Study Nazir folio 42A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הא ״גדילים תעשה לך״ מהם.
indicates that fringes in the mitzva stated in the adjacent verse: “You should make for yourself fringes” (Deuteronomy 22:12), can be from them, wool and linen. By juxtaposing the mitzva of tzitzit to the prohibition against diverse kinds of cloth, the Torah teaches that the positive mitzva of tzitzit, which includes dyed blue wool, overrides the prohibition against diverse kinds of cloth, i.e., one may attach woolen tzitzit to a linen garment. From here one derives the general principle that a positive mitzva overrides a prohibition.
אמר מר: וכולם שגילחו שלא בתער, או ששיירו שתי שערות — לא עשו ולא כלום. אמר רב אחא בריה דרב איקא: זאת אומרת, רובו ככולו מדאורייתא.
§ The Talmud returns to the Mishnah that teaches that nazirites, lepers, and Levites must shave their hair. The Master said above: And with regard to all of them, if they shaved with an implement other than a razor, or if they left two hairs uncut, they have done nothing. Rav Aḥa, son of Rav Ika, said: That is to say that the principle: The majority of an entity is considered like all of it, applies by Torah law.
ממאי — מדגלי רחמנא גבי נזיר ״ביום השביעי יגלחנו״ — הכא הוא דעד דאיכא כולו. הא בעלמא: רובו ככולו.
The Talmud asks: From where do we learn this? The Talmud explains: This principle is derived from the fact that God revealed in the Torah and specified with regard to a nazirite: “On the 7th day he should shave it” (Numbers 6:9), despite the fact that the same verse already stated: “And he should shave his head on the day of his cleansing.” This teaches that it is only in this case here that he does not fulfill the mitzva of shaving until there is the removal of all of it, i.e., shaving part of his head is insufficient. This shows that in general the majority of an entity is like all of it.