Nazir 57b (נז:) — the Talmud in English

For it teaches: “But I do not know which of you,”

and this wording implies that he had never known, whereas had he been among them, he necessarily would have known and merely forgotten.

Learn from it!

We learned in the Mishna: Two nazirites whom one person said to them, “I saw that one of you became impure, but I do not know which of you,”

shave and bring

an offering for impurity:

A. The Torah prohibits shaving off the side-growth of the head, as it is stated [Leviticus 19:27]: “You shall not round off the side-growth of your head.” What is rounding? It is making the temples even with the hair behind the ears and with the forehead. The “temples” are the abundant hair that grows beside the ears, whereas behind the ears it is smooth and there is no hair, and likewise there is no hair on the forehead. When one removes the hair at his temples—that is, the side-growth of the head—and leaves it smooth and without hair, it becomes even with the hairless areas behind his ears and on his forehead [Tosafot above, 41a]. In our discussion, the law will be clarified concerning one who shaved his entire head [“rounding the entire head”], whether he violates “You shall not round off.”

B. Both the one who rounds off another’s head and the one whose head is rounded are included in this prohibition. The amoraim in our discussion disagree whether one who rounds off a minor is liable.

C. The Torah warned all Israel [Leviticus 19:27]: “[You shall not round off the side-growth of your head,] nor destroy the side-growth of your beard”; and the Torah specifically warned the priests [Leviticus 21:5]: “Nor shall they shave off the side-growth of their beards.”

D. The Torah commanded the priests [there, verse 6]: “[Nor shall they shave off the side-growth of their beards, nor shall they make any etched incision in their flesh.] They shall be holy to their God,” and included in this positive commandment is that they must not destroy their beards.

E. A woman is not subject to the prohibition against destroying the beard, because a woman’s beard is not considered a beard for this purpose; and since the Torah juxtaposed the prohibition against rounding off with the prohibition against destroying, the Sages learned: Whoever is subject to destroying is subject to rounding off, and whoever is not subject to destroying—such as a woman—is not subject to rounding off. In our discussion, the amoraim disagree whether one who is not subject to destroying was excluded only from the prohibition of being rounded off, or also from the prohibition against rounding off another.

And we challenge what we learned, that they shave and round the corners of their heads due to the uncertainty:

But why,

how can both of them shave and round their heads twice: at the end of the first thirty days and at the end of the second thirty days!?

For surely

perhaps they are not impure, and he performs rounding,

that is: surely one of them is certainly not impure, so how can he shave all the hair of his head a second time and transgress the prohibition, “You shall not round the corners of your head”!?

Shemu’el

answered

and explained:

Our Mishna is discussing

a woman,

a woman who is a nazirite and is not prohibited from rounding the corners of the head, since she is not subject to the prohibition against destroying the beard; and whoever is subject to the prohibition against destroying the beard is subject to the prohibition against rounding, while whoever is not subject to the prohibition against destroying the beard is not subject to the prohibition against rounding.

And

a

minor

who is a nazirite.

The Gemara explains:

And

why did Shemu’el need to explain that our Mishna is discussing a woman and a minor?

Let him establish it [that is, let Shemu’el explain it] even

among

an

adult

man, and

as for the prohibition of rounding,

rounding the entire head is not called rounding,

for the Torah prohibited only one who makes his temples level with the hair behind his ears and with his forehead, but not one who shaves his entire head—

Rather, certainly,

since he did not establish it

Shemu’el

in this manner [since Shemu’el did not explain our Mishna in this way],

infer from it

that we have learned that

Shemu’el holds:

even

“

rounding the entire head is called rounding.”

Mar Zutra taught this statement of Shemu’el

[he taught these words of Shemu’el]

with regard to the latter part

of our Mishna [the following Mishna, on 59b, which continues our Mishna and was cited above, on 55b], where we learned:

A nazirite

—an unspecified nazirite, who is obligated in a thirty-day naziriteship—

who was impure

with regard to a corpse

due to uncertainty, and

was also

confirmed

as having tzara’at impurity

due to uncertainty

on the first day of his naziriteship, and has already recovered from this tzara’at:

This person afflicted with tzara’at—who is prohibited from eating consecrated food until he becomes pure and brings his offerings—

may eat consecrated food

only

after sixty days,

because only then has he become entirely pure from the uncertainty concerning his tzara’at. “ And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with the dead only after one hundred and twenty days,” because only then has he emerged from the uncertainty concerning his naziriteship. And we learned in a beraita concerning that Mishna:

And he shaves four times;

as follows:

The first two shavings involve shaving his entire body: after thirty days and after sixty days, because they are possibly the first and second shavings for tzara’at. The final two shavings involve shaving only his head: after ninety days and after one hundred twenty days, and these shavings are solely due to the uncertainty concerning the shaving of naziriteship.

And it may be challenged:

Why does he shave his entire body in the first two shavings—because of the possibility that he is afflicted with tzara’at—

yet he destroys his beard,

and transgresses “You shall not destroy the corner of your beard”? And likewise, in every shaving in which he shaves, he rounds the corner of his head, even though three of the shavings are performed only because of uncertainty!?

And concerning this

Shemu’el said:

That Mishna is discussing

a woman,

who is not warned against either destroying the beard or rounding the corners of the head,

and

a minor.

