Nazir - Daf 8
- הריני נזיר מלא הבית או מלא הקופה
The next Mishnah teaches, in addition to cases quoted on Daf 7: הריני נזיר מלא הבית או מלא הקופה – One who says, “I am a nazir for a houseful” or “for a boxful,” בודקין אותו – we ask him about his intent. אם אמר אחת גדולה נזרתי נזיר ל' יום – If he says, “I vowed one large nezirus,” he is a nazir for thirty days, and his intent was to express the difficulty of the nezirus. ואם אמר סתם נזרתי – And if he said, “I vowed nezirus without specific intent,” but meant for the words to be interpreted naturally,רואין את הקופה כאילו היא מלאה חרדל ונזיר כל ימיו – we see the box as if it is full of mustard seeds, and he is a nazir all his days. This means he is a permanently repeating nazir of thirty-day terms, as in the earlier case of “like the hair on my head.”
- Machlokes if a person is מכניס עצמו לדבר שספיקו חמור מודאי
The Gemara asks, instead of measuring a boxful in terms of mustard seeds, let us rule leniently and view it as filled with gourds or melons, which is a finite amount (and being countable, would effect a single nezirus for the number of days parallel to the boxful of gourds). Chizkiyah answers that our Mishnah reflects the view of Rebbe Shimon, who holds אדם מכניס עצמו לדבר שספיקו חמור מודאי – a person will bring himself to a circumstance whose status of doubt is more stringent than its certainty: A Baraisa teaches that one who accepted nezirus on condition that a pile of grain contained one hundred kor, and it was lost before being measured, Rebbe Shimon says he is bound by nazir prohibitions out of doubt,שספק נזירות להחמיר – because he holds uncertainties of nezirus are ruled stringently. Rebbe Yehudah argues that since he can never bring the nazir-korbanos and end his term (since he might not be a nazir), we assume the vower would not intend to accept such a nezirus. In our Mishnah as well, it is uncertain if he meant mustard seeds, making him a lifelong nazir of repeating thirty-day terms, or gourds, making him a single-term nazir for the number of days parallel to a boxful of gourds, possibly longer than thirty days. Thus, Rebbe Shimon would hold that we must also consider the possibility that he meant mustard seeds and a lifelong repeating nazirus but cannot shave until after the “gourd interpretation” period has passed.
- Rebbe Yehudah can agree with uncertainties of a nezirus that has taken effect
Rebbe Yochanan explains that our Mishnah can agree with Rebbe Yehudah. In the case of the nezirus contingent on the pile of grain, it is unknown if any nezirus has taken effect, so Rebbe Yehudah rules leniently that one would not make himself a doubtful nazir. But in our Mishnah, הכא נחית ליה לנזירות – here, he has definitely entered nezirus (but there is uncertainty as to its type and duration), במאי לסלוקיה מיניה – so how can he be removed from it? Rebbe Yehudah will thus agree to rule stringently, even if the uncertainty causes a greater stringency than either certain possibility. The Gemara objects, since after the “gourd interpretation” period has passed, and the only remaining possibility is the “mustard seed interpretation,” the uncertainty now is if a second nezirus term came into effect. Thus, Rebbe Yehudah should rule leniently as he does in the case of doubtful nezirus acceptance. The Gemara responds that Rebbe Yehudah holds like Rebbe, who said in our Mishnah about a nezirus “like the hair on my head” that he does not observe perpetually repeating terms, rather he observes a single nezirus term lasting his lifetime and may never cut his hair. Here, too, the “mustard seed interpretation” would engender a single lifelong nezirus, and since nezirus has definitely taken effect, Rebbe Yehudah would agree to rule stringently. The Gemara discusses if it is possible that Rebbe Yehudah agrees with this position of Rebbe.
