Talmud for Numbers 6:5

HALAKHAH: “An unspecified nezirut is for thirty days,” etc. Bar Qappara said “ιʼεʼιʼεʼ” is thirty⁹³Num. 6:5: “Until the fulfillment of the days he shall be holy”. Since the verse mentions “the fulfillment of the days”, it must refer to a fixed number; but none is indicated. The number is found by interpreting “he shall be” יהיה in the Alexandrian numbering system using letters as numbers. Since י (ι) = 10, ה (ε) = 5, the sum is 2∙10+2∙5 = 30. (In the Babli, 5a and Sanhedrin 22b, this is attributed to Rav Mattanah; in Sifry Deut. 25 it is a gloss.). Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: Corresponding to the 29 times that in the Chapter about the nazir in the Torah is written “vow, nazir, to vow as nazir”⁹⁴In Chapter 6, 6 times in v. 21, 4 times in v. 2, 3 each in vv. 5,12,16, 2 each in vv. 13,19, and once in vv. 3,4,6,8,9,20. In the Babli, 5a, this passage is attributed to bar Pada.. Are they not 30⁹⁵If one counts the related word נֶזֶר in v. 7.? Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, one has to be removed for its definition⁹⁶Before rules of the nazir can be explained, the notion of nazir has to be defined.. In the opinion of Bar Qappara, if he shaved on the 30th day, he did not fulfill his obligation. In the opinion of Rebbi Joḥanan⁹⁷This should read: “R. Jonathan” since it refers to the statement of R. Samuel bar Nahman. (However, in the Babli, Sanhedrin 22b, R. Samuel bar Naḥman reports a similar statement in the name of R. Joḥanan.), if he shaved on the 30th day, he fulfilled his obligation⁹⁸Since the obligation is 29 days, the 30th day automatically is the day of celebration.. Some want to understand it from here: “To let his head’s hair grow wildly.⁹⁹Num. 6:5.” How much is a hair growth¹⁰⁰The scribe wrote first: “How much is wild hair?” This might be the better reading.? 30 days. Some want to understand it from here: “She shall cry for her father and her mother the days of a month¹⁰¹Deut. 21:13. The argument is based on the doctrine of uniqueness of lexemes, viz., that a word used in the Torah has one and only one meaning: A meaning established in one place can be transferred to any other. Cf. Berakhot 1:1, Note 70..” Since “days” mentioned there are 30, so also “days” mentioned here. Some want to understand it from here: ¹⁰²Num. 6:12.“The prior days shall fall, for his nezirut is impure.” The days which became permitted, which Moses and his court had permitted¹⁰³Moses had forbidden Aaron and his sons to let their hair grow in mourning for Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:6), which otherwise they would have done for the customary period of 30 days (cf. Num. 20:29, Deut. 34:8)., and that is no less than 30 days. Some want to understand it from here: “Until the days are fulfilled⁹⁹Num. 6:5.”. How much are full days¹⁰⁴From one full moon to the next.? 30 days. Then if he shaved on the 30th day, he did not fulfill his obligation! Rebbi Isaac bar Eleazar said, “days” are written defectively יָמִם, with a letter י missing¹⁰⁵Therefore, there can be a day missing in the count, as there may be only 29 days from one full moon to the next..

HALAKHAH: “If somebody says, ‘I am a nazir’,” etc. Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Rebbi Eliezer learned from the sufferer from skin disease, for whom we find seven days between shaving and shaving⁴³Cf. Chapter 2:10, Note 143.. Why does he not learn from the impure nazir? The sufferer from skin disease shaves repeatedly; the impure nazir does not shave repeatedly. The rabbis from Caesarea say, they disagree explicitly: Rebbi Joḥanan said, Rebbi Eliezer learned from the sufferer from skin disease; Rebbi Eleazar says, Rebbi Eliezer learned from the impure nazir⁴⁴Who shaves after 7 days, Num. 6:9.. What difference does it make for Rebbi Eliezer whether the vow for nazir was implicit rather than explicit⁴⁵Whether he says “I am a nazir” and it is understood that he will be a nazir for 30 days, or he says “I am a nazir for 30 days”?? If the vow for nazir was implicit, he does not invalidate if he tears his hair out⁴⁶Num. 6:5 spells out first a prohibition, “a shaving knife shall not touch his head”, followed by a positive commandment “he shall let the hair of his head grow wildly.” If the order had been inverted, it would have been clear that only shaving with a knife was forbidden. Now that the commandment of letting the hair grow is separated from the prohibition of using a knife, the majority opinion (Sifry Num. 25; Tosephta 4:3; Halakhah 6:2, Babli 39b) holds that removing any hair is forbidden and the simultaneous removal of any two hairs during the period of nezirut invalidates the nezirut and requires a fresh start. Only on the 30^th day, tearing out a hair has no consequences since Num. 6:5 also states: “until the days are completed he shall be holy,” and on the 30^th day of the implicit vow they are completed., and his seventh day⁴⁷If he became impure by the impurity of the dead, he has to shave on the 7th day itself. is counted for him; if the vow for nazir was explicit⁴⁸Then his days were not yet completed when he became impure., he invalidates if he tears his hair out and his seventh day is not counted for him.

HALAKHAH: “An unspecified nezirut is thirty days,” etc. ¹³³The text of the first two paragraphs of this Halakhah is in rather bad shape. It is written: “A shaving knife shall not pass over his head¹³⁴Num. 6:5.;” therefore, if it did pass, he is guilty¹³⁵He is guilty if it passed: even if the nazir is passive. (In the Babli, 44a, and Sifry Num. 25, the sentence is interpreted to make the shaver equally guilty with the shaved.). “His head’s hair grows wildly;” how much means growing hair? 30 days¹³⁶Chapter 1, Notes 99,100.. {That refers to an impure nazir. A pure nazir? “He has to shave his head on the day be becomes pure.” Why does the verse say: “On the seventh day he shall shave all his hair”? That shows that he shaves a second time.}¹³⁷The text in braces is corrupt as it stands. The proposals for emendations create a new text; it seems better to try to understand the text as it is.
The verses quoted up to this point do not mention an impure nazir; it is possible to read with the classical commentaries: “That refers to a pure nazir. An impure nazir? ‘He has to shave his head on the day be becomes pure’ (Num. 6:9).” This presupposes that a pure nazir who shaves has to start anew; why does an impure nazir, who anyhow has to start anew for a minimum of 30 days, add to his period of nezirut if he tears out a hair?
The following quote, Lev. 14:9, and its accompanying text have nothing to do with the nazir but refer to the convalescent sufferer from skin disease. He has to shave a second time, 7 days after the shaving ordered in v. 8. “He shaves,”¹³⁸Num. 6:9 (the impure nazir), 6:18 (the pure nazir). all, not in part¹³⁹This is a non sequitur. In all other sources, the rule for the nazir is determined in comparison with the recovered sufferer from skin disease (Note 137) and the Levites when inducted into the service of the Tabernacle (Num. 8:7). In both cases, the verse emphasizes the necessity to shave all hair, meaning that no two hairs can be left standing [Babli 32a; Mishnah Nega‘im 14:4; Sifra Meṣora‘ Pereq 2(6)].. From here that if he left two hairs, he [did] nothing. “A shaving knife shall not pass over his head.¹³⁴Num. 6:5.” Not only a shaving knife, from where to treat a cropper and scissors like a shaving knife? The verse says, “shall not pass over his head.” That means not only a shaving knife; all methods of removal are understood. From here that he starts again only for a [shaving knife]¹⁴⁰Part of the last sentence is missing here but can be recovered from the Babli, 39b, and Sifry Num. 25, where a text parallel to that extending the prohibition from a shaving knife to anything that shaves is attributed to R. Joshia; but R. Jonathan states that “the verse speaks of a shaving knife. Therefore, if he tore out, cropped, or went to the barber, he cannot be whipped.”
Since the wording of R. Joshia’s text in the Yerushalmi differs from the Babli/Sifry text, for R. Jonathan’s opinion only the meaning, but not the text, can be recovered..

There, we have stated¹⁴⁹Mishnah Nega‘im 14:4; quoted Babli 40a; cf. Note 139.: “Three categories of people shave and their shaving is a commandment: the nazir, the sufferer from skin disease, and the Levites. All these, if they shaved not with a knife or left two hairs,did not do anything.” Rebbi Eleazar said: The Mishnah [speaks] about an impure nazir. But a pure nazir, once he shaved most of his head, even if not with a knife, has acquitted himself [of his obligation]. Rebbi Immi, following Rebbi Eleazar (ben Azariah)¹⁵⁰Since the author of the remark is R. Eleazar ben Pada, the words in parenthesis have to be deleted., asked: The only place where a knife is mentioned is about a pure nazir: “A shaving knife shall not pass over his head until the days are fulfilled.¹⁵¹Num. 6:5.” Therefore, after he fulfilled them he needs a knife! Perhaps it was said only about an impure nazir with regard to two hairs¹⁵²The impure nazir cannot restart his vow if he left two hairs uncut. But the requirement of a knife also applies to a pure nazir.. Rebbi Yose¹⁵³In the Babli, 42a, the remark is attributed to R. Yose ben Ḥanina. Since R. Jacob bar Aḥa was a colleague of R. Yasa and a teacher of R. Yose, it seems that one has to read “Yasa” instead of “Yose”; the attribution of the Babli is impossible. said to Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa: Do you remember when we were studying Nazir, we said that there was no difference between scissors and a knife, and Rebbi Eleazar said: The Mishnah [speaks] about an impure nazir! Why not about a pure nazir? The pure nazir shaves after the blood was sprinkled¹⁵⁴For all sacrifices, the sprinkling of the blood on the walls of the altar fulfills the purpose of the sacrifice; nothing that happens afterwards can invalidate the sacrifice.. When that was sanctified, his vow was completed. But it¹⁵⁵The hair of the nazir’s head. is as if fallen out.

