Study Nazir folio 61B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יצא גוי שאין לו טומאה. מנלן דלית להו טומאה? דאמר קרא: ״ואיש אשר יטמא ולא יתחטא ונכרתה הנפש ההיא מתוך הקהל״, במי שיש לו קהל, יצא זה שאין לו קהל.
which excludes a non-Jew, who has no potential to become ritually impure. A non-Jew is not rendered impure even if he touches a corpse. An individual of this kind cannot become a nazirite. The Talmud asks: From where do we derive that non-Jews do not have the ability to become ritually impure? It is as the verse states with regard to one who enters the Temple in a state of impurity: “But the man who should be impure and should not purify himself, that soul should be cut off from the midst of the assembly” (Numbers 19:20). This indicates that the halakhot of ritual impurity apply only to one who has membership in the assembly of the Jewish people and excludes this non-Jew, who has no membership in the assembly, i.e., he is not part of the Jewish people.
ממאי? דלמא כרת הוא דלא מיחייב, אבל איטמויי מיטמו? אמר קרא ״והזה הטהור על הטמא״, כל שיש לו טהרה — יש לו טומאה, וכל שאין לו טהרה — אין לו טומאה.
The Talmud asks: From where is it derived that this verse teaches that ritual impurity does not apply to a non-Jew at all? Perhaps the verse is referring merely to excision from the World-to-Come [karet], i.e., it is teaching that he is not liable to receive karet for entering the Temple when impure, but that perhaps a non-Jew does become impure. The Talmud answers that the previous verse states: “And the pure person should sprinkle upon the impure”; this indicates that anyone who has the possibility of attaining ritual purity by means of the waters of purification also has the potential for ritual impurity, and anyone who does not have the possibility of attaining purity by means of the waters of purification does not have the potential for impurity either.