“The priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord, it is sacred for the priest, with the breast of waving and with the haunch of lifting, and then the nazirite may drink wine” (Numbers 6:20). “The priest shall wave them.” The priest places his hands beneath the hands of the nazirite and waves. How does he wave?
He waves to and fro. From where is it derived that he would raise and lower? It is as it is stated: “That was waved and that was raised” (Exodus 29:27). It juxtaposes raising to waving.
Just as waving, one waves to and fro, so, too, raising, one waves to and fro. And just as raising, one raises and lowers, so, with waving, one raises and lowers. From here they said: The mitzva of waving, one waves to and fro and raises and lowers. Waving, one performs one wave, not two.
“Before the Lord,” in the east, as everywhere that it is stated: “Before the Lord,” it is in the east unless it is otherwise specified in the verse. “It is sacred for the priest, with the breast of waving and with the haunch of lifting.” Is the nazirite’s ram not included in: “For [I have taken] the breast of waving and the haunch of lifting [from the children of Israel, from their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as an eternal allotment from the children of Israel]”? (Leviticus 7:34).
Why is it stated here? It is because the law regarding the nazirite’s ram addressed a new matter; that it requires the separation of the foreleg.142In a regular peace offering the foreleg is not separated and given to the priest. Is it, perhaps, limited to its novel element? That is why the verse needed to restore it to its general principle; that it requires separation of the breast and the haunch.
“Then the nazirite may drink wine.” Is this after a single act, or is it only after all the actions? It is written here: “Then the nazirite may drink wine.” It is written there: “After he has shaved his consecrated head” (Numbers 6:19). Just as there, it is after a single action, so, too, here it is after a single action.