For the source text click/tap here: Nazir 40
To download, click/tap here: PDF
There are three who must shave their hair, and their shaving of it is a commandment: the nazirite, the metzora, and the Levites.
The Torah commands three categories of people to shave their hair. The metzora, whom we have been discussing in the previous mishnayot. The Nazirite at the end of his term of naziriteship. See Numbers 6:18 and Mishnah Nazir 6:7. The Levites when they were first dedicated to service. See Numbers 8:7.
If any of these cut their hair but not with a razor, or if they left even two remaining hairs, their act is of no validity.
They must all shave their hair with a razor and not cut it with scissors. And if even two hairs are left behind, they have not fulfilled the mitzvah.
What should be done if a nazirite shaves his or her hair during his/her term of nazirut? Does every single hair have to be shaved in order to have transgressed they prohibition? What if one or two hairs are left? What if the hair is cut with something other than a razor? What if the remaining hair is long enough to bend over on itself?
We explore more (see Daf Ditty Nazir 18) on tonsuring and the developmental halachic history of male depilation as a reflection of our galut encounters with Christian and Arabic local mores.