Nazir 57b — the Talmud in English

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

and this wording implies that he never knew; whereas if he had been among them, he would necessarily have known, but would have forgotten.

Learn from it!

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

shave and bring

an impurity offering:

a. The Torah prohibited shaving off the side-locks of the head, as it is stated [Leviticus 19:27]: “You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads.” And what is rounding? This is making one’s temples level with the area behind his ears and with his forehead. “His temples” means the hair that is abundant and grows near the ears, whereas behind his ears the area is smooth and there is no hair, and likewise on his forehead there is no hair. When he removes the hair at his temples—that is, the side-growth of the head—and it becomes smooth without hair, it follows that it is level with the area behind his ears and with his forehead [Tosafot above, 41a]. And in our passage the law of one who shaved his entire head [“rounding the entire head”] will be explained, whether he transgresses “You shall not round off.”

b. Included in this prohibition are both “the one who rounds” and “the one whose hair is rounded.” And concerning one who rounds a minor, the amoraim in our passage disagreed whether he is liable.

c. The Torah warned all Israel [Leviticus 19:27]: “[You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads,] and you shall not destroy the side-growth of your beard.” And the Torah specifically warned the kohanim [Leviticus 21:5]: “And they shall not shave the side-growth of their beard.”

d. The Torah commanded the kohanim [there, verse 6]: “[And they shall not shave the side-growth of their beard, and they shall not make a cutting in their flesh.] They shall be holy to their God,” and included in this positive commandment is that they shall not destroy their beard.

e. A woman is not included in the destruction of the beard, because a woman’s beard is not considered a beard with regard to this matter; and from the fact that the Torah juxtaposed the prohibition of rounding to the prohibition of destruction, the Sages learned: Whoever is included in destruction is included in rounding, and whoever is not included in destruction—such as a woman—is not included in rounding. And in our passage the amoraim disagreed whether one who is not included in destruction was excluded only from the prohibition of “the one whose hair is rounded,” or also from the prohibition of “the one who rounds.”

And we raise an objection concerning what we learned, that they shave and round the pe'a of their heads because of the doubt:

And why,

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

?

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 the second time and transgress “You shall not round the pe'a of your head”!?

Said

he answered

Samuel:

Our Mishna is dealing

with a woman,

a female nazirite, who is not prohibited by rounding, since she is not subject to the destruction of the beard; and everyone who is subject to destruction is subject to rounding, and everyone who is not subject to destruction is not subject to rounding.

And

with a

minor

nazirite.

And the Gemara explains:

And

why did Samuel need to answer that our Mishna is dealing with a woman and a minor,

let him establish it [

let him interpret it] Samuel even

with

an adult

man, and

if it is because of the prohibition of rounding, surely

rounding the entire head is not called rounding,

for the Torah prohibited only one who levels his temples with the back of his ears and his forehead, but not one who shaves his entire head—

Rather, certainly,

since he did not establish it

Samuel

so [

since Samuel did not so interpret our Mishna],

learn from it

we have learned that

Samuel holds:

even

rounding the entire head is called rounding.

Mar Zutra taught this statement of Samuel [

he taught these words of Samuel]

on the latter clause

of our Mishna [concerning the following Mishna on page 59b, which is a continuation of our Mishna and was brought above on page 55b], where we learned:

A nazirite

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

who was impure

with a corpse

in a case of doubt, and

also

confirmed

with tzara'at impurity

in a case of doubt

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

This afflicted person—for he is prohibited from eating sacrificial food until he becomes pure and brings his offerings—

eats sacrificial food

only

after sixty days,

for then he becomes completely pure from the doubt concerning his tzara'at. “And he drinks wine and becomes impure through the dead after one hundred and twenty days,” for then he has left the doubt concerning his naziriteship. And we learned in a beraita concerning that Mishna: And he shaves four times;

how:

as follows:

При первых двух сбриваниях он сбривает все тело: после тридцати дней и после шестидесяти дней, поскольку относительно них существует сомнение, являются ли они первым и вторым сбриванием прокаженного. При двух последних сбриваниях он сбривает только голову: после девяноста дней и после ста двадцати дней; эти сбривания совершаются только из-за сомнения относительно сбривания назорея.

И возникает возражение:

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.

