Nazir 5a

נזיר ה׳ ע״א

Learn Nazir 5a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How often אבשלום cut his hair, and the source for a thirty-day סתם נזירות

Overview

The amud continues a ברייתא about how often אבשלום, a נזיר, cut his hair. רבי says once every twelve months, learned by a גזירה שוה from the word ימים by בתי ערי חומה. רבי נהוראי says every thirty days, and רבי יוסי says every ערב שבת. The גמרא defends רבי's source against several challenges: other פסוקים where ימים means two years, thirty days, or appears as ימימה. It rules that a plain ימים must be learned from an identical plain ימים. It then explains רבי נהוראי's thirty days through the weight of the hair, and shows how רבי יוסי's weekly haircut still set אבשלום apart from his brothers. After a short note about the 'forty years' in the פסוק, a new משנה teaches that an unspecified נזירות lasts thirty days. רב מתנא learns this from the גימטריא of יהיה. בר פדא counts the word נזיר and gets twenty-nine, and the גמרא explains why רב מתנא does not use that count.

Opening lines

The steps (28)

1. Statementרבי learns twelve months from walled-city houses
2. StatementTwo other views: every thirty days or every Friday
3. Challengeרבי elsewhere reads ימים there as two days
4. ResolutionTwo days cannot fit, because the hair must be heavy
5. ChallengeMaybe ימים means two years
6. ResolutionLearn plain ימים only from plain ימים
7. ChallengeMaybe ימים means thirty days
8. ResolutionPlain ימים is not learned from ימים with 'month'
9. ChallengeMaybe learn from the daughter of יפתח
10. Resolutionימים is learned from ימים, not from ימימה
11. ChallengeA גזירה שוה can link words that are not the same
12. ResolutionAn identical word beats a similar word
13. RejectionA second reason: the timing of ימימה is unclear
14. Statementרבי נהוראי: אבשלום cut his hair every thirty days
15. ResponseThe reason: after thirty days hair becomes heavy
16. Statementרבי יוסי: he cut his hair every ערב שבת
17. ChallengeThen how was he different from his brothers?
18. ResolutionA midweek festival shows the difference
19. ResolutionA different answer: the time of day on Friday
20. QuestionWhat do the forty years refer to?
21. ResponseForty years from when the people asked for a king
22. StatementThat year was שמואל's tenth year
23. StatementAn unstated נזירות lasts thirty days
24. QuestionWhere do we learn the thirty days?
25. ResponseThe word יהיה equals thirty
26. Responseבר פדא counts the word נזיר in the תורה and gets twenty-nine
27. ChallengeWhy doesn't רב מתנא also learn from the word count?
28. ResolutionThe extra נזיר words are needed for other teachings