The Gemara asks why does the Mishnah say that if he "goes out and *comes
back in*" then the days count towards his Nezirus? What difference does it
make if he comes back into the cemetery? The Gemara answers that the Mishnah
means that *even* if he went back into the cemetery, the days that he was
outside of the cemetery (and Tahor) still count for his Nezirus.
There are two basic questions on this Sugya. First, how can the Mishnah say
that the days that the person spends in the cemetery do not count towards
his Nezirus, and that if he goes out, becomes Tahor, and comes back in, the
other days do count towards his Nezirus? The cemetery is a place of Tum'ah
which is Soser the Nezirus, and thus any days counted before that Tum'ah
should *not* count! The days that he spends in the cemetery, and even the
days before he goes back into the cemetery, certainly cannot count towards
his Nezirus! (TOSFOS 16b, DH v'Afilu Hayah)
Second, what is the Chidush of the Mishnah when it says that even if he goes
back into the cemetery the same day that he becomes Tahor, the days still
count for his Nezirus and he brings a Korban Tum'ah? Before being told the
Halachah of Rebbi Eliezer (which is derived from a special verse), why would
we have thought that if he goes back into the cemetery that day that it
should be as though he never went out of the cemetery and therefore he
should only bring one Korban Tum'ah?
(a) TOSFOS (16b) explains that when the Mishnah says that the days are "Oleh
Lo Min ha'Minyan" it does not mean that the days before he returns to the
cemetery are counted towards his Nezirus. Rather, it means that the day is
counted so that when he goes back into the cemetery it does not have the
same Halachah as when he made his Nezirus while in the cemetery (in which
case he does not bring a Korban Tum'ah). The day is "Oleh Lo" *as if* he
became Tamei after starting the Nezirus, and therefore he brings a Korban
Tum'ah. It is only "Oleh Lo" insofar as he must bring a Korban Tum'ah.
Regarding the Chidush of this case of the Mishnah (going back into the
cemetery after coming out and becoming Tahor), Tosfos explains that we might
have thought that when the Nazir goes back into the cemetery on the same day
that he becomes Tahor, since he was Tamei at the beginning of the day and he
was Tamei at the end of the day, we should ignore the middle "Miktzas
ha'Yom" and say that it is as if he never observed any part of a Nezirus of
Taharah. Therefore, the Mishnah teaches that it is considered as though he
became Tamei *after* he observed a period of Taharah and he does bring a
Korban Tum'ah for the second Tum'ah.
(b) The RAMBAM (Perush ha'Mishnayos) has an entirely different explanation
of our Mishnah. The Rambam explains the Mishnah in its literal sense: when
it says that the days are "Olin Lo," it means that if a person made himself
a Nazir while in a cemetery and then he left and then went back in, the days
that he spends in the cemetery after his re-entry count as days of his
Nezirus.
How can those days count? If he is Tamei (by going back into the cemetery)
and the Tum'ah is Soser the Nezirus, then certainly those days cannot count
towards his Nezirus!
The opinion of the Rambam becomes clear when it is compared to what the
Rambam writes in the Mishnah Torah (Hilchos Nezirus 6:10) as the LECHEM
MISHNAH explains there. The Rambam (Hilchos Nezirus, Perek 7) cites the
Mishnayos in Maseches Nazir (from 49a onward) which state that a Nazir does
not shave nor Soser his Nezirus for every type of Tum'ah, but only for the
Tum'ah of a Mes. The Rambam explains that this refers only to Tum'ah that
comes from the Mes itself, and not for Tum'ah that comes from the "Nefesh"
of a Mes. The Rambam gives a list of the types of Tum'ah of a Mes for which
a Nazir must shave and bring a Korban Tum'ah, and a list of the types of
Tum'ah for which a Nazir does not shave and does not bring a Korban Tum'ah.
Among the latter types of Tum'ah, for which a Nazir does not shave, are the
Tum'os of Golel and of Dofek, which are the covers (and sides) of coffins.
The Rambam rules that even though a Nazir does not have to shave when he
becomes Tamei with such a type of Tum'ah, he is nevertheless *prohibited* to
make himself Tamei to such a Tum'ah. The Lav is still there in full force,
even though the Tum'ah is not Soser his Nezirus. The Rambam adds that the
Tum'os for which a Nazir does not shave nevertheless do *not* count towards
his days of Nezirus. They are like neutral days; they do not count towards
his Nezirus, but neither are they Soser his Nezirus.
