The subtle differences between the three prohibitions TB Nazir 44

The Mishnah on today’s daf TB Nazir 44 organizes the subtle differences between the three prohibitions a nazir observes.

“Three types of actions are prohibited for a nazirite: Contracting ritual impurity imparted by a corpse, and shaving his hair, and eating or drinking any substances that emerge from the vine. There is a greater stricture with regard to the prohibitions of impurity and shaving than that of substances that emerge from the vine, as impurity and shaving negate his naziriteship, i.e., he must add thirty days to his term of naziriteship or start it afresh. But if he eats or drinks that which emerges from the vine, this does not negate his naziriteship.

“Conversely, there is a greater stricture with regard to substances that emerge from the vine than with regard to impurity and shaving, as in the case of products that emerge from the vine nothing is exempted from its general prohibition in certain circumstances, i.e., there are no exceptions. But with regard to impurity and shaving certain cases are exempted from their general prohibition. For example, there are the cases of obligatory shaving, e.g., a leper who was purified during his naziriteship, and of a corpse with no one to bury it [met mitzva]. A nazirite may tend to the burial of a met mitzva, despite the fact that he will thereby contract ritual impurity from a corpse.

 “The mishna adds: And there is a greater stricture with regard to impurity than with regard to shaving, as a nazirite’s impurity negates all his days of naziriteship and begins his term afresh, and he is liable to bring an offering for it, before starting his new term of naziriteship. But shaving negates only thirty days at most, and he is not liable to bring an offering for it.” (Sefari.org translation)

I have previously discussed the disagreement between Rambam and Tosefot concerning shaving. Rambam poskins that the shaving suspends the count for 30 days no matter what. For example, if the person vowed to be a nazir for 100 days and shaved his head on day 60, he would have to wait 30 days before he could pick up his count for day 61. Tosefot holds that as long as the person has 30 days’ worth of hair growth, his count isn’t suspended. In the above case since the nazir still has 40 more days left in his vow, he meets the minimum requirement of 30 days’ worth of hair. If this person only vowed to be a nazir for 30 days and shaved on day 20, he would have to add another 30 days to fulfill the minimum requirement of fulfilling his vow.

The rest of amud aleph, side one, provides the derashot from which the rabbis learned the leniencies and the stringencies in each prohibited act.