Study Nazir folio 15B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אבא שאול אומר: אפילו לא סיפר קודם הרגל — מותר לספר אחר הרגל, שכשם שמצות שלשה מבטלת גזירת שבעה — כך מצות שבעה מבטלת גזירת שלשים.
Abba Shaul says: Even if he did not cut his hair before the pilgrimage Festival, it is permitted for him to cut his hair after the pilgrimage Festival. His reasoning is that just as the mitzva of 3 voids the rabbinic decree of 7, as was taught before; so the mitzva of 7 voids the rabbinic decree of 30. Since he completed the observance of the 7 days of mourning before the Festival, he need not observe the 30 days of mourning.
מאי טעמא דאבא שאול? לאו משום דקסבר שביעי עולה לכאן ולכאן? דלמא עד כאן לא קאמר אבא שאול אלא באבילות שבעה דרבנן, אבל בנזיר דאורייתא — לא!
The Talmud asks: What is the rationale of Abba Shaul for his opinion that if he observed 7 days of mourning before the Festival commenced the 30-day mourning period is voided? Isn’t it because he holds that the 7th day counts for here and there, i.e., the 7th day is considered both the end of the 7 days and the start of the 30 days of mourning, so he had already begun observing his 30 days of mourning before the start of the Festival? This ruling may be the basis for the ruling of Rav. The Talmud rejects this: This does not support Rav, since perhaps Abba Shaul was saying his ruling that the same day counts for both here and there only with regard to the mourning of 7 days, which is by rabbinic law, but with regard to a nazirite, whose obligation is by Torah law, he would not say so.
אלא רב דאמר כרבי יוסי. דתניא, רבי יוסי אומר: שומרת יום כנגד יום ששחטו וזרקו עליה בשני שלה,
Rather, Rav spoke in accordance with the opinion of R' Yosei, as it is taught in a baraita that R' Yosei says: A woman who observes a clean day for each day she experiences a discharge is a woman who discharges blood for one or two days at a time when she does not expect her menstrual period. The case under discussion is one where she experienced a discharge for one day and they slaughtered a Paschal offering and sprinkled the blood for her on her second day, after she immersed in a mikveh. At that point, it is unclear whether she will remain clean of discharges for the remainder of the day, in which case she is retroactively pure from the time she immersed and may eat the Paschal offering at night, or whether she will experience a discharge of blood during the day, in which case her immersion is retroactively invalid and she was impure the entire time.