Today's Daf Yomi
March 30, 2023 | ח׳ בניסן תשפ״ג
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This month is sponsored by Esther Kremer in loving memory of her father, Manny Gross z'l, on his 1st yahrzeit
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Masechet Nazir is sponsored by the family of Rabbi Howard Alpert, HaRav Tzvi Lipa ben Hillel, in honor of his first yahrzeit.
Nazir 66 – Siyum Masechet Nazir
- For the text of the Hadran ceremony, click here.
- For more information about What is a Siyum, click here.
Siyum Nazir is sponsored by Semé Dewees-Cooper “Special thanks to Rabbanit Michelle and all the Hadran staff who make our daily learning and this Siyum possible. Also mazel tov to each person who is completing this masechet!”
Siyum Nazir is sponsored by Randi (Sharona) Shuster in honor of her husband who believed in her and encouraged her to learn Gemara and in memory of her husband’s principal at Maimonides, Rabbi Moses Cohen. “I would also like to thank Rabbanit Michelle for her help and guidance through learning all the masechtot I have learned. This is number 4!”
I would like to personally dedicate this Siyum to three dedicated Hadran learners who passed away during the course of our learning of Masechet Nazir: Carol Robinson, Miriam Kersner and Faye Darack. You will all be missed by the Hadran community.
The Gemara finishes explaining the way detailed in the previous Mishna in which we are more strict with a zav who already saw two zav discharges, than with one who only saw one. Was Shmuel a nazir? When his mother Chana promised that “mora will not go on his head,” did she mean that he would be a nazir or did she mean that the fear of humans would not be upon him? Which is greater: the one who makes a blessing or the one who answers amen to a blessing? There is a tannaitic debate on this topic. Torah scholars bring peace to the world as is learned from a verse from Isaiah 54:13.
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אמר רבא לא תימא ספק חזא ספק לא חזא אלא ודאי חזא ספק מחמת שכבת זרע ספק מחמת ראייה כיון שנזקק לטומאה ספיקו טמא:
Rava said: Do not say that it is uncertain whether he saw a discharge and uncertain whether he did not see one. The uncertainty is not with regard to whether he experienced a discharge at all. Rather, he certainly saw a discharge, but it is uncertain whether the discharge was due to, i.e., defined as, an emission of semen, and it is uncertain whether the discharge was due to the sighting of ziva. In this case, once he has been confirmed as being ritually impure as a zav, his uncertain case is also impure.
שכבת זרעו טמאה: למאי אילימא למגע מי גרע משכבת זרע דטהור אלא זרעו של זב מטמא במשא
§ The mishna taught that his semen is impure. The Gemara asks: With regard to what halakha is the mishna stating that the semen of a zav is impure? If we say that this is referring to the impurity of contact, i.e., this semen renders one who touches it impure, there is no need to teach this halakha. Is it any worse than the semen of a pure man, which also imparts impurity through contact? Rather, the mishna is teaching that the semen of a zav renders people impure even by carrying, like the impurity of ziva.
מאן שמעת להא דאמר שכבת זרע של זב מטמא במשא אילימא האי תנא דתניא רבי אליעזר אומר שכבת זרעו של זב אינו מטמא במשא ורבי יהושע אומר מטמא במשא לפי שאי אפשר לה בלא ציחצוחי זיבה אפילו רבי יהושע לא אמר אלא משום ציחצוחי זיבה אבל בעיניה לא אמר
The Gemara asks: Who did you hear that said that the semen of a zav renders one impure by carrying? If we say it is this tanna, as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: The semen of a zav does not render one impure by carrying, and Rabbi Yehoshua says: It does render one impure by carrying, because it is impossible for his semen to be without droplets of ziva; yet this source is no proof, as even Rabbi Yehoshua said that this semen imparts impurity by carrying only due to the droplets of ziva it contains. However, he did not say that semen in its unadulterated form renders people impure.
אלא אמר רב אדא בר אהבה לומר שאין תולין בה
Rather, Rav Adda bar Ahava said: The mishna does not mean that the semen of a zav itself renders one impure by carrying. Rather, it comes to say that one does not attribute the ziva to it. Even if the man experienced a discharge within twenty-four hours of his ejaculation of semen, one does not say his discharge was triggered by a general weakening as a result of his seminal emission. Once the man has experienced two discharges of a zav he is an impure zav, and this third discharge is also considered ziva.
