Nazir 59b (נט:) — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

If one of them died,

as they were in a state of uncertain ritual impurity, how does he shave? For since he is of uncertain purity, he cannot shave:

Rabbi Yehoshua said: He should ask one of the marketplace to accept naziriteship opposite him,

conditionally, and together they should bring the offerings of purity, so that they will accrue either to this one or to that one; and afterward he will be able to shave, as the Mishna proceeds to explain.

And he says

—the one whose status is uncertainly impure—to that other person:

If I was impure, you are a nazir immediately,

so that when your naziriteship is completed you will be obligated to bring the offerings of purity.

And if I was pure,

and I am the one who is now obligated to bring the offerings of purity,

you are a nazir after thirty days,

so that you will be obligated to bring the offerings of purity that I will need to bring due to the uncertainty. And the second person does so and accepts naziriteship upon himself in this manner.

And they count thirty days,

until the naziriteship of the other person is completed, and he becomes obligated to bring an offering of purity if the first person was impure.

And they bring,

after thirty days:

That is, the one whose status is uncertainly impure brings

an offering of impurity

due to the uncertainty, namely, a bird sin-offering brought in a case of uncertainty [and it is not eaten]. He also brings the bird burnt-offering conditionally: if he is not a nazir who is impure, it is to be for a voluntary offering. But he does not bring the guilt-offering, since it cannot be brought conditionally as a voluntary peace-offering; and its absence does not prevent him from counting his naziriteship of purity.

And

both of them bring

an offering of purity,

one offering, in order to permit the one whose status is uncertainly impure to shave.

And

the one whose status is uncertainly impure says:

If I am the impure one,

then

the offering of impurity

that I am bringing

is mine;

that is, it is a definite offering.

And the offering of purity

that we are bringing shall be

yours,

for your naziriteship has now been completed, if I was impure.

And if I am the pure one [

and my companion who died was the impure one], then

the offering of

the

purity that is mine is the one I am bringing; but as for you, you are not obligated to bring an offering, since in this eventuality you did not accept naziriteship at all.

whereas you are not obligated to bring an offering, since in this possibility you did not accept naziriteship upon yourself at all.

And the offering of impurity

that I am bringing is

due to the uncertainty;

that is, I bring it by virtue of the law governing uncertainty, although I am not obligated to bring an offering before Heaven.

And they count

another

thirty days,

for each of them is a nazir due to the uncertainty: this one because perhaps he was impure and the first days that he counted were nullified, and that one because he accepted naziriteship upon himself after thirty days.

And they bring an offering of purity

one offering,

and he says: If I -

and not my companion who died—

am the impure one,

then

the offering of

the

impurity

that I already brought

was mine, and the offering of purity

was

yours, and this is my offering of purity.

And if I am the pure one, the offering of purity

that I brought was

mine, and the offering of impurity

that I brought was not mine; rather,

due to the uncertainty

I brought it,

and this—

the offering that we are bringing now—

is your offering of purity.

Ben Zoma said to Rabbi Yehoshua,

to Rabbi Yehoshua:

And

who

will listen to him and accept naziriteship opposite him!?

Rather, he brings

the one whose status is uncertainly impure, on the thirtieth day:

A bird sin-offering

brought due to the uncertainty, and a bird burnt-offering conditionally as a voluntary offering [but he does not bring the guilt-offering].

And

he first brings for both of them

an animal burnt-offering

as his offering of purity, conditionally, as the Mishna proceeds to explain.

And he says: If I was impure,

then

the sin-offering is obligatory for me, 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 obligatory for me,

so that I may shave,

and the sin-offering

I am bringing is

due to the uncertainty.

And he counts thirty days,

to complete the days of his naziriteship of purity, if he had been impure initially.

And he brings,

when his naziriteship is completed,

an offering of purity, and he says:

If I was impure,

then

the first burnt-offering

that I brought was

a voluntary offering,

since the shaving was a shaving for impurity and not a shaving for purity.

And this

that I am bringing now is

obligatory.

And if I was pure,

then

the first burnt-offering

was obligatory, 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 offerings.

He said

concerning this

Rabbi Yehoshua:

If he should act in accordance with Ben Zoma,

it follows that this person—

in the eventuality that he was not impure—

brings his offerings in halves,

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

Therefore, it is preferable that he accept another person opposite him, since then, before counting thirty days, he brings his entire offering of purity: if it does not accrue to him, it accrues to his companion, and he does not bring an offering in halves.

But the Sages conceded to Ben Zoma

that he should act according to his words and not be concerned about an offering brought in halves.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Rabbi Yehoshua said: It follows that this person brings his offerings in halves.

The Gemara raises an objection to this:

Let him bring them

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

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said:

Indeed, there is no deficiency in doing so, and

Rabbi Yehoshua said

this

only to sharpen the students.

Rav Naḥman said:

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

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

[what can Rabbi Yehoshua do for the fat upon 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 unknown whose offering it is, it is impossible to wave the fat of the peace-offering until both of them shave, since the waving takes place after the shaving; and in the meantime, 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 metzora is prohibited from eating sacrificial food until the days of his confirmed status have ended [that is, until 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, since the metzora is one who lacks atonement, and is prohibited from eating sacrificial 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 sacrificial food once the sun has set on the seventh day of his impurity, whether he was not a nazir and is not obligated to bring an offering, or whether he was a nazir rendered impure through contact with a corpse and is obligated to bring an offering of impurity, since his offering of impurity does not prevent him from eating sacrificial food.

