Talmud Nazir (E)

(6) V. Num. VI, 9.
(7) The problem therefore remains.
(8) The seventh day is counted as part of his naziriteship because he need not bring a sacrifice, and he does not bring a
sacrifice since he does not poll.
(9) In Num. VI, 22.
(10) Cf. Lev. XIII, 3ff.
(11) The period of naziriteship counted before defilement.
(12) The period counted before leprosy.
(13) I.e., one who made the vow of naziriteship in a graveyard.
(14) For he will poll automatically at the end of the seven days of purification, just as a ritually clean nazirite polls at the
end of his naziriteship. This is the initial interpretation of the argument as understood by the Gemara.
(15) There is no definite period at which he has to poll, but he must wait until he recovers from the disease.
(16) The whole of the above paragraph is a quotation from Sifre on Num. VI, 12.
(17) I.e., surely the phrase ‘whose hair is ripe for polling’ means that he must poll as a result of his defilement in the
graveyard, so that R. Ashi's question is answered in the affirmative.
(18)  So that the argument is: Seeing that ‘a nazirite in a graveyard’ whose hair will be ripe for polling after he has
purified himself and observed the period of his naziriteship, does not count etc., surely the leper, whose hair is not ripe
for polling as part of his naziriteship because he must poll on recovery from his disease before he commences to count
the naziriteship, ought not to count etc.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18a
For if you assume that polling as a result of the defilement is intended, does he not have to poll after
the period of declared leprosy?
1
 — No, [this does not constitute proof, for] the reference is to the
polling on account of the naziriteship.
2
 
    Come and hear: The verse, And he defile his consecrated head
3
 refers to a ritually clean [nazirite]
who contracts ritual defilement; it enjoins on such a one to remove his hair and sacrifice
birdofferings, but [by implication] exempts one, who vows to become a nazirite at a graveside, from
removing his hair and sacrificing bird-offerings. For you might argue a fortiori: if the ritually clean
[nazirite] who contracts ritual defilement must remove his hair and sacrifice bird-offerings, all the
more must one who commenced [his naziriteship] whilst defiled remove his hair and sacrifice
bird-offerings; therefore the text says expressly, ‘And he defile his consecrated head’, [implying]
that only the ritually clean [nazirite] who contracts ritual defilement is required by Scripture to
remove his hair and sacrifice bird-offerings, but not the person who vowed to become a nazirite at a
graveside. This proves then [that the latter is exempt].
 
    Who is the author of the following dictum, taught by the Rabbis, [viz.,] The only difference
between a ritually defiled person who makes a nazirite vow, and a ritually clean nazirite who
contracts ritual defilement, is that the former reckons his seventh day [of purification] as part of his
period [of naziriteship],
4
 whilst the latter does not reckon his seventh day as part of his [new] period?
— R. Hisda said: It is Rabbi, for Rabbi has said that the naziriteship [after defilement] does not
recommence until the eighth day of purification, for if you were to say it is R. Jose son of R. Judah,
surely he holds that the naziriteship [after defilement] begins to operate on the seventh day of
purification.
 
    Where are these opinions of Rabbi and R. Jose son of R. Judah [to be found]? — It has been
taught: And he shall hallow his head that same day;
5
 Rabbi says [that this refers to] the day on which
he offers his sacrifices,
6
 but R. Jose son of R. Judah says [it refers] to the day on which he polls.
7
 
    And who is the author of the teaching that, ‘A nazirite who contracts ritual defilement many times
brings a single sacrifice only’?
8
 — R. Hisda said: It is R. Jose son of R. Judah, who has said that the

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naziriteship [after defilement] recommences on the seventh day of purification. Thus the case
[contemplated] could arise if he were to contract defilement on the seventh day [of purification]
9
 and
then again on the seventh day after that,
10
 nevertheless since there was no period when he could have
brought his sacrifice,
11
 he need offer one sacrifice only [for both defilements]. According to Rabbi,
however, if he contracted ritual defilement on the seventh day and then again on the seventh day,
12
the whole is one long period of ritual defilement,
13
 whilst if we suppose he contracts ritual
defilement upon the eighth day and again upon the eighth day, then there is a point of time [on each
occasion] when he could bring his sacrifice.
14
 
    What is Rabbi's reason [for his opinion]? — The verse says [first], And make atonement for him
that he sinned by reason of the dead,
15
 and then, And he shall hallow his head.
16
 And what does R.
Jose son of R. Judah [say to this]? — If this is its intention, the text should read simply, ‘And he
shall hallow his head’.
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(1)  So that the two cases are exactly analogous, and we cannot call one ‘ripe for polling’ and the other ‘not ripe for
polling’.
(2) The defiled nazirite has to poll because he is a nazirite, whereas the leper polls because he was a leper. There would
thus still be room for the argument even if the meaning were that ‘a nazirite in a graveyard’ must poll.
(3) Num. VI. 9.
(4) I.e., the seventh day is counted as the first day of his thirty days of naziriteship.
(5) Num. VI, 12.
(6) The eighth day after the occurrence of the defilement.
(7) The seventh day after the occurrence of the defilement.
(8) Ker. II, 3.
(9) After he has bathed.
(10) After the occurrence of the second defilement, so that this is a separate defilement. But if he became unclean on the
sixth day, it would be the same defilement.
(11) Which has to be brought on the 8th day.
(12) After the occurrence of the second defilement.
(13) Hence we cannot say ‘many times’ as in the passage quoted.
(14) And he must bring a sacrifice for each period of defilement.
(15) Num. VI, 11.
(16) Hence the naziriteship is to recommence after the offering of the sacrifice, which took place on the eigth day.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 18b
What is the purpose of [the additional phrase], ‘that day’? Since it cannot refer to the eighth day,
1
 we
may take it as referring to the seventh day. And Rabbi? He can say that the purpose of the phrase
‘that day’ is to tell us that even if he should fail to bring his sacrifices [the naziriteship commences].
 
    Now what compelled R. Hisda to ascribe the authorship of this dictum to R. Jose son of R. Judah?
Why should he not have interpreted it as referring to where he became unclean on the eighth night,
2
and ascribed the authorship to Rabbi?
3
 Are we to understand from the fact that he does not ascribe
the authorship to Rabbi, that in his opinion the night [before the day that his sacrifice is due] is not
regarded as belonging to the preceding period?
4
 — R. Adda b. Ahaba replied: One thing depends on
the other. If we hold that the night [before the day his sacrifice is due] is regarded as belonging to the
preceding period, then, since he can offer his sacrifice only in the morning, the naziriteship does not
begin to operate until the morning;
5
 whereas if the night [before the day his sacrifice is due] is not
regarded as belonging to the preceding period, the naziriteship after purification [from defilement]
begins in the evening.
6
 
    Our Rabbis taught:
7
 If [a nazirite]
8
 contracts defilement on the seventh day [of purification], and

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