Nazir 5a (ה.) — the Talmud in English

And he derived

Rabbi by means of a gzera shava, “‘

days days’”

from the houses of walled cities,

with regard to which it is stated, “Its redemption shall be for a year,” and he learned from this:

Just as there,

with regard to houses in walled cities, the seller may redeem the house only until

twelve months —

So too here,

in the matter of Absalom’s haircut, it was every

twelve

months.

Rabbi Nehorai says: He would cut his hair

Absalom

once every thirty days,

and its rationale is explained below.

Rabbi Yosei says: He would cut his hair

from one Sabbath eve to the next—

for we find this among princes,

such as Absalom son of David,

who cut their hair from one Sabbath eve to the next.

The Gemara expresses surprise:

What is Rabbi’s reason,

that Absalom would cut his hair once every twelve months, because he

derived it from houses in walled cities,

with regard to which it is stated, “Its redemption shall be for a year”?!

But Rabbi

himself

is the one who said

that the seller cannot redeem the house before two days have passed from the sale, because it is stated, “Its redemption shall be for a year,” and

“days”

are not

fewer than two.

If so, let us say that he would cut his hair every two days?!

And we answer:

This gzera shava was learned because of the heaviness.

That is to say: We are seeking to explain by means of the gzera shava the verse, “At the end of days, after days had passed, when he cut his hair, because it was heavy upon him”—

and

if so,

after two days

there would

be no heaviness

of hair. Certainly, the gzera shava was not given to teach the measure of two days. Rather, it teaches from the limitation of the time for redemption to one year, as it is stated there: “But if he does not redeem it by the completion of a full year, the house that is in the city that has a wall shall remain permanently the possession of its purchaser throughout his generations; it shall not go out in the Jubilee.” We have therefore learned that until a full year has passed, he may redeem it.

The Gemara raises another difficulty against Rabbi:

Perhaps

once every

two years

Absalom would cut his hair, as we could derive by means of the gzera shava, “days days,” from that

which is written: “And it came to pass at the end of two years of days”?!

“And it came to pass at the end of two years of days”?!

And we answer:

We derive

“days”

that are not accompanied by years, such as “days to days,” stated with regard to Absalom,

from

“days”

that are not accompanied by years,

such as “Its redemption shall be for a year.”

as in “For a period of days shall be its redemption.”

But this

verse

should not be brought as proof, “And it came to pass at the end of two years of days,”

since it is accompanied by years,

as it is stated, “two years of days.”

as it says, “two years of days.”

The Gemara raises another difficulty against Rabbi:

Perhaps

once every

thirty days,

and we should derive “days days” from that

which is written: “Until a month of days”?!

“Until a month of days”?!

And we answer:

We derive

“days”

that are not accompanied by months, from days that are not accompanied by months; but this

verse

should not be brought as proof, since it is accompanied by months,

as it is stated, “a month of days.”

The Gemara nevertheless raises a further difficulty:

Perhaps the gzera shava was given to learn

from

this—

as it is written: “

From days to days

the Israelite women would go to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, four days in the year.” Thus, “days to days” means three months, which is the division of the year into four equal parts; let us say that he cut his hair once every three months?!

And we answer:

We derive

“days”

from

“days,”

but we do not derive

“days”

from

“year by year”!

The Gemara expresses surprise at this resolution:

And what difference does it make

with regard to deriving by means of a gzera shava between “days” and “year by year”?!

But did not the tanna in the name of Rabbi Yishmael

say that it is written in the passage concerning the afflictions of houses:

“And the koen shall return” and

“And the koen shall come”—

this returning is the same as this coming,

and we derive by means of a gzera shava that he shall do in one case everything that he does in the other?

Thus, in a gzera shava, one need not insist on identical words, but rather on identical meaning.

And we answer:

This applies

when we do not insist on similarity of the word itself, but only

where there is nothing similar to it [where there is no word similar to the word under discussion]—

But where there is something similar to it—

we derive from what is similar to it [when there is another similar word, we derive specifically from that identical word].

Some say

there is another reason why we do not derive a gzera shava from the passage concerning the daughter of Jephthah: because

how do we know that every three months constitute one period [how do we know that the division of the four days in the year is an equal division of one day every three months]? And indeed:

Perhaps the division of

four periods in the year [the four times in the year] is:

four months constituting one period [one time occurring after four months].

four months for one interval

[one occasion occurs after four months].

two months constituting one period [and the second time occurring after two months], and then alternating in this manner.

