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Rabbi Shimon HaTzadik tells the story of the one time that he ate the guilt-offering of a nazirite who was ritually impure. This young man with beautiful eyes was very good looking and his fringe of hair showed curls. The Rabbi asked him what he saw that would convince him to cut those curls. The man explained that he was a shepherd and he saw his reflection while drawing water. At that point his yetzer hara, evil inclination, overtook him. Whatever that yetzer hara was telling him (to partake in forbidden sexual relations? to be vain? that he was too good looking to be a shepherd?), he believed that it would expel him from the world. He chided himself and reminded himself that eventually he too would be eaten by maggots in his grave. He swore that I would shave for the sake of Heaven. Shimon HaTzadik rose and kissed him on the head, marvelling at the purity of the young man's vows.
The “evil inclination” alluded to by the nazir is understood in a variety of different ways. The Rivan suggests that realizing how good looking he was made him think that he could have his way with women. The Arukh also connects it with sexual behavior, suggesting that seeing how attractive he was made him desirous of homosexual relations. The Maharsha and others argue that this is not necessarily an issue of sensuality, but rather that his appearance gave him the idea that he should abandon his father’s flocks since someone of his talents should not remain a simple shepherd.
We explore the similarity of this story with the legend of Narcissus.
As enshrined in the later Roman poet Ovid’s classic retelling, the young man selfishly spurns countless romantic suitors and friends. One such nymph, who had been cruelly rejected, turns heavenward and beseeches the Gods, “So may he himself love, and so may he fail to command what he loves.” Narcissus, in other words, ought to be punished measure for measure: he will fall in love with himself, yet, like his suitors, never see that love reciprocated. The Goddess Nemesis overhears the nymph’s just request and punishes Narcissus accordingly.
The boy views his reflection in a fountain and is inexplicably drawn to his own image. Infatuated with his beauty, Narcissus is unable to tear himself away from his own reflection.
We look at the deeper psychological implications of narcisism with the help of Rabbi YY Jacobson, Tzvi Sinensky and Dr. Moshe Halevi Spero, a noted Jerusalem psychoanalyst and scholar.