Nazir 56a (נו.) — the Talmud in English

This leper

may eat sacrificial food

only

after sixty days

, meaning: on the sixtieth day itself, even if his leprosy was healed already on the first day of his naziriteship.

How so? You cannot permit him to eat sacrificial food—even in a case of uncertainty—until he undergoes two shavings for his leprosy and brings an offering on the day after his second shaving.

And this leper, whose states of impurity are only subject to uncertainty, cannot undergo the first shaving until his days of naziriteship have been completed, since perhaps he is a pure nazirite and is forbidden to shave until the thirtieth day; and on the thirtieth day he shaves, and this shaving counts for his days as a confirmed leper if he is indeed a leper; [and if he is not a leper, this shaving counts for his impurity if he is one who became impure through contact with a corpse, or for his naziriteship if he is entirely pure].

And even though he shaved and immersed on the thirtieth day, he is still forbidden to eat sacrificial food, because, since he is a leper subject to uncertainty, he must count another seven days after the first shaving, and undergo a shaving and immersion on the seventh day [and bring an offering on the following day]—

And since we are uncertain whether perhaps he was one who became impure through contact with a corpse and was not a leper, he cannot undergo the second shaving for his leprosy until he performs an “impurity shaving,” brings the offerings of a nazirite who became impure through contact with a corpse, and then counts a period of pure naziriteship. For throughout this entire period he is forbidden to shave, since he is not certainly a leper. Nor could he bring his offerings, because he was forbidden to perform an “impurity shaving” due to the uncertainty whether he was not one who became impure through contact with a corpse. His shaving counted for his impurity only on the thirtieth day, for if he was indeed one who became impure through contact with a corpse and was not a leper, this shaving was his impurity shaving.

Therefore, on the thirtieth day, after shaving, he brings the offering for impurity, and then begins to count a period of pure naziriteship subject to uncertainty. Once it is completed, he can undergo the second shaving for his possible leprosy. This naziriteship ends on the fifty-ninth day, and the shaving he performs on that day counts either as a shaving of purity or as the second shaving of a leper.

And since he shaved only on the fifty-ninth day, he can bring the offering for his leprosy only on the day after the shaving. For a leper always brings his offerings only on the day after his shaving, even when he delayed his shaving. Therefore, he brings his offerings for his possible leprosy on the sixtieth day, and then he is permitted to eat sacrificial food.

And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with corpses

only

after one hundred twenty days

[that is, on the one hundred twentieth day]. In other words, he does not emerge from the uncertainty of being a nazirite until the one hundred twentieth day.

How so? Until the fifty-ninth day he was forbidden the prohibitions of naziriteship, as explained. And there is concern that those two shavings he performed were the shavings of a leper and did not count as the shaving of his naziriteship. If so, he requires another thirty days of naziriteship in order to fulfill the requirement of a shaving of purity.

He cannot begin these thirty days on the fifty-ninth day, but only on the sixtieth day, after bringing the offerings for the leprosy, and he must necessarily wait until the ninetieth day, which is the thirty-first day of his naziriteship, and then he shaves.

And when he shaves on the ninetieth day, he has still not emerged from his naziriteship, because perhaps he was both a nazirite who became impure and a leper, and those first shavings were for his leprosy. He therefore requires an impurity shaving, which is performed by this third shaving. Afterward, he must count the days of the pure naziriteship that he vowed, ending on the thirty-first day, which is the one hundred twentieth day. On that day he shaves and brings an offering of purity, and becomes permitted regarding the prohibitions of naziriteship. This is what we learned: “And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with corpses after one hundred twenty days.”

And it was taught concerning it

, and we learned the following in a beraita that explains the Mishna:

When are these words applicable

—that he waits sixty days before eating sacrificial food and one hundred twenty days before becoming permitted regarding the prohibitions of naziriteship?

In a short naziriteship

of thirty days.

But in a naziriteship of one year

, he:

may eat sacrificial food after two years

. How so?

The first thirty days that he waited in a short naziriteship before his first shaving [because of the uncertainty whether he was a pure nazirite and forbidden to shave], these days correspond, in this naziriteship lasting one year, to one full year.

And the other thirty days that he waited before his second shaving [because of the uncertainty whether he was one who became impure through contact with a corpse and not a leper, so that his first naziriteship did not count and he had to count it anew] likewise correspond, in this naziriteship, to one year. This is what they said: He may eat sacrificial food after two years.

And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with corpses after four years—

This latter clause can be explained only not according to the view of Rav Ḥisda. How so?

You cannot permit him regarding the prohibitions of naziriteship after two years, because perhaps he was a leper, and all the days that he counted until he performed the second shaving and became purified do not count for him. He is still obligated in a one-year period of pure naziriteship, which he now counts [if he was not also one who became impure through contact with a corpse]. That makes three years.