The Rambam (Hilchos Nezirus 6:9-10) makes it clear that a cemetery is *not*
a Tum'ah for which a Nazir must shave. Apparently, he is learning that a
cemetery is simply a Tum'ah of Golel and Dofek, since a person touches the
cover of the graves there. (This is based on the Gemara in Berachos 20b that
says that most coffins have a Tefach of space between the Mes and the cover,
and therefore the Tum'ah cannot spread and make Tum'as Ohel. The only way
for a person to become Tamei is by actually touching the cover of the
coffin, i.e. the Golel or Dofek.) Hence, the Rambam holds that a cemetery is
a Tum'ah for which a Nazir does not shave. Although it is prohibited for a
Nazir to go there, it is not Soser his Nezirus.
In the Perush ha'Mishnayos, the Rambam seems to be taking a different
approach and saying that any Tum'ah for which a Nazir does not shave not
only is not Soser the Nezirus but it even counts towards the days of his
Nezirus. Therefore, if a Nazir is in a cemetery, he has transgressed a Lav,
but the days he spends there *do* count towards his Nezirus. When he leaves
he must be Metaher himself and continue counting his Nezirus and he does not
bring a Korban Tum'ah (since the Tum'ah was not Soser his Nezirus), and at
the end of 30 days he brings the normal Korban for Nezirus Taharah.
Accordingly, the Mishnah means that if a Nazir goes back into a cemetery
after he made himself a Nazir in the cemetery, exited, and became Tahor, the
second period he spends in the cemetery does count towards his Nezirus. His
Nezirus has already started, and therefore the days count as days of his
Nezirus even though he is Tamei, since they are not Soser the Nezirus and it
is not a Tum'ah for which a Nazir must shave.
When the Mishnah says that even when he goes back into the cemetery the same
day that he left he still counts the second period towards his Nezirus, it
means as follows: When he accepts upon himself Nezirus while in the
cemetery, we totally ignore the acceptance of Nezirus for now and say that
it does not take effect at all. Hence, the days in the cemetery do not
count. Even though it is not a Tum'ah for which a Nazir shaves, we say that
he does not really want to be a Nazir until he leaves the cemetery. The
moment he leaves the cemetery, we view it as if he is making his vow of
Nezirus at that moment. The Chidush is that even if he goes back into the
cemetery on that day, we do not say that he did not mean for the Nezirus to
start yet because he still planned on going back into the cemetery that day
(and therefore the Nezirus should only start after the second Tum'ah).
Rather, we say that the Nezirus starts the moment he leaves the cemetery,
since that moment is the first moment at which the Nezirus is fit to take
effect, and thus it takes effect. That is the beginning of the Nezirus, and
afterwards when he goes back into the cemetery, those days are days *during*
his Nezirus. This is the view of the Rambam in Perush ha'Mishnayos.
(c) The RAMBAM in the Mishnah Torah has a slightly different approach from
what he says in the Perush ha'Mishnayos. The Rambam learns there (Hilchos
Nezirus 7:7) that days during which the Nazir is Tamei with a Tum'ah for
which he does not shave does *not* count for the days of his Nezirus.
Therefore, the Rambam needs to say a different explanation for our Mishnah:
what does it mean when it says that when the Nazir goes back into the
cemetery, "Olin Lo," the days count for him? The Rambam explains that "Olin
Lo" does not refer to the days that the Nazir spends inside the cemetery the
second time. Rather, it means that if he goes back into the cemetery, the
day *in between* the first Tum'ah and the second Tum'ah counts for him. This
is because of the Rambam's view that a Tum'ah for which a Nazir does not
shave is not Soser the Nezirus, and a cemetery is not a Tum'ah for which a
Nazir shaves, and therefore it is not Soser the Nezirus. Hence, the day in
between counts towards his Nezirus (and he brings a Korban Tum'ah if he
later touches a Tum'ah that is Soser his Nezirus).
