Nazir - Daf 5

  • Machlokes about the frequency of Avshalom’s trimming

A Baraisa brings three opinions about how often Avshalom trimmed his hair: Rebbi says every twelve months, which he learns with a gezeirah shavah from the law of redeeming a house sold in a walled city. Rebbe Nehorai says once every thirty days and explains: מאי טעמא גבי כהנים – What is the reason regarding Kohanim that they must have cut their hair within thirty days to do avodah?משום דאיכא כובד, הכא נמי איכא כובד - Because there is heaviness after thirty days of growth, so here, too, with Avshalom, there is heaviness. Rebbe Yose says he may trim every Friday. The Gemara asks, if so, what difference is there between Avshalom, who was a nazir olam, and his brothers, who, as princes, also cut their hair weekly? The Gemara answers that if Yom Tov fell out on a weekday, his brothers would trim beforehand and he could not, having trimmed the previous Friday. It answers additionally that whereas his brothers could trim Friday morning, he had to first bring his korbanos, and could only trim later in the day.

  • Machlokes about the thirty-day length of standard nezirus

The next Mishnah states: סתם נזירות ל' יום – Standard nezirus is for thirty days. Although he can declare a longer term, this is the minimum, and the length of an unspecified nezirus. Rav Masna says this is learned from קדוש יהיה – he shall be holy, and the word יהיה has a numerical value of 30. The Rosh notes that he must have had a tradition that nezirus is thirty days and this is an asmachta, because laws cannot be derived from gematria. Bar Padda says it is derived from the twenty-nine times the Torah says forms of the word נזיר. It emerges, then, that Bar Padda should hold that nezirus is only 29 days, and the Gemara challenges him from our Mishnah which says it is 30 days. He answers that since he must shave and bring his korbanos on the thirtieth day, and remains a nazir until he does, the Mishnah describes the entire process as 30 days. The Rosh notes that the interpretation of Bar Padda’s position will be changed below.

  • The Mishnah which says that he shaves on the 31st day, yet shaving on the 30th day is valid

The Gemara further challenges Bar Padda from a Mishnah which teaches that a nazir shaves on the 31st day, and not the 30th day. According to Rav Masna, that a standard nezirus term is 30 days, it is understood that he must shave the next day, but according to Bar Padda, why does he wait until the 31st day? Bar Padda responds that the opposite can be shown from the next clause of that Mishnah:אם גילח ליום שלשים יצא – If he did shave on the 30th day, it is valid. Rather, the reason that he is supposed to shave on the 31st day is because נעשה כאומר שלימין – the Rabbis decreed to treat every case as if he said 30 complete days, which would require shaving on the 31st day (because they were concerned that people would confuse the two cases). According to Rav Masna, who says nezirus is 30 days, the Gemara explains that shaving on the 30th day is still valid because he holds מקצת היום ככולו – part of the day is tantamount to the whole day. Once part of the final day has passed, he may shave and bring his korbanos. He agrees, however, that the Rabbis enacted that he wait until the next day, which is why the Mishnah says that he shaves on the 31st day. In summation, both opinions agree that he must shave on the 31st day because of a Rabbinic enactment, and that shaving on the 30th day is valid, albeit for different reasons.