פירוש על עדיות 7:5

קלל של חטאת (this part of the Mishnah is also taught in Tractate Parah, Chapter 10, Mishnah 3) - an earthenware vessel that the ashes of the heifer are placed in it. The Aramaic translation of (Genesis 24:15): “…came out with her jar on her shoulder,” her jar on her shoulder.

Introduction The first section of mishnah five contains a testimony regarding the purity of a jar of red heifer ashes that had been placed on an impure creeping thing. The second section contains a testimony regarding a person who took two nazirite vows.

שנתנו על גבי השרץ – an the utensil that the ashes of the heifer is inside is not defiled. For the earthenware vessel is not defiled from the outside, nevertheless, the ashes are impure, because it is placed in an impure place. And the Torah stated (Numbers 19:9): “[A man who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow] and deposit them outside the camp in a pure place, [to be kept for water of lustration for the Israelite community].”

Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yakim, a man of Hadar, testified concerning a jar of ashes of a red heifer which was put over a creeping thing, that they were unclean. Whereas Rabbi Eliezer had pronounced them clean. In the case under discussion a person has a jar which contains the ashes of a red heifer, which are used in the purification process. The jar itself cannot receive impurity, for it is made out of stone which can never become impure. If the jar is placed over an impure creeping thing, the ashes inside the jar are impure, even though the jar itself remains pure. This is due to an interpretation of Numbers 19:9 which states, “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place.” Since these ashes were not put in a “clean place”, they become impure. This law is in contrast to that which Rabbi Eliezer stated, namely that since the jar remains pure, the ashes remain pure as well.

שר' אליעזר מטהר – for he holds that since the utensil and the ashes within it are pure, it is better to call it a pure place. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.

Rabbi Papias testified concerning one who had vowed two naziriteships, that if he cut his hair after the first one on the thirtieth day, he could cut his hair after the second one on the sixtieth day; and if he cut his hair on the fifty-ninth day he has also fulfilled his duty, for the thirtieth day counts towards the required number. The testimony of Rabbi Papias concerns the length of a naziriteship. One who takes an oath to be a nazirite without specifying the length of the vow, is a nazirite for thirty days. During this time it is forbidden for him to cut his hair. On the thirty-first day, when the naziriteship was over he would cut his hair. If he were to cut his hair on the thirtieth day, he has fulfilled his naziriteship, since the observance of the vow for part of the day counts as if he observed it for the full day. If he were to take two nazirite vows, he should really cut his hair on the thirty-first day, and then begin to count that same day the second nazirite vow and then cut his hair again on the sixty-first day. However, if he cut his hair on the thirtieth day, he should cut his hair a second time on the sixtieth day. Furthermore, if he cut his hair for the second time on the fifty-ninth day, he has fulfilled his obligation. This is because the thirtieth day when he cut his hair the first time, counts both as the last day of his first naziriteship and the first day of his second naziriteship. In this manner one who takes two nazirite vows can “get away” with completing his second vow after only 59 days.

על מי שנזר שתי נזירות (this part of the Mishnah is also taught in Tractate Nazir, Chapter 3, Mishnah 2) –mere/plain [Nazirite-ship]. And all plain Nazirite vows are thirty days.

Questions for Further Thought:
• Section one: What is the basis for the disagreement between Rabbi Eliezer and the testimony of Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yakim?

שאם גלה את הראשונה יום שלשים – for ab initio, it was not needed for him to shave other than the thirty-first [day], in order that that his Nazirite-ship would be thirty complete days. But if he shaved on the thirtieth day, his Nazirite-ship was counted for him, for we say that part of a day is like a full day.

ואם גלה יום ששים חסר אחד יצא – for the thirtieth day of the first Nazirite-ship counts both for here (i.e., the first) and for there (i.e., the second), and since the thirtieth day of the first is also counted from the second Nazirite-ship, it is found that thirty days of the second Nazirite-ship end on the sixtieth-day minus one (i.e., on the fifty-ninth day).