Nazir 57B

דקתני ״ואיני יודע איזה מכם״. שמע מינה.

as it teaches: But I do not know which one of you. This indicates that the third individual was too far away to detect which of them became impure. The Talmud says: Conclude from the inference from the Mishnah that it is so.

מגלחין ומביאין. ואמאי? דילמא לאו טמאין אינון, וקעביד הקפה! אמר שמואל: באשה וקטן.

§ The Mishnah taught that the two nazirites shave and cut their hair and bring an offering of impurity and an offering of purity. The Talmud asks: But why are they permitted to shave? Perhaps both of them are not impure, and therefore one of them violates the prohibition against rounding the head, i.e., shaving the hair on the sides of the head (see Leviticus 19:27), when he shaves his hair unnecessarily. Since one of them does not need to shave, he thereby transgresses a mitzva by Torah law. Shmuel said: The Mishnah is referring to a case where each nazirite was a woman, who is not prohibited from rounding the hair of her head, or a minor boy, who is not obligated in the observance of mitzvot.

ולוקמא בגדול, והקפת כל הראש ⁠— לא שמה הקפה! מדלא מוקים לה הכי, שמע מינה קסבר שמואל: הקפת כל הראש ⁠— שמה הקפה.

The Talmud analyzes Shmuel’s answer: And let Shmuel establish the Mishnah as referring to a male who reached majority, and the reason it is permitted is because rounding the entire head, not merely its corners, is not called rounding as prohibited by the Torah. From the fact that he does not establish the Mishnah in this manner, conclude from it that Shmuel maintains that rounding the entire head is called rounding.

מר זוטרא מתני לה להא שמעתא דשמואל אסיפא: נזיר שהיה טמא בספק ומוחלט בספק ⁠— אוכל בקדשים לאחר ששים יום, ומגלח ארבע תגלחות. והא קעביד הקפה! אמר שמואל: באשה וקטן.

Mar Zutra taught this halakha of Shmuel with regard to the latter clause of the following Mishnah (59b): A nazirite who has uncertain impurity and whose status as a confirmed metzora is uncertain may eat sacrificial food after 60 days and shaves 4 times. One shaving is for his uncertain status as an impure nazirite, one is at the end of his term of naziriteship, and two are due to his status as a metzora. A similar problem arose: But as he is not definitely obligated to shave, he violates the prohibition against rounding the head. Shmuel said: The Mishnah is referring to a woman or a minor boy, who are not prohibited from rounding their heads.