Study Nazir folio 53B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
חצי קב עצמות — אין, רובע עצמות — לא. היכי דמי? אילימא דאית בהון עצמות כשעורה — תיפוק ליה משום עצם כשעורה! אלא דאקמח אקמוחי.
The Talmud analyzes this ruling of the Mishnah: A half-kav of bones, yes, a nazirite must shave if he contracts impurity from them; 1/4th-kav of bones, no, he does not. What are the circumstances? If we say that they contain bones that are a barley-grain-bulk, let the tanna of the Mishnah derive the halakha that it imparts ritual impurity due to the fact that it is a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk. Rather, the Mishnah is referring to a situation where it has been made like flour. In that case, a half-kav of bones render people and items impure in a tent, although they do not include a bone the volume of a barley-grain-bulk.
על אבר מן המת ועל אבר מן החי שיש עליהן בשר כראוי. אין עליהן בשר כראוי, מאי? רבי יוחנן אמר: אין הנזיר מגלח עליהן. ריש לקיש אמר: הנזיר מגלח עליהן.
§ The Mishnah taught that a nazirite shaves for a limb severed from a corpse and for a limb severed from a living person, upon either of which there is a fitting quantity of flesh. The Talmud asks: If there is not a fitting quantity of flesh upon them, what is the halakha? R' Yoḥanan said: The nazirite does not shave for them. Reish Lakish said: The nazirite does shave for them.
רבי יוחנן אמר: אין הנזיר מגלח עליהן, דהא קתני ברישא: על אבר מן המת ועל אבר מן החי וכו׳ שיש עליהן כזית בשר — אין, אבל אין עליהם — לא.
The Talmud explains their respective opinions. R' Yoḥanan said: The nazirite does not shave for them, as the tanna teaches in the first clause of the Mishnah in the list of sources of ritual impurity for which a nazirite must shave: For a limb severed from a corpse and for a limb severed from a living person that contains a fitting quantity of flesh. One can infer from this: Those upon which there is an olive-bulk of flesh, yes, he must shave for them, but if there is not that amount of flesh upon them, no, a nazirite need not shave due to them.