סבר רב פפא קמיה דרבא למימר איידי חולשא הוא דחזי אמר ליה רבא והתנן גר שנתגייר מטמא מיד בזיבה אמר ליה אין לך חולי גדול מזה
When he was before Rava, Rav Pappa thought to say the following explanation for this halakha: Since he sees his discharges out of the weakness brought about from his previous ziva, it can be assumed that any later discharge, even one that follows a seminal emission, is ziva. Rava said to him: But didn’t we learn in a mishna (Zavim 2:3): A convert who has just converted can immediately become impure as a zav. Even if he had a seminal emission as a gentile, subsequently converted, and then experienced the discharge of a zav, one does not associate the discharge of a zav with the earlier emission of semen. Rather, it is treated as the first discharge of a zav. In this case there is no prior weakness of a zav to speak of, and nevertheless the convert is impure as a zav. Rav Pappa said to Rava: There is no greater illness than this. The very acceptance of mitzvot can be considered an illness, as the burden of mitzvot is a weighty matter. For this reason, one does not ascribe a discharge of a zav to the earlier emission of semen.
אלא תנאי היא דתניא שכבת זרע של זב מטמא במשא כל מעת לעת ורבי יוסי אומר יומו
The Gemara comments: Rather, the possibility rejected earlier, that the mishna means that semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying, is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: The semen of a zav renders one impure by carrying like the regular discharge of a zav for a twenty-four hour period. In other words, if a zav experienced a seminal emission within twenty-four hours of a ziva, the seminal emission does not impart impurity only through contact in the manner of the semen of a pure individual, but by carrying as well. And Rabbi Yosei says that it imparts impurity by carrying only on its day, i.e., if the seminal emission was before the evening of the day of the ziva. As opposed to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua cited earlier, these tanna’im both maintain that the semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying like ziva does.
במאי קמיפלגי בדשמואל דשמואל רמי כתיב כי יהיה בך איש אשר לא יהיה טהור מקרה לילה וכתיב לפנות ערב ירחץ במים
The Gemara asks: With regard to what do the first tanna and Rabbi Yosei disagree? What is the basis of their dispute? The Gemara answers: They disagree with regard to the following issue discussed by Shmuel, as Shmuel raises a contradiction: It is written: “If there be among you any man who is not pure, by reason of that which chances him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:11). This verse is applied to a zav who experienced a seminal emission. And it is written: “When evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down, he may come within the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:12).
מאן דאמר מעת לעת דייק מלפנות ערב ואידך דייק מקרה לילה
The Gemara explains the dispute. The one who says that the semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying for a twenty-four hour period after experiencing a ziva infers from the phrase “when evening comes on” that the period can involve two evenings, as “comes on” indicates another evening. If so, the semen imparts impurity by carrying for a full twenty-four hour period. And the other Sage, Rabbi Yosei, infers from the expression “by reason of that which chances him by night” that the seminal emission imparts impurity by carrying only until that night, i.e., until the end of the day on which the man experienced the ziva.
ומאן דאמר מלפנות ערב הכתיב מקרה לילה אמר לך אורחא דקרי למתיא בליליא:
The Gemara asks: But according to the one who says that this halakha is derived from “when evening comes on,” isn’t it written: “By reason of that which chances him by night”? The Gemara answers: He could have said to you that this verse affords no proof, as it is referring to the usual case and it is the manner of a seminal emission to occur at night. Consequently, one cannot derive a halakha from this expression.
מתני׳ נזיר היה שמואל כדברי רבי נהוראי שנאמר ומורה לא יעלה על ראשו נאמר בשמשון ומורה ונאמר בשמואל ומורה מה מורה האמורה בשמשון נזיר אף מורה האמורה בשמואל נזיר
MISHNA: The tractate concludes with an aggadic statement about nazirites. Samuel the prophet was a nazirite, in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Nehorai, as it was stated that when Hannah, his mother, prayed for a son, she vowed: “And no mora shall come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:11). How is it derived that mora is an expression of naziriteship? It is stated with regard to Samson: “And no razor [mora] shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a nazirite to God” (Judges 13:5), and it is stated: “And no mora,” with regard to Samuel. Just as the term “mora” that is stated with regard to Samson means that he was a nazirite, so too the term “mora” that is stated with regard to Samuel indicates that he was a nazirite.
