Study Nazir folio 25A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
והלא דמי חטאת מעורבין בהן? אמר רבי יוחנן: הלכה היא בנזיר. ריש לקיש אמר: ״לכל נדריהם ולכל נדבותם״, התורה אמרה: מותר נדר יהא לנדבה.
The Talmud asks: But the money for the sin-offering is mingled with these unallocated funds. How can it all be used for gift burnt-offerings? R' Yoḥanan said: It is an accepted halakha with regard to a nazirite that his unallocated funds are used for gift offerings, despite the fact that they include the value of a sin-offering. Reish Lakish said: The verse states: “Whether for any of their vows or for any of their gift offerings, which are brought to YHWH as a burnt-offering” (Leviticus 22:18). In this verse, the Torah states that the surplus of a vow should be for a gift offering. Here too, if the vow of naziriteship cannot be fulfilled, due to the death of the one who took the vow, the money is for a gift offering.
בשלמא לרבי יוחנן, דאמר: הלכה היא בנזיר, אמטו להכי סתומין — אין, מפורשין — לא. אלא לריש לקיש ״לכל נדריהם ולכל נדבותם״, מאי איריא סתומין? אפילו מפורשין!
The Talmud asks: Granted, according to the opinion of R' Yoḥanan, who said that it is a halakha with regard to a nazirite, it is for this reason that if the funds were unallocated, yes, the money is used for gift offerings, but if they were allocated, no, they may not be used for this purpose, as this is the halakha passed down by tradition. However, according to the opinion of Reish Lakish, who derives the halakha from the verse: “For any of their vows or for any of their gift offerings,” why state specifically unallocated funds; even allocated money should be used for gift offerings after the death of their owner.
אמר רבא: מפורשין לא מצית אמרת, כבר פסקה תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: ״רק קדשיך אשר יהיו לך ונדריך״ — בולדי קדשים ובתמורתם הכתוב מדבר.
Rava said: You cannot say that this halakha should apply to allocated funds, as the tanna of the school of R' Yishmael has already ruled in this regard. The tanna explained the following verse that deals with the obligation to bring consecrated animals to the Temple: “Only your sacred things that you have, and your vows” (Deuteronomy 12:26). The verse is speaking of the offspring of consecrated female peace-offerings and their substitutes, i.e., when one says a non-sacred animal should substitute for a sacred animal.