Nazir 59b — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

If one of them died,

when they were in doubt concerning impurity, how does he shave, for since he is possibly pure, he cannot shave:

Rabbi Yehoshua said: He should seek someone from the marketplace who will vow opposite him as a nazir

conditionally, and they shall bring together the purification sacrifices, which will count for one or the other, and afterward he will be able to shave, as it explains and proceeds.

And he says

the one who is possibly impure to that person:

If I was impure, then you are a nazir immediately,

so that you will become obligated, when the days of your naziriteship are completed, in a purification sacrifice.

And if I was pure,

and I am the one who is now obligated in purification sacrifices,

then you are a nazir after thirty days,

so that you will become obligated in the purification sacrifices that I will need to bring because of the doubt; and the second one does so and accepts naziriteship upon himself in this manner.

And they count thirty days

until the days of the naziriteship of that other one are completed, and he will become obligated in a purification sacrifice if the first one is impure.

And they bring

after thirty days:

That is, the one who is possibly impure brings

an impurity sacrifice

because of the doubt, namely, a bird sin-offering brought because of the doubt [and it is not eaten], and likewise he brings the bird burnt-offering conditionally, so that if he is not an impure nazir, it will be for a voluntary offering; but a guilt-offering—which he cannot bring conditionally as a voluntary peace-offering—he does not bring at all, and this does not prevent him from counting pure naziriteship.

And

the two of them bring

a purification sacrifice

one, in order to permit the one who is possibly impure to shave.

And

the one who is possibly impure says:

If I am the impure one,

then

the impurity sacrifice

that I bring

is mine,

that is, it is a definite sacrifice,

and the purification sacrifice

that we bring shall be

yours,

for now your days of naziriteship have been completed, if I was impure.

And if I am the pure one [

and my companion who died was the impure one] then

the

purification

sacrifice is mine,

whereas you are not obligated in a sacrifice, for in this eventuality you did not accept naziriteship upon yourself at all.

And the impurity sacrifice

that I bring is

because of the doubt,

that is, I bring it by the law of doubt, although before Heaven I am not obligated in a sacrifice.

And they count

another

thirty days,

for each one is possibly a nazir: this one because perhaps he was impure and the first days that he counted have fallen away, and that one because he accepted naziriteship after thirty days.

And they bring a purification sacrifice

one,

and he says: If I -

and not my companion who died

am the impure one,

then

the

impurity

sacrifice

that I already brought

was mine, and the purification sacrifice

was

yours, and this is my purification sacrifice.

And if I am the pure one, the purification sacrifice

that I brought was

mine, and the impurity sacrifice

that I brought was not mine, but

because of the doubt

I brought it,

and this—

that we are bringing now—

is your purification sacrifice.

Ben Zoma said to Rabbi Yehoshua

to Rabbi Yehoshua:

And

for

who will listen to him and vow opposite him as a nazir!?

Rather, he brings

the one who is possibly impure, on the thirtieth day:

a bird sin-offering

brought because of the doubt, and the bird burnt-offering conditionally as a voluntary offering [but he does not bring a guilt-offering].

And

he brings, before the two of them,

an animal burnt-offering

for his purification sacrifice, conditionally, as it explains and proceeds.

And he says: If I was impure,

then

the sin-offering is my obligation, and the

animal for the

burnt-offering

shall be for a

voluntary offering.

And if I was pure,

then

the

animal for the

burnt-offering is my obligation

so that I may shave,

and the sin-offering

I bring

because of the doubt.

And he counts thirty days

to complete the days of pure naziriteship if he was impure initially.

And he brings

when the days of his naziriteship are completed

a purification sacrifice, and he says:

If I was impure,

then

the first burnt-offering

that I brought was

a voluntary offering,

for it was an impurity shaving and not a purification shaving.

And this

that I am bringing now is for

an obligation.

And if I was pure,

then

the first burnt-offering

was an obligation, and this—

the burnt-offering that I am bringing now—

is a voluntary offering.

And this—

the sin-offering and peace-offering that I am bringing now—

is the remainder of my sacrifices.

Rabbi Yehoshua

said concerning this

Rabbi Yehoshua:

If so, if he acts like Ben Zoma,

it is found that this one—

in the eventuality that he was not impure—

brings his sacrifices in halves,

for the burnt-offering that he brought before counting thirty days was for his obligation, whereas the sin-offering and the peace-offering he brings only after thirty days.

