Study Nazir folio 5A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ויליף ״ימים״ ״ימים״ מבתי ערי חומה. מה התם שנים עשר חדש — אף כאן שנים עשר חדש.
And R' Yehuda HaNasi derives the meaning of the term yamim stated with regard to Absalom based upon a verbal analogy from the word yamim that appears in the context of houses of walled cities, where it states: “For a full year [yamim] he should have the right of redemption” (Leviticus 25:29). Just as there, in the case of walled cities, the term yamim means 12 months, as the verse states immediately afterward: “Within the space of a full year” (Leviticus 25:30), so too here, in the case of Absalom, the term yamim means 12 months.
רבי נהוראי אומר: מגלח אחת לשלשים יום. רבי יוסי אומר: מגלח מערב שבת לערב שבת, שכן מצינו בבני מלכים שמגלחים מערב שבת לערב שבת.
R' Nehorai says: Absalom cut his hair once every 30 days. R' Yosei says: He cut his hair from one Friday to another Friday, as we find that the sons of kings cut their hair from one Friday to another Friday.
מאי טעמא דרבי — יליף מבתי ערי חומה. והא רבי הוא דאמר: אין ״ימים״ פחותין משנים!
The Talmud asks: What is the reasoning of R' Yehuda HaNasi? He derives the meaning of the verse concerning Absalom from the verse concerning houses of walled cities. But isn’t it R' Yehuda HaNasi himself who said that one may not redeem his house until it has been in the buyer’s possession for at least two days, as the word yamim does not refer to fewer than two days? This demonstrates that R' Yehuda HaNasi understands the word yamim in the case of walled city houses as referring to a period of two days rather than a year. How then can he employ a verbal analogy from houses of walled cities to derive that the word yamim in the case of Absalom indicates a period of 12 months?