<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21px; "><p style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 135%; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">This is the law of the </span></font><span style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">nazir</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> on the day that the days of his abstention are completed... (6:13)</span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 135%; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Why does the Torah section dealing with the laws of the </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">nazir </span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">follow immediately after the section dealing with the laws of the </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">sotah</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">? To tell you that whoever sees a </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">sotah's</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> ruin should forswear wine. (</span></font><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="90190" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><i>Rashi</i></span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">)</span></font></p><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Once, in the early days of </span></font><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="88730" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Chassidism</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">, a learned Jew happened upon a </span></font><i><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="88725" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">farbrengen</span></font></span></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">. Taking in the sight of half-empty vodka bottles on the table, of Jews singing and dancing instead of studying Torah, he cried: "Yid'n! The Beis Hamikdash is in ruins, Israel is in exile, and you dance and drink?!"</span></font></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 135%; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Present at the </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">farbrengen</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> was Rabbi </span></font><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="90147" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Dovid</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> Ferkus, a senior disciple of the </span></font><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="88349" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Baal Shem Tov</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">. "I have a question for you," said Rabbi Dovid to the visitor. "In one place, Rashi writes that a </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">nazir's </span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">vow to abstain from wine is an appropriate reaction for one who witnesses human susceptibility to corruption by physical appetites. But only a few verses later, Rashi quotes the Talmudic opinion which regards the </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">nazir's</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> abstinence as a sin. Which is it? Is drinking wine a positive or a negative thing to do?" </span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 135%; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Having stumped the learned Jew, Rabbi Dovid continued: "I will tell you the difference between the two cases. The first statement by Rashi is addressed to one who 'sees a </span></font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">sotah's</span></font></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> ruin.' A person who is capable of seeing the negative in a fellow Jew, had better not drink wine. Wine will agitate his heart, and he'll probably be roused to discover more failings and deficiencies in his fellows. But someone who is blessed with the ability to see only the good in his fellow, for him to avoid getting together with other Jews for a </span></font><i><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="89165" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">lechayim </span></font></span></i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">is nothing less than sinful! An infusion of wine into his</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "> heart will stimulate it to uncover the hidden good in the hearts of his fellows." (<i>Reshimat </i></span></font><span onclick="Page_Glossary.complete_show(this);" onmouseover="show_glossary(this);" onmouseout="Page_Glossary.hide(this);" class="glossary_item" glossary_item="89303" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); cursor: pointer; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><i>Devarim</i></span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">)</span></font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 135%; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">rw</span></font></p></span></div></div></body></html>