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[[Image:John_the_Baptist.jpg|right|thumb|250px|John the Baptist with the unshorn hair of the nazirite]]

[[Image:John_the_Baptist.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[John the Baptist]] with the unshorn hair of the nazirite]]

A '''nazirite''' or '''nazarite''' ([[Hebrew]]: '''נזיר''', ''nazir'' "separated") was a [[Judaism|Jew]] set apart for, and especially consecrated to, [[God]] through vows of [[abstinence]]. Both men and women could take the nazirite vow; married women could take the vow with the consent of their husbands. The duration of naziriteship was voluntary, and ranged from thirty days to a lifetime.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=N ''Nazarite''] 1906 [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] Accessed June 25, 2007</ref> Despite the name "separated", nazirites did not lead a monastic existence apart from the community but were active participants in all familiar and communal affairs. What set them apart was their meticulous observance of the vow, which gave them a holy status similar to that of the [[High Priest]].<ref>'''Milgrom, Jacob''' ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers'' Jewish Publication Society of America (1990) ISBN 0-8276-0329-0</ref>  

A '''nazirite''' or '''nazarite''' ([[Hebrew]]: '''נזיר''', ''nazir'' "separated") was a [[Judaism|Jew]] set apart for, and especially consecrated to, [[God]] through vows of [[abstinence]]. Both men and women could take the nazirite vow; married women could take the vow with the consent of their husbands. The duration of naziriteship was voluntary, and ranged from thirty days to a lifetime.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=142&letter=N ''Nazarite''] 1906 [[Jewish Encyclopedia]] Accessed June 25, 2007</ref> Despite the name "separated", nazirites did not lead a monastic existence apart from the community but were active participants in all familiar and communal affairs. What set them apart was their meticulous observance of the vow, which gave them a holy status similar to that of the [[High Priest]].<ref>'''Milgrom, Jacob''' ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers'' Jewish Publication Society of America (1990) ISBN 0-8276-0329-0</ref>