בשלמא מחמירין דלא פתחינן ליה בחרטה אלא עונשין היכי דמי
But how are they punished? — As it was taught: If one vowed neziroth and then violated his vow: his case is not examined unless he observes his vow for the full period that he had violated it: this is the view of R. Judah. R. Jose said: This applies only to short neziroth [i.e., thirty days]; but in the case of a long period of neziroth, thirty days are sufficient.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., if he had vowed to be a nazir a hundred days, violated his vow for fifty days, and then desired absolution, it is enough to observe thirty days only, and then he is absolved. Here too he is punished in this way.
');"><sup>12</sup></span> R. Joseph said: Since the Rabbis have decreed, his case is not to be examined, if a <i>Beth din</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'house of law': Jewish court of law. Any three persons could constitute themselves a Beth din, by request, and it is to such a constituted body of laymen that this dictum probably refers. [Absolution could he granted either by one Rabbi or by three laymen; infra.]
');"><sup>13</sup></span>
Kav HaYashar
You must know that every sin is brought about by an antecedent and a cause. In this case, too, there is an antecedent and a cause that bring a man to gaze at forbidden women. The first cause is the gazing upon impure things until the eye is sated. Although it is permitted to look at the strange creatures from foreign lands, for which the Sages even instituted a blessing, “Blessed is He who diversifies the creatures,” nevertheless, one should not sate the eye with gazing at them but only cast upon them a passing glance. For the eye is comprised of four colors (the white, the dark rim around the iris, the color of the iris and the black of the pupil) corresponding to the four letters of the Divine name (Tikkunim 70, 128a). When a man casts his gaze upon impure creatures he draws upon himself the unclean spirit that hovers over them. This later causes him to gaze upon worse things, which then bring him to sin. For this reason the Sages warned that a man should not even gaze at his own wife when she is a niddah (menstruating woman) because defilement hovers over a woman while she is having her menstrual flow and through his gaze he draws it to him, causing it to adhere to his eyes. The proof to this is that when a niddah stares at a new mirror her vision makes a stain upon the glass that can never be removed. For the same reason the Sages forbade gazing at the face of en evildoer. Instead a man should accustom himself to looking upon holy things. That way he draws holiness upon himself, imbuing the four colors of his eyes with great illumination.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Orchot Tzadikim
A pious man is so called because he has a sense of shame, for the word 'hassid' or 'pious' means 'white', for the translation of 'stork' (Hassidah) in Aramaic is "hawaeita" meaning "the white one", as you note in Leviticus 11:19, and similarly in Isaiah 29:22: "Neither shall his face now become white" (with shame), and the Aramaic translation of "herpah" (shame) is hisda (same as Hassid), as you will note in Genesis 34:14. And all of this for what reason? That the Hassid or pious person must bear shame in order to fulfill the Torah, and he must remove shame from his face at performing any precept. Then he is called a Hassid or "pious one", and thus he attains to prophecy as it is written: "Then didst Thou speak in vision to Thy pious ones" (Ps. 89:20). And through his sense of shame he will attain to true reverence of God, as it is written: "In order that His awe be upon your faces and you do not sin" (Exod. 20:20). What kind of awe or fear of God can be seen in a person's face? You must surely say, "A sense of shame" (which causes the face to change color) (Nedarim 20a).
