just doing that for a week. It'll never last. Who cares? Maybe it'll never last, but v'achar yizhta ha-nozer yayin. But you'll never, ever lose that accolade, that medal of honor that you were the one that was able to learn clearly and sit down and pay attention for two hours a day out of a one entire week where you learned well, even if you don't continue and you fall off the bandwagon of the dafiyomi, but you did it for three days, you remain the person that learned stark for those three days. If you concentrate in your shmona esrei for three tefillos just one day the verse would say about you, homiletically speaking, that you are a person who is a Bal Kavana indivining because you did it and that can never be taken away from you. Really something special, a powerful takeaway. I'm excited about this Ramban. If a person works on himself and isn't becoming jealous or angry for a day, for a week, you never lose what you acquired.

Speaker 1: 21:23

I felt really good about myself this past week of chalipin a transaction in Jewish law and trying to understand how it works if you would use this Kenyan to marry a woman. There was some underlying situation where the Gemar keeps trying to understand a question after a question about why this chalipin should work. It's just a trade, that's not an acquisition, that's not a giving of money to the woman, and I came up with an approach to the topic and everything fell into place and all the questions were going to be answered and all the questions were to be understood and I was proud of myself. I really got it and no one can ever take that away from me. I'm never going to lose that. I was that one-hit wonder.

Speaker 1: 22:14

My Rebbe said I think you're onto something, but it also brings us to our first point here. To return to it, it also shows that I'm capable of saying over clear, logical shot in the Gemara. And every day that I don't, I may, god forbid not be presenting my full growth potential, not manifesting it, and God forbid a karbon chatas. God forbid that. I would need some atonement for not saying good enough shot, good enough understanding.

Speaker 1: 22:55

This nausea is nothing to scoff at and this perspective is powerful. It should make you feel accomplished on the things that you've done in your past and should encourage you to take more things on, even if they're for short whiles, in the future. It's up to you. Short wiles in the future, it's up to you. Do you want to take a leap like this and do something in the future and actually commit to saying Kriya Shema, the first verse, with Kavana during the morning prayers, minimally, or to really take on a Torah study, chavrusa, where you're really understanding what God wants from you? You should be careful because once you present with the seen kohos, with the potential that you're manifesting, it may obligate more fulfilling of that potential. That's really the thrill of accomplishing anything right, but what comes in tandem with that is that incredible feeling that you've acquired something that can never be taken away from you and that feels really, really good. We kind of can conclude with a one-liner here that I guess becoming a one-hit wonder isn't so bad after all.