פירוש על נזיר 5:6

הרתיע לאחוריו – the person who had come towards them was startled and moved backward and it was not known who it was.

Introduction This mishnah continues to discuss the scenario in yesterday’s mishnah, that of an unidentified man approaching and a group of people “gambling” nazirite vows over his identity. This mishnah discusses what is to occur if the person approaching turns away without being identified. The whole mishnah goes according to Beth Hillel, for according to Beth Shammai even had they been proven to be mistaken, they are still nazirites.

אינו נזיר – not a single one of them is a Nazirite, for no one protested for himself regarding a doubt, and his intention was at the time of the vow that if the matter did not come to clarity, that his words would not be worth anything.

If [the person approaching] turned around suddenly [without being identified], he is not a nazirite. Rabbi Shimon says: he should say, “If it was as I said, behold I am a nazirite by obligation; and if not, behold I am a voluntary nazirite.” According to the first opinion, in such a case no one is a nazirite. The reason is that in cases of a doubtful nazirite vow, the ruling is lenient. When a person takes a nazirite vow with a stipulation, his intention is to be a nazirite only if his stipulation proves true. If it is not proven to be true, he does not intend to be a nazirite. Rabbi Shimon holds that in cases of a doubtful nazirite vow, the ruling must be more stringent and since his stipulation may actually have been true he must actually observe a naziriteship. However, he must again vow a naziriteship and say that if what he had said before really was true (i.e. it was or was not the person he thought it was), then he is a nazirite due to his obligation to observe that vow. If, however, it was not true, then he now makes a new nazirite vow, one not connected to the previous one. The reason why he cannot just observe a naziriteship is that one cannot bring nazirite sacrifices in cases of doubtful naziriteship. Therefore, he creates a situation in which no matter the identity of the original person, he has made a certain nazirite vow.

ר' שמעון אומר כו' – Rabbi Shimon, according to his reasoning, who said that a doubtful case of Naziriteship is [dealt with] stringently and what is their remedy, for it is impossible o bring a sacrifice out of doubt, but rather, each person needs to make a condition and state that if it is not according to his statement, he should be a Nazirite out of free will, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.