Talmud Nazir (E)

form] the greater part [of a skeleton] either in frame
11
 or in number.
12
 R. Joshua asserted: I can make
the statements of Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel one.
13
 For [when] Beth Shammai say ‘from two
[limbs] or from three,’ [they mean] either from two shoulders and one thigh, or from two thighs and
one shoulder, since this is the major part of a man's structure in height, whilst Beth Hillel say [the
quarter kab must be taken] from the corpse, [viz.] from the greater part either in structure
14
 or in
number, for this [numerical majority] is to be found in the joints of the hands and feet.
15
 Shammai
says even a [single] bone, from the backbone or from the skull [defies by overshadowing]!
16
  —
Shammai is different, as he takes the more stringent view.
17
 
    Can one infer from this that Shammai's
18
 reason is that he takes the stricter view, but the Rabbis
would require both backbone and skull? — No! For the Rabbis may only disagree with Shammai
concerning a single bone coming from the backbone or the skull, but where these are complete one
alone [may be sufficient].
 
    Rammi b. Hama propounded: What is the law in the case of a quarter [-kab] of bones [coming]
from the backbone and the skull? When [our Mishnah] stated that a half-kab of bones [is required],
was it only where there are present [bones] from its other limbs [too], but since [the bones] from the
backbone and skull are treated more seriously, even a quarter [-kab] of bones [is sufficient], or
perhaps there is no difference?
19
 — Raba replied: Come and hear: [We learnt:] THE BACKBONE
AND THE SKULL.
20
 Now if you assume that a quarter [-kab] of bones coming from the backbone
and the skull is to be taken more seriously,
21
 it should state ‘for a quarter [-kab] of bones coming
from the backbone etc.’?
22
 —
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(1) In the text there occurs here the following mnemonic for the alternative methods of arriving at the number six: ‘The
mnemonic is: An individual who polls and another’.
(2) In which case the norm is in accordance with R. Akiba.
(3) Oh. II, 7.
(4) This excludes the case of a limb set up from bones severed from two living beings: Tosaf. reads here: ‘Only those
cases relating to corpses are included (in the six), not those relating to living bodies’.
(5) V. our Mishnah.
(6) So Asheri.
(7) Lev. XXI, II; v. supra 38a.
(8) Tosef. Oh. IV, 2.
(9) To atone for the not quite respectful reference to his teacher. Cf. Hag. 22b.
(10) I.e., the quarter-kab must contain parts of more than one bone. Some (e.g. Maimonides to ‘Ed. I, 7) interpret: from
two corpses or from three.
(11) Lit., ‘building’ i.e. those bones which go towards forming the greater part of the frame, e.g.’ the shoulder and thigh
bones.
(12) A body contains 248 bones, whence the greater part in number is 125 bones. V. Mak. (Sonc. ed.) p. 169, n. 5.
(13) So that the two schools refer to different things and their opinions are not mutually exclusive.
(14) This is the shoulder and thigh.
(15) I.e., the bones in the hands and feet form the greater number of bones in the body, without being so important that
they form the major part of the structure.
(16)  Thus backbone or skull is meant. This should solve the reading in the Mishnah. Part of this Baraitha occurs as a
Mishnah, ‘Ed. I, 7.
(17) He holds that even a single bone defiled, hence does not require both the skull and backbone, but the Rabbis may
disagree.
(18) The printed text reads in error ‘Beth Shammai’.
(19) And even here a half-kab is necessary. The Wilna Gaon deletes the last sentence as an interpolation based on false
premises. He asserts that the query is whether a quarter-kab of bones from the skull or backbone conveys uncleanness by
overshadowing, even as a quarter-kab derived from the great part of a skeleton either in frame or in number, and
connects with Oh. II, 1 q.v.

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(20) According to Rashi the Tosef. quoted at foot of 52a is referred to, Tosaf. thinks it is our Mishnah, whilst the Wilna
Gaon refers it to Oh. II,1.
(21) R. Elijah of Wilna reads: is unclean.
(22) For this is less than a whole skull and includes it.
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 53a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 53a
Talmud - Mas. Nazir 53a
But it was Raba himself who said that [special mention] was required only for a backbone and a
skull containing less than a quarter [-kab] of bones?
1
 — After hearing R. Akiba's opinion, [he altered
his own opinion].
2
 
    Come and hear: Shammai says, even a single bone, from the backbone or from the skull [defiles
by ‘overshadowing’]!
3
 Shammai is different, for he takes the much more stringent view.
4
 
    Can we infer from this that Shammai's reason
5
 is that he is strict, but according to the Rabbis
[there is no defilement by overshadowing’] unless there is a half-kab of bones? — Perhaps the
Rabbis only disagree with Shammai where there is a single bone, but where there is a quarter [kab]
of bones even the Rabbis agree [that this is sufficient].
 
    R. Eliezer said: The Elders of an earlier generation [were divided]. Some used to say that a
half-kab of bones and a half-log of blood [is required] for everything,
6
 whilst a quarter [-kab] of
bones and a quarter [-log] of blood is not sufficient for anything. Others used to say that even a
quarter [-kab] of bones and a quarter [-log] of blood [is enough] for everything. The Court that came
after them said that a half-kab of bones and a half-log of blood [is the quantity] for [making unclean]
everything, a quarter [-kab] of bones and a quarter [-log] of blood [is sufficient] in the case of
terumah
7
 and sacred meats,
8
 but not in the case of a nazirite or one preparing the paschal lamb.
9
 But
surely the compromise of the third [opinion] IS no [true] compromise?
10
 — R. Jacob b. Idi replied:
They had it as a tradition deriving from Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
 
    ON ACCOUNT OF THESE A NAZIRITE MUST POLL: The word THESE,
11
 in the first clause
serves to exclude a barley-corn's bulk of bone, for touching or carrying which he must [poll] though
not for overshadowing it — The word THESE in the next clause serves to exclude a rock
overhanging a grave.
12
 
    OR A HALF-KAB OF BONES:
____________________
(1) And how can he infer from the mention of the backbone and skull that a quarter kab of bones from the backbone and
skull does not defile.
(2) And the reply to Rammi b. Hama was given before he heard it. This last phrase is authenticated by the MSS. but its
meaning is obscure. The Wilna Gaon reads: (That statement of Raba's was) in accordance with the view of Beth
Shammai: a reading in keeping with his text.
(3) The rule for these being more stringent, as seen from Shammai's ruling, a quarter of a kab should suffice according to
the Rabbis.
(4) But the Rabbis disagree.
(5) That a single bone suffices.
(6) I.e., conveys defilement by ‘overshadowing’ in all cases.
(7) V. Glos.
(8) After being under the same roof with a quarter-kab of bones, a man may not eat terumah or sacred meats.
(9)  These are not rendered unclean so as to cause the nazirite to lose the period already counted, or to prevent the
passover celebrant from offering the paschal lamb.
(10) And cannot be accepted as the final decision; for it is not arrived at by logical argument, but by accepting part of
each of the other opinions; v. Rashi.

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