Nazir 8 - January 31, 9 Shevat

Study Guide Nazir 8 Today’s daf is sponsored by Dalia Gamson in memory of Efraim ben Yitzchak Shmuel. The Mishna lists several cases where one accepted to be a nazir for a time period based on an object, like the hair on my head, dush of the earth...). They are considered a nazir forever, but tana kama and Rebbi disagree about whether one meant an infinite number of separate terms of being a nazir (with haircuts and sacrifices at the end of each thirty-day term) or one long period of being a nazir that lasts forever. If one said one will be a nazir for the capacity of the house or the basket, we ask what the intent was - for the house/basket or for contents. If the intent was the house/basket, they are a nazir for thirty days. If the intent was the contents, we view it as if it was filled with mustard seeds and they are a nazir for the rest of their life. If one says they will be a nazir from here to a different location, we measure how many days' journey and use that to determine how long the term will be. If one says "like the number of the days in the solar year" they are a nazir for 365 30-day terms. Rabbi Yehuda recounts that someone did this and as he finished the last term, he died. The Gemara questions the case with the basket - why do we assume they meant full of mustard seeds and not something larger like gourds, which would mean a nazirite term for a period of time corresponding to the number of gourds. Does this issue depend on a debate between Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda about whether we are stringent or lenient regarding vows? Chizkiya says yes, but Rabbi Yochanan distinguishes between the case where they disagree and our case and claims that Rabbi Yehuda would agree in the case of our Mishna as well. According to Rabbi Yochanan's explanation, one must explain that Rabbi Yehuda holds like Rebbi's opinion in our Mishna. However, that is difficult in light of Rabbi Yehuda's statement in our Mishna and in a braita. Those difficulties are resolved. Several braitot are quoted with more cases of specific wording used by one accepting to be a nazir and how long or how many terms that person would need to be a nazir.