Nazir 3: All or Nothing?

Each of the circumstances in yesterday's Mishna is put to the test: which statements determine that someone is in fact a nazirite?  The rabbis turn to different verses.  Those verses help the rabbis understand the meanings of different words.  For example, they learn that 'curled hair' means 'hair that has been allowed to grow' by noting that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's maidservant used specific words with specific translations.

What is most interesting to me in today's daf - beyond a reference to the respect accorded to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's maidservant - is what we learn about societal practices through today's daf.  We learn that men's hair - especially that of priests - was generally kept short, for 'curly hair' meant the same thing as 'hair allowed to grow'.  We learn that women's body hair was sometimes treated with lime derived from chalk deposits.  Body hair was considered to be a flaw in women and they would even burn their skin in efforts to remove that hair.

Through examination of a number of verses, the rabbis determine the principle that one does not associate the object of one's vow with something that is juxtaposed to it in a verse.  

In discussing the notion of birds and the juxtapositioning of verses and vows, we learn in a note about the purification of cured lepers and leprous houses.  Two unblemished kosher birds, usually sparrows,  were collected.  One was killed over a vessel of spring water and the mixture of water and blood was sprinkled over the leper or on the house.  The live bird was dipped in the water and then freed, releasing it from consecration completely.

The rabbis discuss oaths and the use of one's right hand; the use of one's left hand.  They find verses that link 'right' with faith.  If a person uses the word yamin, right, while speaking of an obligation, s/he has made an oath to fulfil that obligation. The same may be true for the left hand.  

A new Mishna teaches us that when a person says, I am a Nazirite and I will not benefit from grape seeds, grape skins, shaving or impurity, s/he is a Nazirite.  However, s/he must commit to all laws of the Nazirite, not simply the one abstention mentioned.  The Gemara reminds us that Rabbi Shimon disagreed - shouldn't a person be obliged to only their specific vow?  The rabbis defend the Mishna.  All aspects are accepted when one declares oneself a Nazirite.   

At the very end of our vow, the rabbis begin a discussion about grape seeds, skins, and the consecration of wine for havdala and kiddush.