при первых двух сбриваниях он сбривает все тело — из-за сомнения, не является ли он прокаженным, —

The first two shavings: he shaves his entire body, after thirty days and after sixty days, because there is a doubt concerning them whether they are the first and second shavings for tzara'at; and the last two shavings: he shaves only his head, after ninety days and after one hundred and twenty days, and these shavings are only because of the doubt concerning the shaving of naziriteship.

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

And let us challenge this:

Why

does he shave in the first two shavings his entire body—because of the doubt concerning an afflicted person—

yet he performs destruction of the beard,

and transgresses “You shall not destroy the pe'a of your beard”; and likewise he performs the rounding of the pe'a of the head in every shaving in which he shaves, while three of the shavings are only because of doubt

!?

And concerning this

said Samuel:

That Mishna is dealing with a woman,

who is not warned concerning either destruction or rounding,

and

with a

minor.

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,

Said Rav Huna:

One who rounds a minor—

although the minor is not included in the law of the one who is “rounded”

—

is liable,

because when the Torah said, “You shall not round the pe'a of your head,” the Torah prohibited an adult from being one who rounds even a minor, for every pe'a is included in the meaning.

Said

he objected

to him, Rav Adda bar Ahava, to Rav Huna,

after he saw Rav Huna’s sons, with all the hair of their heads shaved together with the side-locks:

According to your view,

as for you [

to your sons] who shaves them [ who shaves and rounds them], when one who rounds a minor is liable

!?

That is: I hold that one who rounds a minor is exempt; but according to your view, that one who rounds a minor is liable, who rounds the pe'a of your children’s heads

!? He said to him Rav Huna to Rav Adda bar Ahava: Hova

My wife is the one who rounds them, because I hold that a woman is not included in the prohibition of “one who rounds,” as the Gemara’s reason will be explained below.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said to him: A woman too is included in the prohibition of “one who rounds.” If so, according to your view, that you hold that one who rounds a minor is liable,

will you bury them, Hova, for her sons [

will your wife Hova bury her sons]!? That is: does your wife wish to become bereaved of her sons

!?

as both Rav Huna and Rav Adda bar Ahava

hold that

rounding the entire head is called rounding,

And this was an inadvertent utterance issuing from the ruler,

and throughout all the years of Rav Adda bar Ahava, no offspring of Rav Huna survived [

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

And we explain:

Rav Huna holds:

And the Gemara explains:

Since both of them,

surely both Rav Huna and Rav Adda bar Ahava

hold

“

rounding the entire head is called rounding,”

for neither of them sought to permit the rounding of Rav Huna’s children’s heads on the grounds that this was “rounding of the entire head.”

And

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,”

in what do they disagree

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:

Rav Huna holds:

One who rounds a minor is liable, for even the pe'a of a minor is included in “the pe'a of your head”; whereas a woman is not prohibited by the prohibition of “one who rounds,” since it is written in the Torah:

“

You shall not round the pe'a of your head, and you shall not destroy the pe'a of your beard” —

And the Torah juxtaposed destruction with rounding for this purpose, to teach:

Everyone who has destruction has rounding,

he is prohibited from being “rounded” and from being “one who rounds,”

and these women, since they are not subject to destruction, are not subject to rounding either [

and these women, since they are not included in the negative commandment of destruction, are therefore not included in the negative commandment of rounding].

And Rav Huna holds that women were excluded from rounding both from the prohibition of “the rounded one” and from the prohibition of “one who rounds.”

And Rav Adda bar Ahava holds

that one who rounds 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 pe'a of your head,”

both the one who rounds and the one who is rounded are included in the meaning—

And

the minor

is likewise not liable.

if so,

the one who rounds was likened to the one who is rounded, and we learned: Wherever the one who is rounded is liable, the one who rounds is also liable,

such as one who rounds an adult,

and

however,

that minor, since his own body [

he himself]

is not subject to punishment

and is not liable [ is not subject to punishment so as to become liable], therefore the one who rounds him the minor

is also not liable.

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

And Rav Adda bar Ahava also disagrees with Rav Huna in what he said: A woman who is not subject to destruction is not subject to the rounding of others, because according to his view the woman was excluded only from the plain primary meaning of the verse, namely, from being the one who is rounded; but the juxtaposition does not exclude her from the prohibition of “one who rounds,” since that is not the primary plain meaning of the verse.

As it 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:

Do not round off the corners of your head" -

Let us say “