Nazir 10a

נזיר י׳ ע״א

Learn Nazir 10a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The 'talking cow' and 'talking door' נזירות vows: רמי בר חמא's explanation, why the examples are repeated, and רבא's challenge and new attempts

Overview

The עמוד opens by finishing an earlier discussion: the משנה had to teach that someone who pledges a barley מנחה brings one from wheat. Next comes a new משנה about odd vows, where a person says a cow or a door 'said' it is a נזיר. בית שמאי say he is a נזיר, בית הלל say he is not, and רבי יהודה limits בית שמאי's ruling. The גמרא asks how a cow can talk. רמי בר חמא explains that the man vowed to be a נזיר 'from its meat' if the cow stood up by itself, so each side follows its view from the dried-figs case. The גמרא asks why בית שמאי's view is repeated. רבא answers that a teacher often gives two or three examples, and the גמרא shows why the figs, meat and door cases are each needed. רבא then rejects רמי בר חמא's reading, because the משנה never says 'by itself.' His first replacement, that the man vowed the cow as a קרבן, fails because a door cannot be a קרבן. רבא begins a new explanation that continues on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

The steps (14)

1. ResolutionWhy the משנה needed to teach that one brings wheat
2. StatementThe משנה: a cow or a door 'says' it is a נזיר
3. Statementרבי יהודה limits בית שמאי's ruling
4. ChallengeCan a cow talk?
5. Resolutionרמי בר חמא: the man vowed about the cow's meat
6. ResolutionHow each side follows its view on 'dried figs'
7. ChallengeDidn't בית שמאי already say this?
8. ResolutionThe תנא likes to give two or three examples
9. ResolutionWhy we need both the figs case and the meat case
10. ResolutionWhy we also need the door case
11. ChallengeThe משנה never says 'by itself'
12. Resolutionרבא's first attempt: he vowed the cow as a קרבן
13. ChallengeA door cannot be a קרבן
14. Resolutionרבא starts a new explanation