According to the Rambam here in the Mishnah Torah, the vow of the Nazir that
was made in the cemetery *does* take effect immediately. However, he cannot
start counting his days of Nezirus while in the cemetery, because days of
Tum'ah do not count towards the Nezirus. Nonetheless, since his Nezirus
takes effect immediately, he is not allowed to drink wine and shave while in
the cemetery. (This point, about which the Rambam changed his mind from the
Perush ha'Mishnayos to the Mishnah Torah -- of whether the Nezirus takes
effect while he is in the cemetery or only after he leaves -- seems to
depend upon the ways of explaining the Machlokes between Rebbi Yochanan and
Reish Lakish concerning a person who accepted Nezirus while in a cemetery,
that we addressed in Insights to 15a.)
The Rambam, however, adds an interesting point. He says that the case in the
Mishnah is not discussing when the Nazir went back into the cemetery on the
same day that he became Tahor, but rather when he went back in *on the next
day*. Why does he not explain like the simple understanding of the Mishnah,
that the Nazir went back in on the same day? The answer is that according to
the Rambam in the Mishnah Torah, the term "Olin Lo" (when he goes back in,
"the days count for his Nezirus") refers to the day that he counted in
between the first Tum'ah and the second Tum'ah. If he went back in on the
same day, and he was Tamei at the beginning of the day and Tamei at the end
of the day and Tahor for only a few hours in the middle of the day, he
cannot count that day towards his Nezirus, because it is not a proper
"Miktzas ha'Yom." The principle of "Miktzas ha'Yom k'Kulo" applies only when
he was Tahor until the end of the day (see Insights to 18b). Therefore, the
Rambam must say that the Nazir went back into the cemetery on the
*following* day, and then he can count the previous day as the first day of
his Nezirus count since it is considered a full day.
According to the Rambam, the Chidush of this Mishnah is not that the first
days in the cemetery do not count for him, since that Halachah applies to
days of any Tum'ah -- they are not "Olin Lo." Likewise, the Chidush is not
that the day in between the first Tum'ah and the second Tum'ah counts for
his Nezirus, because why should it *not* count? The Chidush must be that
even though, in the Seifa, when he went back in he is Soser only one day,
nevertheless he brings a Korban Tum'ah, and the whole point of the Mishnah
is to exclude the opinion of Rebbi Eliezer who holds that he has to be Soser
*two* days in order to bring a Korban Tum'ah. (See Tosfos 19a, DH Lo
Nichnas, who asks why does the Gemara not say that this is the Chidush of
the Mishnah. According to the Rambam, this is indeed what the Gemara is
teaching.)
It is worth noting that the Rambam's approach that days in a cemetery are
not Soser (both in the Perush ha'Mishnayos and in the Mishnah Torah) will
answer a very strong question that REBBI AKIVA EIGER asks earlier (17b) and
leaves unanswered ("Tzarich Iyun Gadol"). The Gemara there attempts to learn
that the days that a Metzora is "closed up" ("Yemei Chaluto") should not be
"Olin Lo," and it attempts to learn it from a Nazir who became Tamei. The
Gemara says that we cannot learn that the days are not "Olin Lo" from a
Nazir who became Tamei, because not only are the days not "Olin Lo," but the
days are not Soser either. The Gemara says that if so, we should learn it
from the case of one who accepted Nezirus while in a cemetery, where the
days in the cemetery are not "Olin Lo." The Gemara continues and gives a
different answer. Rebbi Akiva Eiger asks that even when the person accepts
Nezirus while in the cemetery, the Tum'ah of a cemetery is fit to be Soser
his Nezirus! The only reason it is not Soser is because there is nothing to
be Soser; he did not yet count any days of Nezirus, but had he counted days
of Nezirus, then the Tum'ah of the cemetery would certainly be Soser them!
Why does the Gemara not say the same thing as it did with regard to a Nazir
who became Tamei -- that in the case of a person who accepts Nezirus in a
cemetery, the Tum'ah is also able to be Soser his Nezirus? According to the
Rambam the Gemara makes sense -- the Tum'ah of a cemetery is *not* Soser the
Nezirus, because it is a Tum'ah for which a Nazir does not shave, which is
not Soser Nezirus. Nevertheless, the days in the cemetery still do not count
for his Nezirus.