Study Nazir folio 10A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
או כמנחת סוטה — תקדוש, אי לא — לא. קא משמע לן דמייתי מן החיטים.
or like the meal-offering of a sota, both of which are made of barley, it should become consecrated, and if it is not possible to volunteer a meal-offering from barley, it should not be a meal-offering at all. The Mishnah therefore teaches us that one nevertheless brings a meal-offering made from wheat. R' Yoḥanan holds that the difficulty raised by Ḥizkiyya against his own explanation is inconclusive, and he need not have retracted it.
מתני׳ אמר: ״אמרה פרה זו הריני נזירה אם עומדת אני״, ״אומר הדלת הזה הריני נזירה אם נפתח אני״ — בית שמאי אומרים: נזיר, ובית הלל אומרים: אינו נזיר. אמר רבי יהודה: אף כשאמרו בית שמאי, לא אומרים אלא באומר ״הרי פרה זו עלי קרבן, אם עומדת היא״.
Mishnah: If one said: This cow said: I am hereby a nazirite if I stand up; or if he said: This door says: I am hereby a nazirite if I am opened, Beit Shammai say he is a nazirite, and Beit Hillel say he is not a nazirite. R' Yehuda said: Even when Beit Shammai say that the vow is effective, they say so only with regard to one who said: This cow is hereby forbidden to me as an offering if it stands up. In that case it is as if he took a vow that the cow is forbidden. However, Beit Shammai concede that although the vow takes effect, it is not a vow of naziriteship.
גמ׳ פרה מי קא מישתעיא? אמר רמי בר חמא: הכא במאי עסקינן — כגון שהיתה פרה רבוצה לפניו, ואמר: ״כסבורה פרה זו אינה עומדת — הריני נזיר מבשרה אם עמדה מאליה״. ועמדה מאליה. והלכו בית שמאי לשיטתן ובית הלל לשיטתן.
Talmud: The Talmud asks: Does a cow speak? What is the meaning of the statement: A cow said: I am hereby a nazirite? Rami bar Ḥama said: With what are we dealing here? We are dealing with a case where there was a prone cow before him, and he tried, without success, to cause it to stand, and he said: This cow thinks it will not stand; I am hereby a nazirite and therefore will refrain from its flesh if it stands of its own accord, and in fact it stood of its own accord. Beit Shammai follow their standard approach and Beit Hillel follow their standard approach.