b. A metzora who delayed his shaving brings an offering only on the day after his shaving. But a nazir rendered impure through contact with a corpse who delayed his shaving, which should take place on the seventh day, may shave later and bring his offerings that same day, provided that his immersion took place that day or several days earlier. c. The days of a metzora’s confirmed status and the days of his counting do not count toward his naziriteship of purity, as the Gemara concluded above, on 56b. Even once the “days of his counting” have ended, he cannot count his “naziriteship of purity” until he brings his offerings. d. “Naziriteship of impurity” with regard to a corpse is not merely a period of waiting until he can count his naziriteship of purity; it itself has the legal status of a count. He counts seven days for naziriteship of impurity and brings his offerings on the eighth day ; therefore, he cannot fulfill “naziriteship of impurity” during the days of his confirmed status and his counting, just as he cannot fulfill “naziriteship of purity” during those days. Moreover, he does not begin counting his “naziriteship of impurity” until after he brings the offerings for the leprosy. e. The shaving for impurity precedes the bringing of the offerings of impurity it is impossible for him to return and count naziriteship of purity,” and their intention was explained in the note there: the shaving for impurity prevents the offerings, and the offerings prevent the naziriteship of purity from taking effect. It was also cited there that the Sifrei explicitly states that the shaving prevents the offerings ; “for the nazir’s purity depends upon his days [and not upon his shaving],” and on what was explained in the note there ; “I am different, for a nazir lacks shaving,” and on what was explained in the note there. e. Our Mishna discusses a nazir who has two uncertain impurities: one is that of a metzora and the other is impurity through contact with a corpse. It explains when he becomes pure from his leprosy and is permitted to eat sacrificial food, and when he fulfills his naziriteship and becomes permitted to violate none of the prohibitions of naziriteship; and the beraita in the Gemara will explain the law governing the bringing of his offerings.

f. The Mishna is explained here according to one approach to the interpretation of the Mishna presented by Tosafot above, on 55b.

Mishna:

A nazir

—

an unspecified nazir, who is obligated in thirty days of naziriteship—

who was impure

through contact with a corpse

due to uncertainty, and also

was

in a confirmed state

of leprosy

due to uncertainty

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

This metzora

may eat sacrificial food

only

after sixty days,

that is, on the sixtieth day itself.

How so? He cannot be permitted to eat sacrificial food—even due to the uncertainty—until he undergoes two shavings for his leprosy and brings an offering on the day after his second shaving.

This metzora, whose impurities are only matters of uncertainty, cannot shave at all until his naziriteship has ended, since perhaps he is a nazir who is pure and is prohibited from shaving [as we learned at the end of the Mishna]. He shaves on the thirtieth day, and this shaving counts for his leprosy if he is a metzora [and if he is not a metzora but is impure through contact with a corpse, it counts as the “shaving for impurity”; or if he is not impure at all, it counts as the “shaving for purity”].

After this shaving, he must count seven days, undergo a second shaving, and bring offerings on the day after the shaving in order to permit him to partake of sacrificial food; and since we are uncertain whether he was one rendered impure through contact with the dead and not a leper, he is prevented from undergoing a second shaving until he counts an additional period of pure naziriteship.

For if he was indeed one rendered impure through contact with the dead, he would have had to count a period of “impure naziriteship,” shave, and bring an offering for impurity afterward, and only then begin counting the period of “pure naziriteship.” And the “shaving for impurity” was not performed until the shaving on the thirtieth day; consequently, he must now bring an offering for impurity and count a period of naziriteship afterward, and only then may he shave.

Therefore, he brings the offering for impurity on the day on which he shaved, which is the thirtieth day, and immediately begins counting pure naziriteship, which will end on the fifty-ninth day, for the completion of his naziriteship. He then undergoes a shaving that is both possibly a “shaving of purity” and possibly the second shaving for his leprosy. He brings the offerings of the leper on the following day, because since he delayed his second shaving, the time for bringing his offerings was postponed until the following day. Consequently, on the sixtieth day he brings the offerings of the leper and is permitted to partake of sacrificial food.

And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with the dead

only

after one hundred twenty days

[that is, on the one hundred twentieth day]; in other words, he does not emerge from his doubtful status as a nazirite until the one hundred twentieth day.

How so? Until the fifty-ninth day—the day on which he shaved a second time—he was forbidden the prohibitions of naziriteship, as explained. And since he is a doubtful leper, the days that he counted until he brought his offerings on the sixtieth day and emerged from his leprosy do not count toward his period of pure naziriteship. Therefore, he requires another thirty days of naziriteship in order to fulfill the requirement of a shaving of purity. Necessarily, he must wait until the ninetieth day, 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 the prohibitions of naziriteship. For if, in addition to his leprosy, he was one rendered impure through contact with the dead, then the “period of impure naziriteship” was not completed until after he brought the offerings for his doubtful leprosy—for the days of leprosy until the bringing of the offerings do not count toward his “period of impure naziriteship.” The shaving that he performed on the ninetieth day is itself his shaving for impurity, and only afterward can he bring his offering for impurity and begin counting the period of pure naziriteship.

Therefore, after the shaving on the ninetieth day, he brings the offering for impurity and begins counting pure naziriteship on that day. It ends on the one hundred twentieth day, which is the “thirty-first” day of this period of naziriteship. And this is what we learned: And he may drink wine and become impure through contact with the dead after one hundred twenty days. And the Mishna explains the reason:

That the shaving for the lesion overrides

the

shaving of the nazirite,

meaning: he is permitted to shave for his leprosy even though he is a nazirite and is forbidden to shave, only

when he is

the nazirite

certainly

a leper;

but when he is doubtful

a leper,

it does not override

the prohibition against shaving.

Therefore, he cannot perform the first shaving for his leprosy until thirty days have passed, since he is either a doubtful leper or a pure nazirite. For the same reason, he cannot perform his second shaving until he counts a second thirty-day period of naziriteship.