Rav Huna said:

One who rounds the corners of a minor—

although the minor is not included in the law of the one whose corners are rounded—

is liable,

because when the Torah stated, “You shall not round the corners of your head,” it prohibited an adult from being the one who rounds the corners even of a minor, since “your” includes every corner.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said

to Rav Huna,

after he saw Rav Huna’s sons with all the hair of their heads shaved, including the corners:

According to your approach—

as for you, who shaves them

[who shaves and rounds their corners], if one who rounds the corners of a minor is liable!?

That is: I maintain that one who rounds the corners of a minor is exempt. But according to your view, that one who rounds the corners of a minor is liable, who rounds the corners of your children!?

He said to him

Rav Huna said to Rav Adda bar Ahava:

Hovah

my wife is the one who rounds their corners, because I maintain that a woman is not included in the prohibition against being the one who rounds the corners, as the Gemara will explain below.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said to him: A woman too is included in the prohibition against being the one who rounds the corners. If so, according to your view, that one who rounds the corners of a minor is liable, would she

bury them—Hovah, her sons

[would Hovah, your wife, bury her sons]!? That is: Does your wife wish to be bereaved of her sons!?

This was an inadvertent utterance issuing from the ruler, and

throughout all the years of Rav Adda bar Ahava, Rav Huna had no surviving offspring

[throughout all the years of Rav Adda bar Ahava, Rav Huna’s sons did not survive].

The Gemara explains:

Now, both of them,

as both Rav Huna and Rav Adda bar Ahava

hold that

rounding the entire head is called rounding,

since neither of them permitted the rounding of the heads of Rav Huna’s children on the grounds that it was “rounding the entire head.”

And in what do they disagree? Rav Huna maintains that one who rounds the corners of a minor is liable, but a woman is permitted to round the corners, just as she is permitted to have her corners rounded; while Rav Adda bar Ahava maintains that one who rounds the corners of a minor is exempt, but a woman is prohibited under the prohibition against being the one who rounds the corners.

And we explain:

Rav Huna holds:

One who rounds the corners of a minor is liable, since the minor’s corners are also included in “the corners of your head”; whereas a woman is not prohibited under the prohibition against being the one who rounds the corners, since the Torah states:

“You shall not round the corners of your head, and you shall not destroy the corner of your beard.”

The Torah juxtaposed the destruction of the beard with rounding in order to teach:

Whoever is subject to destruction is subject to rounding;

he is prohibited both from having his corners rounded and from rounding the corners of another.

But these women, since they are not subject to destruction, are likewise not subject to rounding

[and these women, since they are not included in the prohibition against destruction, are likewise not included in the prohibition against rounding].

Rav Huna maintains that women were excluded from rounding both from the prohibition against having their corners rounded and from the prohibition against rounding the corners of others.

And Rav Adda bar Ahava holds

that one who rounds the corners of a minor is exempt, since in what the Torah said, “You shall not round”—and it did not say, “You shall not be rounded” — “the corners of your head,”

both the one who rounds and the one whose corners are rounded are included—

Rav Huna, who holds that one who rounds a minor is liable, but a woman is permitted to round, just as she is permitted to be “rounded”; and Rav Adda bar Ahava, who holds that one who rounds a minor is exempt, but a woman is prohibited by the prohibition of “one who rounds.” And we explain:

And if so,

the one who rounds is compared to the one whose corners are rounded,

and we learn:

wherever the one whose corners are rounded is liable, the one who rounds is likewise liable,

such as one who rounds the corners of an adult.

But

that minor, since

his very person

[he himself]

is not subject to punishment

and

is not liable

[is not subject to punishment and liability], therefore the one who

rounds him

the minor

is likewise not liable.

Rav Adda bar Ahava also disagrees with Rav Huna concerning his statement that a woman who is not subject to destruction is not subject to rounding the corners of others, because according to Rav Adda a woman was excluded only from the basic plain meaning of the verse, namely, from being one whose corners are rounded; but the juxtaposition does not exclude her from the prohibition against being the one who rounds the corners, since that is not the basic plain meaning of the verse.

Here the Gemara returns to the subject with which it began, namely, whether “rounding the entire head is called rounding,” and asks: Let us say that “

rounding the entire head

is called rounding”

is a dispute between tanna’im,

that is, should we say that the tanna’im of the following beraitot disagree concerning whether rounding the entire head is called rounding!?

It is written in the portion concerning the person afflicted with tzara’at [Leviticus 14:9]: “And it shall be on the seventh day [of the days of his counting, after the person afflicted with tzara’at has become pure from his tzara’at], he shall shave all his hair—his head and his beard and his eyebrows and all his hair he shall shave.” In our discussion it will be explained why the Torah needed, after including all the body hair in the statement “he shall shave all his hair,” to specify “his head and his beard,” since these too are included among the other hair.

For the Sages taught:

“His head”

why is this stated!?

Is it not included in “his hair”? Why did the verse specify and say, “his head”!?

According to what is stated: "

Here the Gemara returns to the matter with which the Gemara began, namely, whether “rounding the entire head is called rounding”; and it asks:

You shall not round off the corners of your head" -

Let us say “