Therefore, it is preferable that he vow another person opposite him, for then he brings, before counting thirty days, all of his purification sacrifice; if it does not count for him, it counts for his companion, and he does not bring a sacrifice in halves.

But the Sages agreed with Ben Zoma

to act according to his words, and not to be concerned about a sacrifice in halves.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Rabbi Yehoshua said: It is found that this one brings his sacrifices in halves.

And the Gemara raises an objection to this:

Let him bring

[and bring it] in halves; what is wrong with that!?

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel:

Indeed, there is no deficiency in this, and

Rabbi Yehoshua did not say

so

except to sharpen the students through it.

Rav Naḥman said:

On the contrary, Rabbi Yehoshua’s solution is not as good as Ben Zoma’s, for

what can Rabbi Yehoshua do for his intestinal fat so that it will not putrefy

[what can Rabbi Yehoshua do for the fat on the intestines so that it will not putrefy]!?

That is: since they bring a peace-offering together the second time, after thirty days, and it is not known whose sacrifice it is, it is impossible to wave the fat of the peace-offering until both of them shave, for the waving is after the shaving; and meanwhile, in either event, perhaps the fat will putrefy.

a. A person afflicted with leprosy may not eat consecrated food until the period during which he is confined has ended [when he has healed from the leprosy], and he shaves, counts seven days, and shaves on the seventh day. On the eighth day he brings his offerings, because the person afflicted with leprosy is considered one who lacks atonement, and he may not eat consecrated food until he brings his offerings. If he delayed his shaving, he brings his offerings only on the following day.

But one impure through contact with a corpse may eat consecrated food once the sun has set at the end of the seventh day of his impurity, whether he was not a nazirite and is not obligated to bring an offering, or whether he was a nazirite who became impure through contact with a corpse and is obligated to bring an offering for impurity. His offering for impurity does not prevent him from eating consecrated food.

a. A leper is forbidden to eat consecrated food until the days of his confirmed condition have ended [until he is healed of the leprosy] and he shaves, counts seven days, and shaves on the seventh day; and on the eighth day he brings his sacrifices, for the leper is one who lacks atonement, and he is forbidden to eat consecrated food until he brings his sacrifices. If he delayed his shaving, he brings his sacrifices only on the following day.

But one impure through contact with the dead may eat consecrated food when the sun sets at the end of the seventh day of his impurity, whether he was not a nazir and is not obligated in a sacrifice, or whether he was an impure nazir through contact with the dead who is obligated in an impurity sacrifice; his impurity sacrifice does not prevent him from eating consecrated food.

b. A leper who delayed his shaving brings a sacrifice only on the day after his shaving. But an impure nazir through contact with the dead who delayed his shaving, which should take place on the seventh day, may shave later and bring his sacrifices on that same day, provided that his immersion took place on that day or several days earlier. c. The days of the confirmed condition and the days of counting of a leper do not count for him in the counting of pure naziriteship, as the Gemara concluded above, 56b; and although his “days of counting” have already ended, he cannot count “pure naziriteship” until he brings his sacrifices. d. “Impure naziriteship” concerning the dead is not merely waiting until he can count his pure naziriteship; rather, it itself has the law of a “counting,” and he counts seven days for impure naziriteship and brings his sacrifices on the eighth day , and therefore he cannot fulfill “impure naziriteship” during the days of his confirmed condition and counting, just as he cannot fulfill “pure naziriteship” on these days. Moreover, he does not begin counting “impure naziriteship” until after he brings the leprosy sacrifices. e. The impurity shaving precedes the bringing of the impurity sacrifices ; and the sin-offering of impure naziriteship prevents the onset of pure naziriteship. e. Our Mishna discusses a nazir who had two uncertain impurities, one of a leper and one of impurity through contact with the dead, and the Mishna explains when he becomes pure from his leprosy and will be permitted to eat consecrated food, and when he fulfills his naziriteship and will be free from all the prohibitions of naziriteship; and in the beraita in the Gemara the law concerning bringing his sacrifices will be explained.

e. Our Mishna discusses a nazirite who has two uncertain forms of impurity: one is the impurity of a person afflicted with leprosy, and the other is impurity from contact with a corpse. It explains when he becomes purified from his leprosy and permitted to eat consecrated food, and when he fulfills his naziriteship and becomes permitted from all the prohibitions of naziriteship. The beraita in the Gemara will explain the law concerning the bringing of his offerings.

f. The Mishna is explained here according to one approach to its interpretation, which Tosafot explained above, on page 55b.

f. The Mishna is explained here according to one approach in the interpretation of the Mishna that Tosafot explained above, 55b.

