פירוש על נזיר 6:2

עד שיאכלו שני חרצנים וזגן – as it is written (Numbers 6:4): “he may not eat anything that is obtained from the grapevine, even seeds or skin,” and the least amount of חרצנים/exteriors is two, and they each have one זג/interior [of grapes], but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, but rather, one who eats from the exterior and/or the interior is not flogged until he eats from them [in total] an olive’s bulk.

Introduction Numbers 6:4 states: “Throughout his term as a nazirite, he may not eat anything that is obtained from the grapevine, even seeds (harzanim) or skin (zag).” Our mishnah discusses the meaning of this verse, and especially the meaning of the last two words.

רבי יוסי אומר שלא תטעה – Rabbi Yossi would give a sign that one shouldn’t err.

He is liable for wine on its own, for grapes on their own, for grape-skins ( on their own and for seeds ( on their own. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: there is no penalty unless he eats two grape-skins and one seed. The verse from Numbers above states clearly that a nazirite may not eat/drink anything which comes from grapevines. Our mishnah teaches that he need not eat/drink each part of the grape in order to become liable. Rather he is liable even if he just eats seeds, or just skins or just the grapes. Furthermore, if he eats all three, according to the Talmud he is liable for three transgressions and not merely one. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah notes that the word “harzanim” is plural, whereas “zag” is singular. Therefore the Torah hints that in order to be liable he must eat two harzanim, which he interprets as seeds since grapes have more than one seed, and one zag, since each grape obviously only has one skin. This accords with Rabbi Yose’s interpretation in section two below. Note that in the introduction I have translated according to Rabbi Judah, as does JPS.

זוג של בהמה – for the exterior is called a זוג/exterior.

What are harzanim and what are zagim? Harzanim: those are the outer part, and the zagim are the inner part, according to Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Yose says: that you may not err, [think of] the zug [bell] of an animal, the outer part is called the zug [hood] and the inner part the inbal [clapper]. There are two interpretations for the words “harzanim” and “zagim”. According to Rabbi Judah the former are the skins and the latter are the seeds. Rabbi Yose reverses this and uses a mnemonic device to remember which is which. With a cow’s bell, the “zug” is the outer part and the inner part is called the “inbal”. What is important here is that the “zug” is the outer part. According to Jacob Milgrom in his JPS commentary on Numbers, these two words are unique; hence any suggestions as to their meaning is conjectural.