The Nazir with the Shaved Head

Nazir (6:3) | Yisrael Bankier | 8 months ago

One of the prohibitions of a nazir is that he is not allowed to shave the hair on his head. The Mishnah (6:3) teaches that if he does so or other forcibly shaved his head, it is soter (negates) thirty days. We shall try to understand this Mishnah.

The Bartenura explains that the nazir's hair requires thirty days of growth in order to perform the mitzvah of shaving his head at the end of his term. Therefore, additional days are added to his nezirut only if required. It follows that if, for example, the nazir's head was shaved twenty days into a one-hundred day nezirut, then since there would be more than thirty days remaining, no additional days would be added to his nezirut. The Tosfot (39a, s.v. stam) explains that the mitzvah of shaving the nazir's head at the end of his term, involves shaving hair that has grown be'kedushat nazir for the length of stam nezirut -- the default thirty days. In other words, his head being shaved does not really soter his nezirut at all. It rather that the technical requirement of the mitzvah of shaving his head at the end needs to be meet.

The Rambam (Nezirut 6:2) explains this law using the example above. The Rambam however rules that the nazir would first need to wait thirty days for his hair to grow. During that time, he would observe all the laws of nezirut. Only after that would then continue to count the remaining eighty days. In other words, despite having more than thirty days left when his head was shaved, his nezirut would be one hundred and thirty days. Consequently, when the Mishnah says that shaving is soter thirty days, it is understood more literally.

The Chazon Ish (Nazir 140:6) notes that if a stam nazir's head was shaved on the tenth day, he would need to wait thirty days, after which he would be able to complete the remaining twenty days. In total he would observe being a nazir for sixty days. If that stam nazir however become tameh met on day ten, he would need to go through the seven day purification process, after which his head would also be shaved and bring the korbanot tumah. The nazir would then immediately restart his thirty-day term of nezirut. Even though his head was shaved, he does not need to wait thirty days for his hair to grow before completing his term. We also find that the total number of days until the neder is fulfilled would be less.

The Chazon Ish explains that since the requirement that the nazir's head is shaved when he becomes tameh is built into the laws of nezirut, it does not have the same effect as in our Mishnah and does not soter additional days.¹ The nazir would not be required to wait for his hair to grow for thirty days.

The Chazon Ish continues to explain that the kidush se'ar (his hair being consider kadosh) is a critical component of being a nazir. Why do we not normally require a nazir to first grow his hair for thirty days before beginning the count? The Chazon Ish explains that since the nazir from the outset is forbidden to cut his hair, and must continue to grow his hair, the hair on his head from the beginning is already kadosh. When he shaves his head in the middle of the term, he needs the thirty days in order to repair or regain the kidush se'ar.² Put differently, the Chazon Ish explains that the kidush se'ar is a critical component of a nazir. When his hair is shaved he loses the tzurat nazir (form of a nazir). For him to be able to continue counting he needs to regain that tzurah which requires the thirty days of growth.

¹ The Chazon Ish understands that this law that shaving is soter is a halacha le'moshe misinai. The Griz (Nazir 14b) however cites the Grach who explain that there are two laws associated with the nazir's hair*.* The first is the issur asseh prohibiting him for cutting his hair, while the second is the positive mitvah to grow his hair. He understands that the law in the Rambam requiring the hair to grow first for thirty days, is in order to fulfil this second law.

² Perhaps we can use this as another reason why a nazir whose head was shaved after becoming tameh need not first wait thirty days before restarting. The reason could simply be that because the nazir must restart from the beginning, he attains kidush se'ar immediately like any other nazir at the beginning of his nezirut.

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