NUM44 … it may be stated that in the main Judaism rather discouraged the[] excesses [of asceticism). As a religion rooted in the optimistic spirit, it refused to regard matter as inherently evil, and it checked the tendency to other-worldliness and the "enjoyment" of unhappiness. On the contrary, it taught man the duty to be happy. Special benedictions were provided for every enjoyment. The rabbis frequently quote with approval the comment of R. Simeon ben Eleazar that the sin-offering of the Nazarite (this verse) was due to his abstention from the use of wine. Jer. Nedarim 1:1. Rab taught that "man is destined to give account for every legitimate pleasure which he denied himself." Jer. Kiddushim 4:12. A would-be aesthetic is told: "Hast thou not enough of the provisions of the Torah that thou addest new ones of thine own invention?" Jer. Ned. 9:3; H. Deot 3.