For the source text click/tap here: Nazir 33
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Steinsaltz tells us:
The Mishna (32b) tells of a group of people walking together who spy a figure walking towards them:
One person says: I will be a nazir if that is So-and-so approaching us.
The second one says: I will be a nazir if it is not So-and-so.
The third says: I will be a nazir if one of you is a nazir.
The fourth says: I will be a nazir if you are both nezirim.
The fifth says: I will be a nazir if all of you are nezirim.
Beit Shammai rules that all of these people are nezirim, based on his position which appears in the first Mishna in the perek (see 30b–31a) that even a mistaken nezirut takes effect. Beit Hillel says that only those whose conditions were not fulfilled become nezirim.
Beit Hillel’s statement is obviously problematic – clearly those people whose conditions were not fulfilled should not become nezirim – and Rav Yehuda suggests amending the Mishna to read that only those whose conditions were fulfilled should become nezirim.
We further explore the concept of סְפֵק נְזִירוּת לְהָקֵל with the Samar Rebbe’s use regarding the heralding of Mashiach and his refusal to testify on behalf of Kastner at his trial.