For the source text click/tap here: Nazir 22
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As it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Elazar HaKappar the esteemed says: What is the meaning when the verse states:
“And the priest shall prepare one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the dead; and he shall hallow his head that same day.”
“And make atonement for him, for that he sinned by reason of the soul”? And with which soul did this nazirite sin? Rather, because he deprived himself of wine he is therefore called a sinner.
And are not these matters inferred a fortiori: And if this one, who deprived himself only of wine, is nevertheless called a sinner, in the case of one who deprives himself of everything by fasting or other acts of mortification, all the more so is he labeled a sinner.
We explore the sinner vs saint aspect of nezirus including the Rambam’s apparent self contradiction.