Talmud Nazir (E)

yourselves abominable] with any swarming thing that swarms,
2
 signifying no matter where it
swarms,
3
 and says further, ‘On the earth’.
4
 How are these verses to be reconciled? Where there is no
doubt that he touched it he is [always] unclean, but if there is a doubt he remains clean.
5
 
    And what is R. Simeon's reason? — ‘Ulla said: Scripture says, Nevertheless a fountain [. . . shall
be clean]
6
 and continues [But he who toucheth their case] shall be unclean.
7
 How are we to reconcile
these? Whilst floating in a vessel [a doubtful object] is treated as unclean, but on the earth it is
treated as clean.
 
    Our Rabbis taught: Where there are doubts concerning any [source of defilement] that is carried
8
or dragged along, the objects are regarded as unclean, because it is as though they are at rest,
9
 but
where the doubt concerns things that are thrown,
10
 they are treated as clean, with the exception of an
olive's bulk of a corpse, one who overshadows a source of defilement, and all [other] things that
propagate defilement upwards as well as downwards,
11
 [This last expression] serves to include
sufferers from gonorrhoea, male and female.
12
 
    Rami b. Hama propounded: What is the law concerning a corpse
13
 lying in a vessel floating on the
surface of the water. Is the vessel the criterion,
14
 or the corpse?
15
 Should it be decided that the vessel
is the criterion,
16
 what would be the law if the [fragment of] a corpse was lying on a [dead] reptile?
17
Seeing that the latter defiles only until evening and the former for seven days, are we to consider it
as though it were lying in a vessel,
18
 or should it perhaps be considered a compact source of
defilement?
19
 Should it be decided [further] that this is considered as though it were lying in a
vessel, and therefore is treated as though defilement were certain, what would be the law if a [dead]
reptile were lying on a floating animal carcase? Seeing that both defile only until evening, are they to
be regarded as a compact source of defilement, or should we consider rather that of the one an olive's
bulk is necessary,
20
 whilst of the other a lentil's bulk is sufficient? [Further] what would be the law if
one reptile lay on the other? Here certainly the measure is the same,
21
 but perhaps, seeing that they
are distinct, we should regard it as lying in a vessel? Again, should it be decided that in the case of
one reptile lying on another, it is regarded as though it lay in a vessel because the [two reptiles] are
distinct, what would be the law regarding a reptile floating on a liquefied animal carcase?
22
 Seeing
that it has been liquefied is it to be regarded as liquid,
23
 or do we perhaps say that after all it is [now]
a solid?
24
 [Again], should you decide that it is a solid, what would be the law regarding a reptile
[floating] on an effusion of semen? Should you decide that the latter, because it originates by
detachment [from the human body] is a solid, what would be the law regarding a reptile floating on
Water of Cleansing,
25
 that was floating on the surface of [ordi nary] water?
26
 — We do not know.
All these problems remain unsolved.
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(1) I.e., what is the source of his opinion?
(2) Lev. XI, 43 continuing Neither shall ye defile yourselves with them.
(3) Even on the surface of water.
(4) Ibid v. 44. Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of swarming thing that moveth upon the earth.
(5) In the case where the reptile was floating.
(6) Lev. XI, 36. This signifies that even if there is a (dead) reptile in the fountain, there would be no defilement.
(7) Ibid. Signifying whatever the circumstances.
(8) Or ‘suspended’ (Tosef. and Maimonides, Yad Aboth ha-Tumeoth, XIV,3).
(9) Since they are in contact with the ground or the person carrying them all the time.
(10) The doubt being whether it brushed against the person in transit.
(11) Tosef. Zabim III, 8. In these cases, the defilement being of a more stringent type, even doubts as to projectiles are
sufficient to render unclean. The corpse defiles in a tent i.e., upwards.
(12) The gonorrhoeic sufferer defiles anything pressing on him from above even if it is not in direct contact with him.
(13) Maimonides, Aboth ha-Tumeoth XIV, 4 reads ‘reptile’.
(14) And the corpse is at rest in the vessel. The doubt is as to whether it was touched, the person concerned being in no

