Nazir 45a — the Talmud in English

And behold, such a thing is impossible, and it is necessarily impossible to expound the verse in this manner! For:

Granted:

behold, the

Nicanor Gates

to which the impure nazirite came—

where are they situated?

In which camp are they located? Behold,

they are in the Levite Camp,

for they were not sanctified with the sanctity of the Temple Courtyard!

And

behold,

it was taught in a beraita: A person impure through contact with the dead—

is permitted to enter the Levite Camp!

And not only a person impure through contact with the dead, but even the corpse itself

is permitted to be brought into the Levite Camp!

As it is stated [Exodus 13]: “

And Moses

[who was a Levite]

took the bones of Joseph with him.”

And

what

is the meaning of the verse

“with him”?—

That Joseph’s coffin was

in his half

of Moses, together

with him in the Levite Camp.

And it is proven from this beraita that it is permitted to bring the corpse itself into the Levite Camp, and kal va-chomer, a person impure through contact with the dead is permitted to be there!

And Abaye proves from here that also with regard to a person with a flux, one may not expound the verse as they expounded it.

Rather,

Abaye said:

[According to the version of Tosafot and the Rosh]—

A person with a flux who has immersed himself for the day—

is not considered like a person with a flux,

and therefore, merely by virtue of being one who has immersed himself for the day, he should have been permitted to enter the Levite Camp, like a person impure through contact with the dead.

And even so,

he is prohibited from entering the Levite Camp on the seventh day, until the eighth day,

since he lacks atonement,

in addition to being one who has immersed himself for the day.

For the time has not yet arrived when he can bring his offering and attain atonement through it; he can do this only on the eighth day, as is explicit in the verse.

And therefore,

he does not enter

the Levite Camp even after immersing himself on the seventh day, and in this respect his law is like that of a person with a flux. But on the eighth day, when he is fit to attain atonement, and he is no longer one who has immersed himself for the day, he is permitted to enter the Levite Camp.

But a person impure through contact with the dead, who does not lack atonement, is permitted to be in the Levite Camp even if he has not immersed himself at all.

And Abaye proves his statement: a person with a flux who has immersed himself for the day is prohibited from entering the Levite Camp only because, in addition to being one who has immersed himself for the day, he has the deficiency of lacking atonement; and the Torah permitted him to enter the Levite Camp only on the eighth day, when he no longer has the deficiency of being one who has immersed himself for the day and can bring his offering on that day.

And if

behold, if we say according to our statement, that the Nicanor Gate

stands in the Levite Camp—

why does the verse call it,

why does the verse call it by the name

“Tent of Meeting” [as it is stated concerning the nazirite and the person with a flux: “And he shall come before the Lord, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting”]?!

But behold, the Tent of Meeting is the place of the Temple itself, which is the Camp of the Divine Presence and not the Levite Camp!

Rather, necessarily, the intention of the verse, which calls the Nicanor Gate “the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,” even though it is in the Levite Camp, is

to say

in order to introduce and reveal the law:

Just as there,

in the place of the Temple itself,

one who lacks atonement does not enter

at all,

so too into the Levite Camp,

like the Nicanor Gate,

one who lacks atonement does not enter!

But his prohibition against entering the Levite Camp applies only at a time when he has an additional deficiency, namely, that he is one who has immersed himself for the day and cannot bring his offering.

And therefore, on the seventh day, even after immersing himself, he is not permitted to enter the Levite Camp. In this regard, the verse called the Nicanor Gate “the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,” to teach us that before the eighth day, this entrance is considered, for one who has immersed himself for the day and also lacks atonement, like the Tent of Meeting, into which one who lacks atonement is prohibited from entering.

But on the eighth day, when he ceases to be one who has immersed himself for the day and is fit to bring his offering, he is permitted to enter the Levite Camp and bring his offering, even though he still lacks atonement and is prohibited from entering the Temple.

And the Gemara now explains: from where do we know that one who lacks atonement, even after immersing himself and after the sun has set for him, is prohibited from entering the Temple?

And there,

into the Temple itself,

from where do we know

that one who lacks atonement is prohibited from entering?

For it was taught in a beraita:

It is stated in the portion of Hukkat: “

He shall be impure”—

to include one who has immersed himself for the day,

who is prohibited from entering the Temple, although he is permitted to enter the Levite Camp. “

His impurity is still upon him”—

to include one who lacks atonement,

who, even though he already immersed yesterday and is no longer one who has immersed himself for the day, is prohibited from entering the Temple.