אמר רבי יוסי והלא אין מורה אלא של בשר ודם אמר ליה רבי נהוראי והלא כבר נאמר ויאמר שמואל איך אלך ושמע שאול והרגני שכבר היה עליו מורא של בשר ודם:
Rabbi Yosei said: But doesn’t the word “mora” mean nothing other than the fear of flesh and blood? The word should be read as though it were written with an alef, and not a heh, so that it means fear. Rabbi Nehorai said to him: But isn’t it already stated: “And Samuel said: How can I go; if Saul hears it he will kill me” (I Samuel 16:2). This verse indicates that there was fear of flesh and blood upon Samuel. Consequently, the term mora must be understood in accordance with its plain meaning of a razor. If so, Samuel was indeed a nazirite.
גמ׳ אמר ליה רב לחייא בריה
GEMARA: Rav said to his son Ḥiyya:
חטוף ובריך וכן אמר ליה רב הונא לרבה בריה חטוף ובריך
Seize the opportunity and quickly recite a blessing over the cup of blessing for the Grace after Meals. And similarly, Rav Huna said to his son, Rabba: Seize the opportunity and recite a blessing.
למימרא דמברך עדיף והתניא רבי יוסי אומר גדול העונה אמן יותר מן המברך ואמר לו רבי נהוראי השמים כך הוא תדע שהרי גוליירים מתגרין במלחמה וגבורים נוצחין
The Gemara asks: Is this to say that one who recites a blessing is preferable to one who answers amen? But isn’t it taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: The one who answers amen is greater than the one who recites the blessing? And Rabbi Nehorai said to him: By Heavens, it is so. Know that this is true, as the military assistants [gulyarim] descend to the battlefield and initiate the war and the mighty follow them and prevail. The amen that follows a blessing is compared to the mighty who join the war after the assistants, illustrating that answering amen is more significant than reciting the initial blessing.
תנאי היא דתניא אחד המברך ואחד העונה אמן במשמע אלא שממהרין למברך תחילה
The Gemara responds: This is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: Both the one who recites a blessing and the one who answers amen are included among those who “stand up and bless” (Nehemiah 9:5), but one hurries to first reward the one who recites the blessing. This baraita apparently holds that reciting the blessing is greater than answering amen.
אמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם שנאמר וכל בניך למודי ה׳ ורב שלום בניך:
Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is stated: “And all your children [banayikh] shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). The Sages interpreted this verse homiletically: Do not read it as: “Your children [banayikh],” but as: Your builders [bonayikh]. Torah scholars are those who build peace for their generation.
הדרן עלך הגוים אין להם נזירות וסליקא לה מסכת נזיר
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This month is sponsored by Esther Kremer in loving memory of her father, Manny Gross z'l, on his 1st yahrzeit
-
Masechet Nazir is sponsored by the family of Rabbi Howard Alpert, HaRav Tzvi Lipa ben Hillel, in honor of his first yahrzeit.
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What’s Hair Got to do With it? Understanding Nazir in Context
Is it Really the Thought that Counts?
Nazir 66 – Siyum Masechet Nazir
The William Davidson Talmud | Powered by Sefaria
אמר רבא לא תימא ספק חזא ספק לא חזא אלא ודאי חזא ספק מחמת שכבת זרע ספק מחמת ראייה כיון שנזקק לטומאה ספיקו טמא:
Rava said: Do not say that it is uncertain whether he saw a discharge and uncertain whether he did not see one. The uncertainty is not with regard to whether he experienced a discharge at all. Rather, he certainly saw a discharge, but it is uncertain whether the discharge was due to, i.e., defined as, an emission of semen, and it is uncertain whether the discharge was due to the sighting of ziva. In this case, once he has been confirmed as being ritually impure as a zav, his uncertain case is also impure.
שכבת זרעו טמאה: למאי אילימא למגע מי גרע משכבת זרע דטהור אלא זרעו של זב מטמא במשא
§ The mishna taught that his semen is impure. The Gemara asks: With regard to what halakha is the mishna stating that the semen of a zav is impure? If we say that this is referring to the impurity of contact, i.e., this semen renders one who touches it impure, there is no need to teach this halakha. Is it any worse than the semen of a pure man, which also imparts impurity through contact? Rather, the mishna is teaching that the semen of a zav renders people impure even by carrying, like the impurity of ziva.