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doubt that he did not overshadow’ it.
(15) Which is floating. Tosaf. read ‘Or the water’ which is moving. The problem is whether this is a floating source of
defilement or not.
(16) So that in cases of doubt, uncleanness is assumed.
(17) Here, and in the other cases below, the second object is to be taken as Boating on the surface of water. Maimonides
reads here ‘A reptile lying on a corpse. There are many, not particularly important variations, in the readings of questions
that follow; v. Marginal notes of the Wilna Gaon.
(18) So that in cases of doubt, uncleanness is assumed.
(19) I.e., as one source floating on water. Then, provided it is certain that there was no overshadowing, cleanness will be
assumed.
(20) Of the carcase, an olive's bulk must be present before defilement ensues. This ‘measure’, and the ‘lentil's bulk’ for
reptiles are Rabbinic traditions.
(21) I.e., for both a lentil's bulk is sufficient to defile.
(22) That had afterwards coagulated.
(23) So that the reptile is really floating on the water.
(24) Lit., ‘a food’, the generic word for solids.
(25) I.e., the water containing the ashes of the Red Heifer, which also defiled by contact. V. Num. XIX, 1 seq.
(26) Would the Water of Cleansing, thickened by the ashes, count as a solid, and so as a vessel, or not?
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 64b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 64b
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 64b
    R. Hamnuna said: A nazirite or a celebrant of the passover who walks over a grave of the depth on
his seventh day [of purification after defilement]
1
 is clean,
2
 the reason being that defilement of the
depth is not potent enough to render void [the naziriteship or the passover]. Raba objected: IF IT
WAS TO PURIFY HIMSELF AFTER DEFILEMENT
3
 THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE DEAD
HE REMAINS UNCLEAN, BECAUSE WHERE THE STATUS QUO IS ONE OF DEFILEMENT
THE DEFILEMENT REMAINS, BUT WHERE IT IS ONE OF PURITY HE REMAINS CLEAN?
4
— [R. Hamnuna] replied: I admit you are right in the case of a nazirite who needs polling.
5
 Raba
[then] said to him: And I admit you are right in the case of a celebrant of the passover who has
completed all preliminaries.
6
 Abaye said [to Raba]: But has he not still to wait for the sun to set?
7
 —
He replied: The sun sets of its own accord.
8
 
    Abaye, too, gave up this opinion, for it has been taught: If it is on the day of fulfilment,
9
 she must
bring [a further sacrifice], but if during fulfilment she need not bring one.
10
 It might be thought that
she is not required to bring [a sacrifice] for a birth occurring during the fulfilment, but must bring
one for a birth occurring after the fulfilment,
11
 and discharge her obligation for both births,
12
 and so
Scripture says, And when the days of her purification are fulfilled,
13
 which signifies that if it occurs
on the day of fulfilment she must bring [a sacrifice] but not if it occurs during the fulfilment.
[Whereon] R. Kahana explained that the difference
14
 was due to the fact that she needed to bring a
sacrifice.
15
 Now, in the other case, has she not still to wait for the sun to set?
16
 — Abaye replied: the
sun sets of its own accord.
17
 
    MISHNAH. IF A MAN FINDS A CORPSE FOR THE FIRST TIME
18
 LYING IN THE USUAL
POSITION,
19
 HE MAY REMOVE IT TOGETHER WITH THE SOIL THAT IT OCCUPIES.
20
 [IF
HE FINDS] TWO, HE MAY REMOVE THEM TOGETHER WITH THE GROUND THEY
OCCUPY. IF HE FINDS THREE, THEN IF THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE
LAST IS FROM FOUR TO EIGHT CUBITS,
21
 THIS IS A GRAVEYARD SITE.
22
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(1) When sunset would make him clean.
(2) Provided that he does not learn of the incident until the naziriteship is done with; v. our Mishnah.
(3) That he entered the cave containing a grave of the depth.
(4) And the Mishnah is speaking of the seventh day of purification after defilement, and so contradicts R. Hamnuna.

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