With today's daf TB Nazir 57 we conclude the seventh chapter and begin the eighth chapter of our massekhet. As with most rules there are exceptions. Today's daf highlights the limitations of two rules.
At the bottom of daf TB Nazir 56b, Rabbi Akiva uses a kal vekomer to create a new halakha. “Rabbi Akiva said: I discussed this matter before Rabbi Eliezer and suggested the following a fortiori inference: If, with regard to a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk, which does not render a person impure in a tent, a nazirite must nevertheless shave for touching it or carrying it, then in the case of a quarter-log of blood, which is more stringent in that it renders a person impure in a tent, is it not logical that a nazirite should shave for touching it or carrying it? (One needs a half log of blood to be sufficient to render a nazir tamei by touching-g or carrying-gg)” (Sefaria,org translation)Although this is a strong inference, Rabbi Eliezer, one of his teachers, rejects it. One can apply a kal vekhomer to verses written in the Torah; however, one may not apply it to an oral law which originates from Moses upon Mount Sinai. “And when I came and presented these matters before Rabbi Yehoshua, he said to me: You spoke well, i.e., your logic is flawless, but they indeed said that this is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai, which cannot be refuted by means of an a fortiori inference.” Today's daf determines that the law concerning the bone chip is the halahka passed down from Moses upon Mount Sinai.
The next massekhet we shall study is TB Sotah. We shall learn that a husband warns his wife not to seclude herself with a specific man. He is afraid she is having an affair with that man. She disregards her jealous husband and witnesses see that she secluded herself with that person. There is a doubt in her status. Did she commit adultery or not? She is now a sotah whether or not she had intimate relations with that man. Until she goes through the rite of the sotah which will prove her innocence or guilt, the Torah calls her tamei. This doubtful classification is a stringency. Because the Torah uses the word tamei to describe this woman, they learn that a doubtful tamei nazir shares the same laws. Below is the case of the doubtful tamei nazir discussed in the Mishnah.
“MISHNA: With regard to two nazirites, where one other person said to them: I saw one of you become impure, but I do not know which one of you it was, they must each complete their naziriteship terms, shave their hair, and both together bring an offering of ritual impurity and an offering of purity, due to the uncertainty. And one of them says to the other: If I am the impure one, the offering of impurity is mine and the offering of purity is yours; and if I am the pure one, the offering of purity is mine and the offering of impurity is yours.
“And because of the uncertainty they each count a further thirty days of naziriteship and both together bring an offering of purity. And one of them says: If I am the previously impure one, that offering of impurity sacrificed earlier was mine, and the offering of purity was yours; and this offering sacrificed now is my offering of purity. And if I am the previously pure one, the offering of purity brought earlier was mine, and the offering of impurity was yours; and this current offering is your offering of purity.” Sefaria.org translation)
Tosefot ד"ה שְׁנֵי נְזִירִים שֶׁאָמַר לָהֶן asks an excellent question. In the doubtful case of the sotah, the law deals stringently with her and classifies her as tamei. In the case of the two nazirs, why doesn't the law deals stringently with them as well? Since one doesn't know which one is tamei, why not declare both of them tamei?
Here is the exception to this rule. The two cases are not similar. There's a real possibility that the woman is an adulterous. On the other hand, for one of the nazirs, there's no possibility that he is tamei. There is a general rule that one cannot draw conclusions from something that is possible and apply it to something that is impossible. Consequently the Mishnah outlines the sequence where only three sets of sacrifices (two for the completion of the nezirut and one for the nazir who really was tamei) are offered up instead of four.
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