At the end of the third year, we again have the uncertainty that, in addition to being a leper, he may also have been one who became impure through contact with a corpse and has not yet performed an “impurity shaving,” since the shavings he performed for his leprosy do not count for his impurity. Now he shaves because of the uncertainty concerning his impurity, and then begins to count a one-year period of pure naziriteship. That makes four years.

And if it enters your mind

that

the days count for him

as according to Rav Ḥisda [who maintains that even the days of his leprosy count toward the days of his naziriteship], then this is difficult:

It should suffice for him to observe the prohibitions of naziriteship for three years and thirty days

[three years and thirty days should suffice for him to observe the prohibitions of naziriteship]! How so?

When you examine this nazirite at the end of two years, after he has already observed naziriteship, you find:

If he is a pure nazirite and was never impure at all, he is already permitted.

And if he was a leper but not one who became impure through contact with a corpse, he requires only thirty days for hair growth, since, according to Rav Ḥisda, he already counted the essential period of his naziriteship during his leprosy.

And if he was one who became impure through contact with a corpse but was not a leper, his first shaving was for his impurity and his second shaving was for his naziriteship, and he is already permitted.

And if he was both one who became impure through contact with a corpse and a leper, he now needs to shave for his impurity, since the shaving he performed for his leprosy does not count for him; afterward he must count a one-year period of pure naziriteship.

Thus, although you cannot say that he should shave after seven days and then count another year, because we say: Perhaps he was not one who became impure through contact with a corpse, but rather a pure nazirite who had been a leper, shaved, and is now waiting for hair growth and is forbidden to undergo another shaving—in any event, after thirty days he can shave because of the uncertainty concerning his impurity. When he shaves after thirty days and then counts a year of “pure naziriteship,” he will certainly have emerged from his naziriteship. Thus, only three years and thirty days are required.

And Rav Ashi further raised an objection

to the words of Rav Ḥisda:

I have derived only the days of his impurity

—of a nazirite who became impure through contact with a corpse—

which do not count for him

toward the days of his naziriteship.

But

the days of his confirmed leprosy

—of a nazirite who is a leper—

from where

do we know that they do not count for the nazirite, and that once the nazirite has been declared a confirmed leper, he does not include the days of his confirmed leprosy in the count of his naziriteship?

The beraita proceeds to derive this law by means of a kal va-chomer.

Before the tanna finishes explaining the source of this law, the tanna explains:

Lest you say: Why do I need a kal va-chomer?!

And

behold,

it is a logical inference

that the days of his confirmed leprosy should not count for him, based on the principle of “what do we find” from the days of his impurity through contact with a corpse. Since their laws are comparable, one can derive one from the other even with regard to the rule that they do not count toward his naziriteship. This is how we would derive it logically:

During the days of impurity, he shaves

on their seventh day

and brings an offering

on their eighth day—

whereas during the days of his confirmed leprosy

he

shaves

at the end of the days of his confirmed leprosy

and brings an offering

on the eighth day of his counting.

And

if so, we should compare them in this matter as well, and say:

Just as the days of his impurity do not count for him, so too the days of his confirmed leprosy do not count for him.

The tanna explains that this law cannot be derived in this manner:

You can say that this is so with regard to the days of his impurity

through contact with a corpse, which do not count for him, because

they cancel

[invalidate]

the

earlier

days

of his naziriteship, as it is stated regarding a nazirite who became impure through contact with a corpse: “The earlier days shall fall away.” Therefore, they likewise do not count for him.

But can you say this with regard to the days of his confirmed leprosy, during which he does not cancel

days

the earlier days

of his naziriteship? Therefore, one could say that these days do count for him.

Therefore, we must derive that the days of a leper’s confirmed leprosy do not count for a nazirite by another law, from one who undertook naziriteship in a cemetery, who does not have cancellation of earlier days, and who neither shaves nor brings an offering for impurity [as explained above, pages 16 and 17

; You can say: Just as a nazirite

who undertook naziriteship

in a grave

[in a cemetery],

whose hair is fit for the shaving of pure naziriteship

—for he does not need to shave for his impurity—and nevertheless

the days of his impurity do not count

among the days of his Nazirite status

for him—

The days of his confirmed leprosy, during which his hair is not fit for the purification shaving of naziriteship

since he must first shave for his leprosy

all the more so

they do not count toward his tally.

The tanna of the beraita adds and explains:

And I have derived only the days of his confirmed leprosy

which do not count toward his tally, as we learned from the case of a nazirite in a cemetery.

What is the source for the days of his counting

that they do not count toward the tally of his days of naziriteship?

The beraita explains:

And it is a logical derivation: