Talmud Nazir (E)

men,
5
 and so we are told [that any child is meant].
 
    SHOULD HIS WIFE MISCARRY HE DOES NOT BECOME A NAZIRITE. The author of this
statement is the R. Judah of the heap of grain.
6
 
    R. SIMEON SAID: HE SHOULD SAY, ‘IF THE CHILD WAS VIABLE, THEN I AM A
NAZIRITE OBLIGATORILY; OTHERWISE I UNDERTAKE NAZIRITESHIP VOLUNTARILY.’
— R. Abba put the following question to R. Huna: Should a man say, ‘I undertake to become a
nazirite when I shall have a son’, and his wife miscarries, and he set aside a sacrifice,
7
 and then his
wife gave birth [to a son],
8
 what is the law?
9
 From whose standpoint [was this problem
propounded]? If from the standpoint of R. Simeon, what problem is there? Does not R. Simeon say
that wherever there is a doubt in questions concerning naziriteship we adopt the more stringent
ruling?
10
 — It must therefore be from the standpoint of R. Judah, who maintains that in questions
concerning naziriteship,if there is a doubt the more lenient ruling is adopted. The query then is
whether [the animal] became sacred or not,
11
 But what [practical] difference can it make [which it
is]?
12
 — [There would be the question of] whether he might shear it, or work with it.
13
 The problem
was unsolved. Ben Rehumi put the following question to Abaye: [Should a man say,] ‘I undertake to
become a nazirite when I shall have a son, and his companion, hearing this, add ‘And I undertake
likewise,’ what would be the law? Is the reference to his words
14
 or to him himself?
15
 Should your
finding be that the reference is to him himself,
16
 then if a man should say, ‘I undertake to become a
nazirite when I shall have a son,’ and his companion, hearing this, add ‘I too , what would be the
law? Is the reference to himself, I or does he mean, ‘I am as much your good friend as you are
yourself’?
17
 Should your finding be that whenever the other is present
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(1) And in either case he becomes a nazirite.
(2) After her miscarriage.
(3) That if a son is born, he becomes a nazirite.
(4) The Hebrew word 
ic
 son’, is a denominative of 
vbc
 ‘to beget children’, and might be used for any child (Rashi).
(5) I.e., a son through whom the family is propagated.
(6) v. supra 8a.
(7) To bring at the end of his proposed naziriteship.
(8) As a result of the same confinement.
(9) I.e., what about the sacrifice between the time it was set aside, and the time the second child was born. The question
is made clearer anon.
(10) So that the husband was a nazirite in law, and the sacrifice properly set aside from the first.
(11) [Does the birth of the second child prove that the first was the result of the same pregnancy and consequently not
premature and viable, or do we assume that it was the result of a later pregnancy and thus premature and non-viable?]
(12) Since it is now sacred.
(13) In the interval between the birth of the first and second child, as no benefit might be derived from sacred property.
(14) I.e., ‘I also undertake to become a nazirite when I have a son’.
(15) The former, i.e., I also undertake to become a nazirite when you have a son’.
(16) The latter, meaning, ‘I too shall be a nazirite when I have a son’.
(17) I.e., ‘I too shall be a nazirite when you have a son’.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 13b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 13b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 13b
he would be ashamed [to refer to himself],
1
 then if a man should say, ‘I undertake to be a nazirite
when so-and-so has a son,’ and his companion, hearing this, add ‘I too,’ what would be the law?
Would it be said then that because the other is not present he is referring to himself,
2
 or does he
mean, ‘I am as good a friend to him as you are’?
3
 
    The problem was left unsolved.

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    MISHNAH. [IF A MAN SAYS,] ‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE [NOW] AND A NAZIRITE
WHEN I SHALL HAVE A SON’, AND BEGINS TO RECKON HIS OWN [NAZIRITESHIP].
AND THEN HAS A SON BORN TO HIM, HE IS TO COMPLETE HIS OWN NAZIRITESHIP]
AND THEN RECKON THE ONE ON ACCOUNT OF HIS SON. [IF HE SAYS,] ‘I INTEND TO
BE A NAZIRITE WHEN I SHALL HAVE A SON, AND A NAZIRITE [ON MY OWN
ACCOUNT]’, AND HE BEGINS TO RECKON HIS OWN [NAZIRITESHIP] AND THEN HAS A
SON BORN TO HIM, HE MUST INTERRUPT HIS OWN [NAZIRITESHIP], RECKON THE
ONE ON ACCOUNT OF HIS SON, AND THEN COMPLETE HIS OWN. GEMARA. Raba put the
following question. If he should say, ‘I wish to be a nazirite
4
 after twenty days time,’ and then ‘For
one hundred days commencing now’, what would be the law? Seeing that these hundred days will
not be complete in twenty, are they to be inoperative [for the time being]
5
 or, seeing that there will
remain sufficient time afterwards
6
 for the hair to grow long,
7
 do they come into operation
[immediately]?
8
 
    Why does [Raba] not [first] raise the question of a [second] naziriteship of short duration?
9
 It is a
problem within a problem that he has raised:
____________________
(1) And he must have meant, ‘I shall be a nazirite when you have a son.’
(2) I.e., ‘I too shall be a nazirite when I have a son.’
(3) I.e., ‘I too shall be a nazirite when so-and-so has a son.
(4) An ordinary naziriteship of thirty days.
(5) I.e., till thirty days after the twenty.
(6) At the termination of the ordinary naziriteship.
(7) A nazirite could not poll until his hair had grown for thirty days.
(8) He will count twenty days, observe an ordinary naziriteship of thirty days, and then count eighty days to complete the
naziriteship of one hundred days.
(9) ‘I wish to be a nazirite after twenty days’, and then, ‘An (ordinary) nazirite commencing now.’
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 14a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 14a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 14a
Suppose it is decided that with a short naziriteship, since only ten days remain,
1
 these ten days would
certainly not be reckoned,
2
 [what are we to say] of a naziriteship of a hundred days?
3
 Seeing that
eighty remain, would these [eighty days] be reckoned
2
 or not?
 
    And again, suppose it is decided that [the naziriteship] [in this case] operates [immediately], what
would be the law if he were to say ‘I wish to be a nazirite after twenty days time’ and then ‘I wish to
be a life nazirite now’,
4
 would this become operative [at once] or not?
5
 And again, supposing it is
decided that in all these cases, since it is possible to secure release,
6
 they become operative [at
once],
7
 what would be the law if he were to say ‘I wish to become a nazirite like Samson in twenty
days time’, and then ‘I wish to be an ordinary nazirite now’? In this case, since release cannot be
secured,
8
 would it become operative or not?
 
    If he were to say, ‘I desire to be as Moses on the seventh of Adar,’
9
 what [would his meaning
be]?
10
 
    Of these [questions], decide the first, [For it was taught: Should a man say] ‘I wish to be a nazirite
after twenty days time,’ and then ‘For a hundred days from now,’ he reckons twenty days, and then
thirty days, and then eighty days to complete the first naziriteship.
11
 [SHOULD HE SAY, ‘I WISH
TO BE A NAZIRITE WHEN I SHALL HAVE A SON, AND A NAZIRITE ON MY OWN
ACCOUNT etc.’]
 

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