מאן שמעת להא דאמר שכבת זרע של זב מטמא במשא אילימא האי תנא דתניא רבי אליעזר אומר שכבת זרעו של זב אינו מטמא במשא ורבי יהושע אומר מטמא במשא לפי שאי אפשר לה בלא ציחצוחי זיבה אפילו רבי יהושע לא אמר אלא משום ציחצוחי זיבה אבל בעיניה לא אמר
The Gemara asks: Who did you hear that said that the semen of a zav renders one impure by carrying? If we say it is this tanna, as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: The semen of a zav does not render one impure by carrying, and Rabbi Yehoshua says: It does render one impure by carrying, because it is impossible for his semen to be without droplets of ziva; yet this source is no proof, as even Rabbi Yehoshua said that this semen imparts impurity by carrying only due to the droplets of ziva it contains. However, he did not say that semen in its unadulterated form renders people impure.
אלא אמר רב אדא בר אהבה לומר שאין תולין בה
Rather, Rav Adda bar Ahava said: The mishna does not mean that the semen of a zav itself renders one impure by carrying. Rather, it comes to say that one does not attribute the ziva to it. Even if the man experienced a discharge within twenty-four hours of his ejaculation of semen, one does not say his discharge was triggered by a general weakening as a result of his seminal emission. Once the man has experienced two discharges of a zav he is an impure zav, and this third discharge is also considered ziva.
סבר רב פפא קמיה דרבא למימר איידי חולשא הוא דחזי אמר ליה רבא והתנן גר שנתגייר מטמא מיד בזיבה אמר ליה אין לך חולי גדול מזה
When he was before Rava, Rav Pappa thought to say the following explanation for this halakha: Since he sees his discharges out of the weakness brought about from his previous ziva, it can be assumed that any later discharge, even one that follows a seminal emission, is ziva. Rava said to him: But didn’t we learn in a mishna (Zavim 2:3): A convert who has just converted can immediately become impure as a zav. Even if he had a seminal emission as a gentile, subsequently converted, and then experienced the discharge of a zav, one does not associate the discharge of a zav with the earlier emission of semen. Rather, it is treated as the first discharge of a zav. In this case there is no prior weakness of a zav to speak of, and nevertheless the convert is impure as a zav. Rav Pappa said to Rava: There is no greater illness than this. The very acceptance of mitzvot can be considered an illness, as the burden of mitzvot is a weighty matter. For this reason, one does not ascribe a discharge of a zav to the earlier emission of semen.
אלא תנאי היא דתניא שכבת זרע של זב מטמא במשא כל מעת לעת ורבי יוסי אומר יומו
The Gemara comments: Rather, the possibility rejected earlier, that the mishna means that semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying, is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: The semen of a zav renders one impure by carrying like the regular discharge of a zav for a twenty-four hour period. In other words, if a zav experienced a seminal emission within twenty-four hours of a ziva, the seminal emission does not impart impurity only through contact in the manner of the semen of a pure individual, but by carrying as well. And Rabbi Yosei says that it imparts impurity by carrying only on its day, i.e., if the seminal emission was before the evening of the day of the ziva. As opposed to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua cited earlier, these tanna’im both maintain that the semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying like ziva does.
במאי קמיפלגי בדשמואל דשמואל רמי כתיב כי יהיה בך איש אשר לא יהיה טהור מקרה לילה וכתיב לפנות ערב ירחץ במים
The Gemara asks: With regard to what do the first tanna and Rabbi Yosei disagree? What is the basis of their dispute? The Gemara answers: They disagree with regard to the following issue discussed by Shmuel, as Shmuel raises a contradiction: It is written: “If there be among you any man who is not pure, by reason of that which chances him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:11). This verse is applied to a zav who experienced a seminal emission. And it is written: “When evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down, he may come within the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:12).