[and the second occasion occurs after two months], and then the pattern repeats.

Certainly, the gzera shava was not given to derive from a place where we cannot know the intention of the verse. Necessarily, the intention is to derive from another verse concerning which there is no doubt.

We learned in a beraita:

Rabbi Nehorai says: He cuts his hair once every thirty days:

The Gemara explains Rabbi Nehorai’s rationale:

What is the reason that, concerning kohanim,

they lighten their hair once every thirty days

because there is heaviness

of hair at that point?

So too here,

with regard to Absalom,

there is heaviness

of hair after this period of time, and once his hair became heavy upon him, he cut it.

We learned in a beraita:

Rabbi Yosei says: He cuts his hair from one Sabbath eve to the next,

for we find that princes cut their hair from one Sabbath eve to the next:

The Gemara expresses surprise: If so,

what difference was there between him and his other brothers [if so, in what way was Absalom different from his brothers], since all of them were princes who cut their hair from one Sabbath eve to the next?!

[if so, in what way was Absalom different from his brothers], since they were all princes and cut their hair from one Sabbath eve to the next?!

And we answer:

A Festival that occurred in the middle of the Sabbath [week]

was the difference between them.

His brothers would cut their hair

for the honor of the Festival, whereas

he,

Absalom,

would not cut his hair.

Alternatively—

the difference between them was—

cutting his hair from the morning of the eve of the Sabbath [cutting his hair on Friday morning].

[they would cut their hair on the morning of Sabbath eve].

For

his brothers

would

cut their hair

even on Friday morning, whereas

he,

Absalom,

would not cut his hair until evening [he would not cut his hair until the evening].

Since the Gemara previously cited the verse, “And it came to pass at the end of forty years, and Absalom said to the king: Please let me go and fulfill my vow that I vowed to the Lord in Hebron,” the Gemara explains it:

These “

forty years”—

to what do they refer?

What event does the verse refer to when it says that this rebellion of Absalom occurred after forty years?

Rabbi Nehorai says in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: At the end of

forty years from the time they asked for a king,

as it is stated [I Samuel 8]: “And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah. And they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations”

— It was taught: The year in which they asked for

Israel

a king

from Samuel of Ramah

was

the

tenth year

of

the reign of

Samuel of Ramah.

Mishna:

One who accepts

unspecified nezirut,

who said, “I am a nazir,” but did not specify the number of days of his nezirut, is a nazir for

thirty days.

Gemara:

From where are these matters derived,

from where do we learn the number of days of unspecified nezirut?

Rav Mattana said:

For

the verse says in the passage concerning the nazir: “Until the completion of the days during which he shall abstain for the Lord,

in the passage concerning a nazirite: “Until the completion of the days during which he shall consecrate himself to the Lord,

he shall be holy.” “

He shall be”

has the numerical value of thirty

[thirty]

indeed,

to teach that the number of days during which he shall abstain for the Lord is thirty days.

Bar Peda said

there is another source for the number of days of unspecified nezirut:

Corresponding to the occurrences of “

nazir”

and “

his abstention” [and likewise “vow” and “his vow”]

[and likewise “vow” and “his vow”]

stated in the Torah—

in the passage concerning the nazir—there are

thirty

occurrences

less one.

We learn that unspecified nezirut is twenty-nine days; and since on the thirtieth day he must continue observing nezirut until he brings his offerings on that day, the total is thirty days. This is what we learned: “Unspecified nezirut is thirty days.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

And Rav Mattana as well,

who holds that unspecified nezirut is thirty days,

should derive

from “

nazir, his abstention,”

and the measure of unspecified nezirut should be twenty-nine days?!

He can say to you,

Rav Mattana:

Those

expressions of nezirut mentioned below

are for exposition,

and are not included in the count. Therefore, you cannot derive from them that nezirut is twenty-nine days.

These are the expressions of nezirut that were written for exposition and not for counting:

1. “

From wine and strong drink he shall abstain,”

which comes to teach:

to prohibit

a nazir

wine of a mitzva like ordinary wine,

as explained above, 4a.

2. “

When a man clearly vows a vow, the vow of a nazir, to abstain,”

which

teaches that nezirut takes effect upon nezirut,

for example, if he said, “I am a nazir today and a nazir today,” he is obligated to observe two periods of nezirut.