Talmud Nazir (E)

opinion that in the term ‘until’ [the last unit] is not included,
15
 whereas R. Jonathan is of the opinion
that by the use of ‘until’, [the last unit] is included.
16
 The Master stated: What days then are those
which have to be ‘fulfilled’? You must say, The thirty days [of a lunar month]. But could it not be a
week
17
 — [In the case of] a week, what deficiency is there to make up?
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(1) Since he is unable to offer his nazirite sacrifices until he has been sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer on the
third and seventh days. V. Num. XIX, 1ff.
(2) Because the defilement takes place while the vow is still in force.
(3) Hence when the defilement takes place, the vow is no longer in force.
(4) Infra P. 53.
(5) As does R. Mattena.
(6) As does Bar Pada.
(7) For then the naziriteship is not complete until the close of the hundredth day and defilement during the naziriteship
nullifies the whole preceding period.
(8) Num. VI, 13.
(9) I.e., he is to be a nazirite again for 30 days. [i.e., not more and not less, irrespective of the question whether or not
part of the day is equivalent to a whole day (Tosaf.).]
(10) Ibid. 5.
(11) ‘Two’ being the minimum to which the plural ‘days’ could he applied.
(12) Num. VI, 5.
(13) An ordinary lunar month contains 29 days, a ‘full’ month 30 days.
(14) I.e., whether e.g. ‘until 30’ means 30 or 29.
(15) And the number thirty is derived by means of the rest of the verse, ‘He shall let the locks grow long’.
(16) And the number thirty is obtained from ‘Until the days be fulfilled’.
(17) Lit., ‘a Sabbath’, i.e., six working days completed by the Sabbath to make a week.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7a
Could it then not be a year?
1
 — Are these reckoned in days? Surely the Rabbis of Caesarea
2
 have
said: How do we know that a year is not reckoned in days? Because Scripture says, months of the
year:
3
 [this signifies that] months are counted towards years but not days.
 
    MISHNAH. IF HE SAYS, ‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE FOR ONE LONG [PERIOD,’ OR]
‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE FOR ONE SHORT [PERIOD],’ THEN EVEN [IF HE ADDS,
‘FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO GO] FROM HERE TO THE END OF THE EARTH,’ HE
BECOMES A NAZIRITE FOR THIRTY DAYS.
 
    GEMARA. Why is this so? Has he not said, ‘from here to the end of the earth’?
4
 — His meaning
is: For me this business is as lengthy as if it would last from here to the end of the earth. We have
learnt: [If a man says,] ‘I wish to be a nazirite as from here to such and such a place,’ we estimate the
number of days’ journey from here to the place mentioned, and if this is less than thirty days, he
becomes a nazirite for thirty days; otherwise he becomes a nazirite for that number of days.
5
 Now
why should you not say in this case also that [his meaning is]: For me, this business seems as if it
would last from here to the place mentioned?
6
 — Raba replied: We assume that [when he made the
declaration] he was setting out on the journey.
7
 Then why should he not [observe a naziriteship of
thirty days] for each parasang?
8
 R. Papa said: We speak of a place where they do not reckon
[distances] in parasangs. Then let him [observe a naziriteship] for every stage [on the road]; for have
we not learnt that [a man who says,] ‘I intend to be a nazirite as the dust of the earth,’ or ‘as the hair
of my head,’ or ‘as the sands of the sea,’ becomes a life-nazirite, polling every thirty days?
9
 — This
[principle]
10
 does not apply to [a nazirite vow in which] a definite term is mentioned,
11
 and this has
indeed been taught [explicitly]: [A man, who says,] ‘I intend to be a nazirite all the days of my life,’
or ‘I intend to be a life-nazirite,’ becomes a life-nazirite,
12
 but even [if he says] ‘a hundred years,’ or

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‘a thousand years,’ he does not become a life-nazirite,
13
 but a nazirite for life.
14
 
    Rabbah said: Hairs are different [from parasangs or stages], since each is separate from the
others.
15
 
    In the case of days, do we not find the verse, And there was evening and there was morning, one
day?
16
 — There it is not because [days] are discrete entities [that the verse says one day] but to
inform us that a day with the night [preceding it] together count as a day,
17
 though they are really not
discrete entities.
 
    Raba said: Why raise all these difficulties? The case [in which he says ‘FROM HERE TO THE
END OF THE EARTH’] is different, because he has already said: I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE
FOR ONE [SINGLE PERIOD].
 
    MISHNAH. [IF A MAN SAYS] ‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE, PLUS ONE DAY,’ OR ‘I
INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE, PLUS AN HOUR,’ OR ‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE, ONCE
AND A HALF,’ HE BECOMES A NAZIRITE FOR TWO [PERIODS].
 
    GEMARA. What need is there [for the Mishnah] to specify all these cases?
18
 — They are all
necessary. For had it mentioned only, ‘I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE, PLUS ONE DAY,’ [it
might have been thought] that here only do we apply the rule that ‘there is no naziriteship for a
single day,’ and so he must reckon two [periods], whereas [when he says] ‘I INTEND TO BE A
NAZIRITE, PLUS AN HOUR,’ he is to reckon thirty one days. So this case is mentioned explicitly
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(1) And the ordinary year may be considered ‘deficient’ by the side of a leap year.
(2) [On the Rabbis of Caesarea v. Lieberman, S. The Talmud of Caesarea, pp. 9ff.]
(3) Ex, XII, 2.
(4) And he should be a nazirite for life.
(5) Infra p. 23.
(6) And his naziriteship should in any case not extend beyond thirty days.
(7) The presumption is, then, that the journey and the length of naziriteship are connected.
(8) A Persian mile.
(9) Infra p. 23.
(10) That he has to observe a succession of periods of naziriteship. polling at the end of each period.
(11) E.g., from here to such and such a place.
(12) And polls every thirty days.
(13) Having mentioned a definite term.
(14) I.e., he keeps one long naziriteship during which he can never poll. Tosef. Naz. I, 3.
(15) But distance is continuous. Hence if he mentions hairs, he is understood to mean a succession of short naziriteships,
but if he mentions a distance, one long one.
(16) And so distance in terms of days is also discrete, yet the Mishnah quoted above confines the naziriteship to a single
period, and not to a succession equal in number to the number of days.
(17) For the reckoning of Sabbaths and Festivals.
(18) One would be enough, and we could infer the others.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 7b
Again.if it had simply added, ‘[I INTEND TO BE A NAZIRITE] PLUS AN HOUR,’ [it might have
been thought that he must count two periods] because he was [clearly] not speaking with precision,
1
whereas the expression ‘ONCE AND A HALF’ is precise, and it might therefore have been thought
that he should not reckon two [periods].
2
 And so we are told that in each case, he becomes a nazirite
for two periods.

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