“They shall fall away, for his vow of nazir is impure.¹⁷⁹Num. 6:12.” From here that the days of impurity fall away¹⁸⁰The days of certified skin disease cannot count as days of nezirut even though the sufferer from skin disease is also required to let his hair grow.. Then should he invalidate¹⁸¹The Mishnah states that a nazir who develops skin disease simply waits until he is healed and then finishes his count. Why does he not start anew as in the case of impurity of the dead?? He invalidates only the days of [impurity of] the dead¹⁸²The biblical law is quite clear that only the impurity of the dead makes him lose the earlier days of his count.. Why should they not be counted? If you say that days in which he causes [impurity to] couch and seat are counted, days in which he does not cause [impurity to] couch and seat are certainly counted¹⁸³Mishnah Kelim 1:4 states that the impurity of the sufferer from skin disease is more severe than the impurity of the female sufferer from flux. For the latter, it is stated explicitly (Lev. 15:26) that any couch and any seat used by her becomes a source of original impurity. No direct biblical source exists for declaring the sufferer from skin disease to cause this kind of impurity; it is derived indirectly in Sifra Meṣora‘ Parashah 2(6). This derivation is accepted at face value by Maimonides both in his Mishnah Commentary (Kelim 1:4) and in his Code (Turn‘at Ṣara‘at 10:11). The commentators of the Babli (Rashi, Pesaḥim 67b s. v. זב, Ravad, Commentary to Sifra) have difficulties in accepting the Sifra since it seems to contradict the Babli Pesaḥim 67b, but a student of the Yerushalmi does not have to consider this, in particular since Ravad does not object to Maimonides’s ruling in his Code. For impurity there is no difference between a sufferer from skin disease in quarantine and one positively declared infirm (Mishnah Megillah 1:7, Nega‘im 8:8).
The argument given here refers to Mishnah Nega‘im 14:2 which states that the healed sufferer from skin disease in his days of counting, between the preliminary and the definitive purification, is free from all severe impurities and does not cause more impurity than a dead reptile (the slightest of impurities, Mishnah Kelim 1:1). It does not seem to make any sense to accept the days of the severely impure quarantined but not to accept the slightly impure counting sufferer from skin disease (cf. Note 144).! What did you see to say that they are not counted? Rebbi []¹⁸⁴There are no sources which would permit filling in the lacuna. said in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: “For a wild growth of his head’s hair”¹⁸⁵Num. 6:5.. Days of hair growth are counted, days preparing for shaving¹⁸⁶For the final purification of the sufferer from skin disease. are not counted. So far in his days of counting; in the days of his definite status? Rebbi Joḥanan in the name of Rebbi Yannai: “Please do not let her be like a corpse¹⁸⁷Num. 12:12, speaking of Miriam who was punished for calumniating Moses by becoming a clear sufferer from skin disease (v. 10), not a case of quarantine..” Since the days of a corpse are not counted, the days of quarantine are not counted. A student quoted this saying cf Rebbi Joḥanan’s before Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish, who did not accept it. He said to him: Here, you call it quarantine, but there, you want to call it absolute; you cannot do that. For Rebbi Joḥanan said in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: “Please do not let her be like a corpse; let her be quarantined¹⁸⁸Num. 12:14..” Just as the days of the dead are seven, so the days of quarantine are seven¹⁸⁹While the case of Miriam was clearly not one of quarantine, the verse treats it as such by (1) calling her exclusion from the camp “quarantine” and (2) exempting her from the cleansing ritual which is required of the absolute sufferer but not the quarantined (Mishnah Megillah 1:8, Nega‘im 8:8). The verse cannot be applied to the absolute sufferer..

[How is it with a Nazirite whose vow is of unspecified duration?]⁵⁹Cf. Num. 6, Nazir 5a (Sonc. ed., p. 16). The vow of a Nazirite which is of unspecified duration [remains in force] thirty days.⁶⁰The period of thirty days is based on the numerical value of the word yihyeh, he shall be [holy] in Num. 6, 5. Whether he declared, ‘Behold I am a Nazirite’ without qualification, or he declared, ‘Behold I am a Nazirite for one day’, his status as a Nazirite lasts thirty days.⁶¹So GRA. If he completed his period as a Nazirite outside the land of Israel⁶²Where the laws incumbent on a Nazirite cannot be carried out effectively. and later returned there, [47a] Beth Shammai said that he remains a Nazirite for thirty days, and Beth Hillel said that he [reverts to the] beginning of his status as a Nazirite.⁶³i.e. he has to start afresh; cf. ‘Eduy. IV, 11 (Sonc. ed., p. 28).