Gemara Clarity

Nazir 60a

נזיר ס׳ ע״א

Learn Nazir 60a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Nazir 60a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

A נזיר who is in double doubt (maybe a מצורע, maybe impure from a corpse): how long he must wait, and how many shavings he needs, when his נזירות is a full year instead of the standard thirty days.

Overview

The משנה described a נזיר with two doubts: he may be a מצורע, and he may have become impure from a dead body. The גמרא opens with a ברייתא saying the משנה's sixty and 120 days apply only to a thirty-day נזירות. With a year-long נזירות, he eats קדשים after two years and drinks wine after four. A second ברייתא lists his four shavings. At the first he brings the מצורע's birds, a bird חטאת and an animal עולה. At the second and third he brings a bird חטאת and an animal עולה, and at the fourth the offering of a pure נזיר. The גמרא then shows that the first shaving's offerings work whether he is a מצורע, טמא מת, or neither. It answers the missing אשם by following רבי שמעון, who lets him bring it with a condition. It explains that no new birds are needed later, and that the second and third bird חטאת offerings cover the doubts about his counting and his טומאה. The amud ends as he brings the fourth shaving's offering with a condition, whose wording continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

גְּמָ׳

GEMARA:

תָּנָא: בַּמֶּה דְּבָרִים אֲמוּרִים —

It was taught: In what case are these words said?

בִּנְזִירוּת מוּעֶטֶת,

With a short naziriteship,

אֲבָל בִּנְזִירוּת בַּת שָׁנָה —

But with a naziriteship of a year,

The steps (14)

  1. StatementThe משנה's numbers apply only to a short נזירות
  2. StatementWith a year-long נזירות, the waits become two years and four years
  3. StatementHe shaves four times; the first shaving's offerings
  4. StatementThe offerings for the second, third, and fourth shavings
  5. StatementFirst shaving, first case: he is surely a מצורע but not טמא
  6. StatementWhy he cannot shave on the usual מצורע schedule
  7. StatementSecond case: not a מצורע, but טמא מת
  8. StatementThird case: neither a מצורע nor טמא
  9. ChallengeBut a מצורע also needs an אשם
  10. ResolutionThe ברייתא follows רבי שמעון: bring it with a condition
  11. StatementNo new birds at the second and third shavings
  12. QuestionWhat doubt is still left?
  13. ResponsePerhaps he was a confirmed מצורע
  14. StatementThe fourth shaving: an offering of purity with a condition