It is written in the portion of the nazirite:

The offerings of the nazirite: “

And this is the law of the nazirite, on the day when the days of his nazirite status are completed, he shall bring him [himself] to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And he shall bring his offering to the Lord: one unblemished male lamb in its first year as an elevation-offering, one unblemished female lamb in its first year as a sin-offering, and one unblemished ram as peace-offerings. And a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour, [ten] cakes mixed with oil, and [ten] unleavened wafers [which are not mixed with oil, but rather] smeared with oil, [and the measure of the oil for the cakes and the wafers is a quarter of a log, and this is a halakha given to Moses at Sinai], together with their meal-offering and their libations. And the koen shall bring it before the Lord, and perform his sin-offering and his elevation-offering. And he shall make the ram a peace-offering to the Lord over the basket of unleavened cakes [he shall slaughter the peace-offering with the intention of sanctifying the bread], and the koen shall perform its meal-offering and its libation.”

The nazirite’s shaving: “

And the nazirite shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting the head of his nazirite status, and he shall take the hair of the head of his nazirite status and place it upon the fire that is beneath the sacrifice of the peace-offerings.”

Waving: “

And the koen shall take the boiled foreleg from the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and place them upon the palms of the nazirite after he has shaved his nazirite status. And the koen shall wave them as a waving before the Lord; it is holy for the koen, in addition to the breast of the waving and the thigh of the gift-offering”—

and afterward the nazirite shall drink wine.”

And these laws are explained in the Mishnayot before us.

Mishna:

The shaving

of purification—how is it performed?—

If

the nazirite

would bring

three animals

as an offering: one female lamb in its first year for a

sin-offering;

one male lamb in its first year for an

elevation-offering, and

one ram for

peace-offerings.

And he slaughters the peace-offerings

first,

and shaves on account of them,

meaning: once he has sprinkled the blood of the peace-offerings, he shaves,

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Elazar

says:

He would shave only on account of the sin-offering,

meaning: he would give precedence to the sin-offering and shave on account of it, since

the sin-offering takes precedence everywhere,

and it is logical that he should shave on account of the first one.

And if he shaved on account of one of the three,

meaning: if he shaved on account of an offering other than the one of the three offerings that he brings—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says:

If he

brought three animals—

a female lamb, a male lamb, and a ram—

and did not designate

at the time of consecration which was for the sin-offering, which for the elevation-offering, and which for the peace-offering, but consecrated them generally for his nazirite offerings:

The female lamb, which is the animal

fit for a sin-offering—

shall be brought as a sin-offering.

The male lamb, which is the animal fit

for an elevation-offering—

shall be brought as

an elevation-offering.

The ram, which is the animal fit

for peace-offerings—

shall be brought as peace-offerings.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: “And he slaughters the peace-offerings and shaves on account of them, the words of Rabbi Yehuda”:

The Sages taught:

It is written in the portion of the nazirite: “

And the nazirite shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting

the head of his nazirite status.” What does “the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” come to teach?

The verse speaks of the peace-offerings,

to teach that he shaves on account of the peace-offerings, since

it is stated

concerning the peace-offerings: “

And they shall slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”

And the tan[nay] explains from where he derives this:

From where

do you say

that

the verse speaks of the peace-offerings,

and teaches that he should shave on account of the peace-offerings?

Or perhaps it is only

teaching that he should shave

at the actual entrance of the Tent of Meeting!?

You say

say it on your own]:

If so, it is a disgraceful manner.

Rabbi Yoshiyya says: It is unnecessary

to learn from reasoning that he should not shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting:

For

the Torah said: "

and

you shall not ascend by steps upon My altar,

so that you should not uncover your nakedness upon it." That is, it is not in honor of the altar that nakedness should be exposed before it.

And if the Torah said this concerning one who goes to perform the Temple service, and this is not so much a manner of disgrace, it is a kal va-chomer that this should be said concerning shaving.

Rabbi

Isaac says: It is not necessary

to learn from all this that he does not shave literally at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting:

For

it says: "

And he shall take the hair of his consecrated head and place it upon the fire

which is beneath the peace-offering." -

And it implies:

one who lacks only taking and placing.

That is: he is close, at the time of shaving, to the fire beneath the peace-offering, and he requires only the taking of the hair and its placing beneath the fire.

This one is excluded—

the one who shaves at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting—

who

if he cooks his peace-offerings in the city of Jerusalem, then

lacks taking

of the hair,

bringing

from the place of his shaving at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

and placing

beneath the fire.

And from here we learn that the Torah did not say that he should shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; rather, the Torah’s intention is to say that he should shave over the peace-offerings, concerning which it is said: "the entrance of the Tent of Meeting."

Abba Hanan says in the name of Rabbi Eliezer

another interpretation of the verse: this is what the verse says: "

And the nazir shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,"

which necessarily does not mean according to its plain sense, for it is a simple matter that this is a manner of disgrace; it comes to teach:

Whenever the entrance of the Tent of Meeting

is not open, he does not shave.

Rabbi Shimon Shezuri says:

This is what the verse says: "And the nazir shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting"; it is according to its plain sense, that he should shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

And that which the verse says

"And the nazir shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,"

and it did not say: "And he shall shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting the hair of his consecration," comes to teach that the nazir alone shaves at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,

but a nazira

does not shave at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.