For the source text click/tap here: Nazir 56
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Further discussing our Mishnah we employ a dispute revolving around a kal vachomer.
The reasoning here is that if a lesser thing (the tiny piece of bone) carries a certain power, all the more so should the greater thing (the small amount of blood).
Rabbi Eliezer responds to Rabbi Akiva by telling him that we don’t make this type of argument here. Rabbi Eliezer is known as being an arch-conservative in halakhic matters. He typically rejects reason as a source of new halakhot, relying strictly on tradition. Rabbi Joshua, on the other hand, is known more typically as the innovator, ready to modify traditions if so persuaded. However, over here, he too does not feel able to modify the halakhah that a quarter-log of blood does not make a nazirite liable to shave.
While he accepts Rabbi Akiva’s reason, he says that since the Sages ruled based on their traditions, this halakhah cannot be changed.
We review Rav Lichtenstein’s view on the relative weight of Torah vs Mitzvot and other views on Mesorah.