מאן דאמר מעת לעת דייק מלפנות ערב ואידך דייק מקרה לילה
The Gemara explains the dispute. The one who says that the semen of a zav imparts impurity by carrying for a twenty-four hour period after experiencing a ziva infers from the phrase “when evening comes on” that the period can involve two evenings, as “comes on” indicates another evening. If so, the semen imparts impurity by carrying for a full twenty-four hour period. And the other Sage, Rabbi Yosei, infers from the expression “by reason of that which chances him by night” that the seminal emission imparts impurity by carrying only until that night, i.e., until the end of the day on which the man experienced the ziva.
ומאן דאמר מלפנות ערב הכתיב מקרה לילה אמר לך אורחא דקרי למתיא בליליא:
The Gemara asks: But according to the one who says that this halakha is derived from “when evening comes on,” isn’t it written: “By reason of that which chances him by night”? The Gemara answers: He could have said to you that this verse affords no proof, as it is referring to the usual case and it is the manner of a seminal emission to occur at night. Consequently, one cannot derive a halakha from this expression.
מתני׳ נזיר היה שמואל כדברי רבי נהוראי שנאמר ומורה לא יעלה על ראשו נאמר בשמשון ומורה ונאמר בשמואל ומורה מה מורה האמורה בשמשון נזיר אף מורה האמורה בשמואל נזיר
MISHNA: The tractate concludes with an aggadic statement about nazirites. Samuel the prophet was a nazirite, in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Nehorai, as it was stated that when Hannah, his mother, prayed for a son, she vowed: “And no mora shall come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:11). How is it derived that mora is an expression of naziriteship? It is stated with regard to Samson: “And no razor [mora] shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a nazirite to God” (Judges 13:5), and it is stated: “And no mora,” with regard to Samuel. Just as the term “mora” that is stated with regard to Samson means that he was a nazirite, so too the term “mora” that is stated with regard to Samuel indicates that he was a nazirite.
אמר רבי יוסי והלא אין מורה אלא של בשר ודם אמר ליה רבי נהוראי והלא כבר נאמר ויאמר שמואל איך אלך ושמע שאול והרגני שכבר היה עליו מורא של בשר ודם:
Rabbi Yosei said: But doesn’t the word “mora” mean nothing other than the fear of flesh and blood? The word should be read as though it were written with an alef, and not a heh, so that it means fear. Rabbi Nehorai said to him: But isn’t it already stated: “And Samuel said: How can I go; if Saul hears it he will kill me” (I Samuel 16:2). This verse indicates that there was fear of flesh and blood upon Samuel. Consequently, the term mora must be understood in accordance with its plain meaning of a razor. If so, Samuel was indeed a nazirite.
גמ׳ אמר ליה רב לחייא בריה
GEMARA: Rav said to his son Ḥiyya:
חטוף ובריך וכן אמר ליה רב הונא לרבה בריה חטוף ובריך
Seize the opportunity and quickly recite a blessing over the cup of blessing for the Grace after Meals. And similarly, Rav Huna said to his son, Rabba: Seize the opportunity and recite a blessing.
למימרא דמברך עדיף והתניא רבי יוסי אומר גדול העונה אמן יותר מן המברך ואמר לו רבי נהוראי השמים כך הוא תדע שהרי גוליירים מתגרין במלחמה וגבורים נוצחין
The Gemara asks: Is this to say that one who recites a blessing is preferable to one who answers amen? But isn’t it taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei says: The one who answers amen is greater than the one who recites the blessing? And Rabbi Nehorai said to him: By Heavens, it is so. Know that this is true, as the military assistants [gulyarim] descend to the battlefield and initiate the war and the mighty follow them and prevail. The amen that follows a blessing is compared to the mighty who join the war after the assistants, illustrating that answering amen is more significant than reciting the initial blessing.
תנאי היא דתניא אחד המברך ואחד העונה אמן במשמע אלא שממהרין למברך תחילה
The Gemara responds: This is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: Both the one who recites a blessing and the one who answers amen are included among those who “stand up and bless” (Nehemiah 9:5), but one hurries to first reward the one who recites the blessing. This baraita apparently holds that reciting the blessing is greater than answering amen.
אמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם שנאמר וכל בניך למודי ה׳ ורב שלום בניך:
Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is stated: “And all your children [banayikh] shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). The Sages interpreted this verse homiletically: Do not read it as: “Your children [banayikh],” but as: Your builders [bonayikh]. Torah scholars are those who build peace for their generation.
הדרן עלך הגוים אין להם נזירות וסליקא לה מסכת נזיר
