Study Makkot folio 20B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אלא בחדא התראה, מי מחייב? והתנן: נזיר שהיה שותה יין כל היום – אינו חייב אלא אחת. אמרו לו: ״אל תשתה״, ״אל תשתה״, והוא שותה – חייב על כל אחת ואחת! לא צריכא, דסך חמש אצבעותיו נשא ואותבינהו בבת אחת, דהויא ליה, התראה לכל חדא וחדא.
Rather, say that he created 5 bald spots with one forewarning; is one liable in that case? But didn’t we learn in a Mishnah (21a): A nazirite who was drinking wine all day is liable to receive only one set of lashes; if onlookers said to him: Do not drink, do not drink, forewarning him several times, and he drinks after each forewarning, he is liable to receive lashes for each and every drink. The Talmud answers: No, this halakha is necessary only with regard to one who, after one forewarning, smeared his 5 fingers in a depilatory agent [nasha] and then placed his fingers simultaneously on his hair, thereby creating 5 bald spots, as in that case, it is tantamount to a forewarning for each and every bald spot that he created. The novel element is that each bald spot is an independent transgression.
וכמה שיעור קרחה? רב הונא אומר: כדי שיראה מראשו. רבי יוחנן אומר משום רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון: כגריס. כתנאי: כמה שיעור קרחה – כגריס, אחרים אומרים: כדי שיראה מראשו.
§ The Talmud asks: And how much is the measure of a bald spot for which one is liable? Rav Huna says: It must be of sufficient size so that bald skin will be visible on his head. R' Yoḥanan says in the name of R' Elazar, son of R' Shimon: It is the size of a Cilician bean [kigeris]. The Talmud comments: This amoraic dispute is parallel to a dispute between tanna’im: And how much is the measure of a bald spot? It is the size of a Cilician bean. Aḥerim say: It must be of sufficient size so that bald skin will be visible on his head.