Stam Neziruot

Nazir (1:3) | Yisrael Bankier | 8 months ago

The Mishnah (1:3) teaches that if a person makes a nazir oath without stipulating the duration -- stam nezirut -- then the length of the nezirut will be thirty days.

The Gemara (5a) discusses the source of this law. Rav Matna explains that when the Torah teaches the prohibition of nazir against cutting his hair, it writes "kodesh yi'heyeh". The term yi'heyeh -- he will be -- has the numerical value of thirty. Bar Pada however explains that the terms nazir and nizro are used in the parasha of nazir twenty-nine times. The Gemara asks that our Mishnah seems suggest that the stam nezirut is thirty days and not twenty-nine. Bar Pada explains that the thirtieth day is when the nazir brings his korbanot that end the prohibitions related to a nazir. That is why the Mishnah referred to stam nezirut as being thirty days, since it also included the day the korbanot are brought.

When commenting on the position of Rav Matna, the Rosh explains that really this law is a halacha le'moshe misinia. The connection to the term yi'heyeh is an asmachta -- a means of connecting a law to a pasuk -- but not that the pasuk is the source of the law. The reason is that gematria is not included as one of the thirteen techniques listed that the Chachamim used to derive laws from the Torah.

The Griz explains that Bar Pada also maintains this law is halacha le'moshe misinai. The debate however is only regarding the details of that halacha; whether it is twenty-nine or thirty days.

The Rambam also maintains this position. The Rambam (Nezirut 3:2) rules that even if one stipulated that he wants his nezirut to be less thirty days, he would be a nazir for thirty days. The Rambam explains that "this is halacha mi'pi kabala".

The Minchat Chinnuch (368:13) however explains that there are contexts where there can be nezirut for less than thirty days. The first case is where the nezirut cannot last thirty days. The example he brings is if someone declared that they want to become an nazir the day before they die. The Rambam (4:10) rules that that the person would not be able to drink wine or cut his hair from that day forth out of concern it might be his last day. Note that this is a case where from the outset it is a nezirut that will last only one day. If the halacha le'moshe mi'sinai is that nezirut cannot be less than thirty days, then the person should have nothing to worry about. The Minchat Chinnuch therefore explains that the halacha le'moshe mi'sinai is that if someone wishes to become a nazir for less than thirty days, and there is room to expand it to thirty days, then the nezirut would be for thirty days.

A practical implication of this understanding is in the follow case. A woman makes a neder to become a nazir, and subsequently violates all the prohibitions of a nazir. Whilst still in the middle of her term of nezirut the husband learns about her neder and is immediately meifer her neder. Recall the hafarah simply puts a stop to the neder. In other words, it is considered as if she was a nazir up until that point. After that point there are no prohibitions of a nazir and she does not need to bring the korbanot normally required at the end of the term of nezirut. Returning to the violations prior to the hafarah, the Minchat Chinnuch explains that she would be liable to lashes if she was forewarned. As explained above, the halacha le'moshe mi'sinai is not that there cannot be nezirut for less than thirty days. If that were the case, she would be exempt. Rather, there can indeed be nezirut for less than thirty days when it is not possible for it to expand beyond that point.

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