“The vow of a hermit, to dedicate himself to the Lord.” RASHI interpreted “to the Lord” as for the sake of the Creator. The interpreters interpreted that he does not deny himself wine because wine is bad for his health or that it intoxicates him and costs him humiliations. Rather, he understands that by this he will bring himself closer to the Creator, and there, there is the judgment of Tuma’a [impurity], for then “The first days will fall,” meaning he returns to the beginning and must start his work anew.

Interpretation: Wine indicates luxuries. The intimation to this is not necessarily in the wine, but rather in that wine symbolizes a person enjoying more than is necessary. When he denies himself this, he should say for what reason he wants to relinquish luxuries and settle for little—is it because he hopes for a greater reward, such as honor, or even that he hopes that thanks to this he will be rewarded in the next world.

For all those reasons, even though they make it difficult for a person to relinquish luxuries, still the Tuma’a, meaning the descent from his degree, is not so common because it is built on reward.

Conversely, for the sake of the Creator, then the Tuma’a is more commonplace, meaning the descent from his degree. When he falls, it means he is defiled. Sometimes the Tuma’a comes suddenly, as it is written, “But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and defiles his head.”

This is commonplace because the body objects to the truth, since the body cannot understand working not in order to receive reward. At that time comes the commandment that he must begin his work anew, meaning not mind the place from which he stopped, since it shows that the acceptance of the burden of the kingdom of heaven is still not as it should be. Hence, he must begin anew to accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven again, as it is written, “The first days will fall.”