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Nazir 26b

נזיר כ״ו ע״ב

Learn Nazir 26b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

When a dead נזיר's money, animals, or other items set aside for his offerings count as specified (מפורשין) or unspecified (סתומין), and whether the rule applies only to coins.

Overview

If a נזיר dies after setting aside money for his three offerings (חטאת, עולה, שלמים), the outcome depends on whether the money was specified (מפורשין) for each offering or left unspecified (סתומין). The amud opens with a ברייתא that supports רבא for cases where only one offering was specified. If the חטאת money was specified, it is destroyed, and the rest is split between an עולה and a שלמים. If only the עולה money was specified, the rest goes to נדבה. רב הונא in the name of רב teaches that the specified-or-unspecified distinction applies only to money, because an animal shows by its kind which offering it is for. רב נחמן limits this to unblemished animals and says a silver bar counts as specified. רב נחמן בר יצחק disagrees: a silver bar is like money, and only a pile of beams counts as specified. רב שימי בר אשי then asks why the rule should be limited to coins. רב חסדא treats pairs of birds as unspecified until the owner or the כהן assigns them, so the rule seems to reach beyond money. The answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

תַּנְיָא כְּווֹתֵיהּ דְּרָבָא:

It is taught in a ברייתא in accordance with רבא:

״אֵלּוּ לְחַטָּאתִי

"This money is for my sin-offering

וְהַשְּׁאָר לִשְׁאָר נְזִירוּתִי״,

and the rest is for the rest of my nazirite offerings,"

דְּמֵי חַטָּאת — יֵלְכוּ לְיָם הַמֶּלַח,

the sin-offering money is cast into the Dead Sea,

The steps (8)

  1. ProofA ברייתא supports רבא: the sin-offering money was specified
  2. ProofSecond case of the ברייתא: the burnt-offering money was specified
  3. StatementAn animal counts as specified
  4. StatementOnly an unblemished animal counts as specified
  5. StatementA silver bar is not like a blemished animal
  6. StatementEven a silver bar counts as unspecified, but a pile of beams does not
  7. ChallengeIf only coins count, birds should not count either
  8. Challengeרב חסדא treats birds as unspecified, so the rule is not only for coins