A nazirite—

Mishna:

A nazir—

ordinarily, one who is obligated in thirty days of naziriteship—

who was impure

through contact with the dead

because of the doubt, and also

in a confirmed condition

because of leprosy

because of the doubt on the first day of his naziriteship, and he has already recovered from the leprosy:

This leper

eats consecrated food

only

after sixty days,

that is, on the sixtieth day itself.

How so? You cannot permit him to eat consecrated food—in a case of doubt—until after he performs two shavings for his leprosy and brings a sacrifice on the day after his second shaving.

And this leper, whose impurities are only uncertainties, cannot shave at all until his naziriteship has ended, for perhaps he is a pure nazir and shaving is forbidden to him [as we learned at the end of the Mishna]; and on the thirtieth day he shaves , [and this shaving counts for his leprosy if he is a leper, and if he is not a leper but is impure through contact with the dead, the shaving counts for “impurity shaving,” or for “purification shaving” if he is not impure at all].

And after this shaving, he requires a counting of seven days, a second shaving, and offerings on the day following the shaving in order to permit him to eat consecrated food; and since we are uncertain whether he was one impure through a corpse and not a leper, he is prevented from shaving a second time until he counts an additional nazirite period of purity.

For if indeed he was one impure through a corpse, he would have had to count a “period of impurity,” shave, and bring an offering of impurity after it, and then begin counting the “period of purity”; and the “shaving of impurity” was not fulfilled until the shaving on the thirtieth day. It follows that he is now required to bring an offering of impurity and count a nazirite period after it, and only then will the shaving be permitted.

Therefore, he shall bring the offering of impurity on the day on which he shaved, which is the thirtieth day, and he shall immediately begin counting a nazirite period of purity, which will end on the fifty-ninth day for the acceptance of his naziriteship. Then he shall shave a shaving that is: possibly a “shaving of purity” and possibly the second shaving of his leprosy; and he shall bring the offerings of the leper on the following day, because since he delayed his second shaving, the time for bringing his offerings was postponed to the following day. It follows that on the sixtieth day he brings the offerings of the leper and is permitted to eat consecrated food.

And he drinks wine and becomes impure through the dead

only

after one hundred and twenty days

[that is, on the one-hundred-and-twentieth day]; that is to say: he does not emerge from the uncertainty of being a nazir until the one-hundred-and-twentieth day.

How so? Until the fifty-ninth day—the day on which he shaved a second time—he was prohibited by the prohibitions of naziriteship, as was explained. And since he is possibly a leper, those days that he counted until he brought his offerings on the sixtieth day and emerged from his leprosy do not count for him as part of the counting of a nazirite period of purity. If so, he requires another thirty days of naziriteship in order to fulfill a shaving of purity; and necessarily he must wait until ninety days, which is the thirty-first day of his naziriteship, and then shave.

And on the ninetieth day, when he shaved, he is still not permitted regarding the prohibitions of naziriteship, because if he was one impure through a corpse in addition to his leprosy, the “period of impurity” was not fulfilled until after he brought the offerings for his leprosy uncertainty—for the days of leprosy until the bringing of the offerings do not count for him as a “period of impurity”—and the shaving that he performed on the ninetieth day is itself the shaving of his impurity. Only after it can he bring his offering of impurity and begin counting the nazirite period of purity.

Therefore, after the shaving on the ninetieth day he shall bring the offering of impurity, and on this day he shall begin counting a nazirite period of purity, and it will end on the one-hundred-and-twentieth day, which is the “thirty-first” day of this nazirite period; and this is what we learned: And he drinks wine and becomes impure through the dead after one hundred and twenty days. And the Mishna explains the reason:

That the shaving of the affliction overrides

the

shaving of the nazir,

that is to say: he is permitted to shave for his leprosy even though he is a nazir and prohibited from shaving, only

when he is

the nazir

certainly

a leper;

but when he is uncertain

a leper,

it does not override

the prohibition against shaving.

And therefore he cannot perform the first shaving for his leprosy until thirty days, since he is possibly a leper and possibly a nazir in purity; and likewise he cannot perform his second shaving for the same reason until he counts a second nazirite period of thirty days.