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Nazir 15b

נזיר ט״ו ע״ב

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Topic

Searching for a source for רב: אבא שאול on mourning, רבי יוסי on the שומרת יום כנגד יום and פסח שני, and whether backward impurity of זיבה is rabbinic

Overview

The גמרא is looking for an earlier authority who agrees with רב's idea that one day can count toward two things. First it suggests אבא שאול, who holds that the seventh day of mourning counts for both שבעה and שלשים. It rejects this proof: that leniency may apply only to mourning, which is דרבנן, and not to נזירות, which is דאורייתא. Next it suggests רבי יוסי, who exempts a שומרת יום כנגד יום from פסח שני even though she saw blood later on the day her פסח was brought. This would be because part of a day counts as a whole day. The גמרא pushes this off: maybe her impurity starts only from the moment she sees. A ברייתא seems to show that רבי יוסי holds the impurity goes backward, but the גמרא answers that the backward impurity is only rabbinic. It then argues back and forth about whether that impurity might really be from the Torah, with hidden impurity of זיבה allowed. Finally the גמרא brings רבי אושעיא as another authority who treats backward impurity as rabbinic. It fixes the wording of רבי יוחנן's reply to him: a discharge on the seventh day cancels nothing, not even its own day.

Opening lines

אַבָּא שָׁאוּל אוֹמֵר:

Abba Shaul says:

אֲפִילּוּ לֹא סִיפֵּר קוֹדֶם הָרֶגֶל —

Even if he did not cut his hair before the Festival,

מוּתָּר לְסַפֵּר אַחַר הָרֶגֶל,

he is permitted to cut his hair after the Festival,

שֶׁכְּשֵׁם שֶׁמִּצְוַת שְׁלֹשָׁה

for just as the מצוה of three days

The steps (13)

  1. Statementאבא שאול: the seven days of mourning cancel the thirty days
  2. Proofאבא שאול's reason: the seventh day counts for both periods
  3. RejectionRejection: mourning is rabbinic, but נזירות is from the Torah
  4. Proofרב follows רבי יוסי: the woman whose פסח was brought on her second day
  5. Proofרבי יוסי's reason seems to be that part of a day counts as a whole day
  6. RejectionMaybe רבי יוסי holds she becomes impure only from now on
  7. ChallengeA ברייתא shows רבי יוסי holds the impurity goes backward
  8. ResolutionThe backward impurity is only rabbinic
  9. ProofIt makes sense that the backward impurity is only rabbinic
  10. RejectionMaybe the impurity is from the Torah, but hidden impurity was allowed
  11. Proofרבי אושעיא also seems to hold backward impurity is rabbinic
  12. Challengeרבי יוחנן's words make no sense either way
  13. ResolutionCorrect reading: it does not cancel even its own day