Nazir 6a — the Talmud in English

But according to Bar Peda

that the count of the days of the naziriteship ended on the fifty-ninth day,

it is difficult

for this Mishna, for why does he not shave on the sixtieth day, which is the thirtieth day of the count of the second naziriteship?

And we answer:

Bar Peda can say to you

Bar Peda:

The latter clause supports

me:

For we learned in the latter clause:

“And if he shaved the first one on the thirtieth day, he shaves the second one”

initially

on the sixtieth day,

it is thus explained that after the fact he may shave the first one on the thirtieth day, and that is the position of Bar Peda.

But

surely, since

the latter clause supports him,

it necessarily follows that the

first clause

in which he does not shave the second one except on the thirty-first day

is made as though he had said “complete days,”

that is, as a decree lest he say, “thirty complete days.”

And according to Rav Mattana it is difficult—the latter clause,

for it is explained in it that if he shaved the first one on the thirtieth day, he has fulfilled his obligation!?

Rav Mattana can say to you:

The latter clause says:

“The thirtieth day counts here and there,”

that is, at the beginning of the thirtieth day of the first naziriteship they say “part of the day is like the whole of it,” and therefore if he shaved on this day, he has fulfilled his obligation; and the end of that same day also counts toward the beginning of the count of the second naziriteship. Therefore, the time for shaving the second naziriteship, when he shaved on the thirtieth day, is even initially on the sixtieth day, which is the thirty-first day of the second naziriteship.

The Gemara is astonished at Rav Mattana’s answer:

What is it,

that is, what does the tanna teach us by saying, “And if he shaved the first one on the thirtieth day, he shaves the second one on the sixtieth day,” that

part of the day is like the whole of it,

as has been explained!?

And

he already said it

the tanna

once

in the first clause, that if he shaved on the thirtieth day he has fulfilled his obligation because part of the day is like the whole of it; why, then, did the tanna need to teach this again in the latter clause!?

And we answer: there is a novelty in the matter, because

you might say that these words apply

that part of the thirtieth day counts for him as a day of naziriteship

with regard to one naziriteship

so that he may shave after part of the day—

but

that the thirtieth day should count

for two naziriteships

its beginning for completing the first naziriteship, and its end for the beginning of the second naziriteship—

not.

Therefore,

it teaches us

our Mishna that the thirtieth day also counts for two naziriteships.

The Gemara further raises a difficulty against Bar Peda from the fact that

we learned

in that Mishna: “

And if he shaved the first one on the thirtieth day, he shaves the second one on the sixtieth day; and

if he shaved one day short of the sixtieth day

he has fulfilled his obligation, for the thirtieth day

of the first naziriteship

counts for him in the count

of the second naziriteship.”

Granted, according to Rav Mattana, it is satisfactory

that the tanna needed to give a reason for his words, that shaving one day short of the sixtieth day is effective because the thirtieth day of the first naziriteship counts for him in the count of the second naziriteship—that is, it counts here and there.

But according to Bar Peda, what need is there

to give a reason that shaving one day short of the sixtieth day is valid because the thirtieth day counts for him in the count!?

And

he said

Bar Peda that ordinary naziriteship is

thirty

days

less one,

and the shaving is on the thirtieth day. Since he shaved on the thirtieth day of the first naziriteship, it is obvious that the count of the second naziriteship begins after the shaving [and its thirtieth day is one day short of the sixtieth day], like anyone who accepts naziriteship in the middle of the day, for whom part of the first day counts as the whole of it. Yet nowhere have we heard that the tanna says, “for the first day counts for him in the count”!?

Bar Peda can say to you:

Bar Peda:

I, too, rely on this

[I, too, learned from here that naziriteship is only twenty-nine days], for since the tanna considers this thirtieth day the first day of the count of the second naziriteship, it is certain that it does not count toward the end of the second naziriteship, since it is not reasonable that the tanna should be so lenient as to consider it here and there.

The Gemara further raises a difficulty against Bar Peda from the fact that

we learned

in that Mishna:

“One who said

‘I am a nazirite,’

and

became impure on the thirtieth day

before bringing the offerings, he

invalidates everything.”

Granted, according to Rav Mattana, it is satisfactory

that he invalidates everything, because on the thirtieth day, before he had brought his offerings, he was still within the days of his naziriteship.

But according to Bar Peda,

who holds that his naziriteship had already been completed on the twenty-ninth day,

it is difficult

for this Mishna: why should one who became impure on the thirtieth day, which is after his naziriteship, invalidate everything!?