As the Master said: Ritual impurity in a sealed grave breaks through and ascends and breaks through and descends, so that the grave imparts impurity like the corpse itself. While with regard to contact with these sources of impurity, Rav Yehuda said that it is taught in a baraita that the verse “and upon him that touched a bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave” (Numbers 19:18) is expounded as follows: “A bone”; this is a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk. “Or the slain”; this is a limb slain, i.e., severed, from the living, which does not contain enough flesh for it to heal.

The baraita continues its interpretation of the verse. “Or the dead”; this is a limb slain from a corpse, which is not covered by enough flesh for it to heal were he alive. “Or the grave”; Reish Lakish said: This is a grave that contained a corpse from before the time the command of these halakhot was given to the Jewish people. These graves render people and items ritually impure by contact, but do not carry the halakhot of impurity imparted in a tent.

The Gemara asks: With regard to this limb from a corpse, which is listed above as imparting ritual impurity by contact, what are the circumstances of the case? If the limb contains a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk, this is included in the halakha of one who touches a bone, and it was already taught that a bone imparts impurity by contact. Rather, it must be that it does not contain a bone that is a barley-grain-bulk, and even so the Merciful One includes it in the halakhot of impurity, despite the fact that it does not contain enough flesh. This indicates that a nazirite shaves for a limb of this kind, in accordance with the opinion of Reish Lakish.

The Gemara responds: In answer to this proof of Reish Lakish, Rabbi Yoḥanan could have said to you: Actually, you should explain that it does contain a bone the volume of a barley-grain-bulk, and if it does not need to refer to the matter of its contact, as the verse explicitly states: “Anyone who touches a bone,” have it refer to the matter of its carrying, i.e., that one who carries it is also rendered ritually impure.

§ The mishna taught with regard to any nazirite who became impure from one of the listed sources of impurity: And a priest sprinkles the ashes of the red heifer on him on the third and on the seventh days, and he negates all the previous days he counted toward his naziriteship, and he does not begin counting a fresh term of naziriteship until after he becomes pure and brings his offerings.

A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What is the meaning of that which is taught that a nazirite does not start counting until he is purified? Does the mishna refer to one who is standing on the seventh day of his purification and mean: Until he performs the requisite waiting for sunset? And whose opinion is it? It is the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, who rules that a nazirite starts counting from the eighth day, even before he brings his offerings. Or perhaps it is referring to one who is standing on the eighth day. And then, what is the meaning of: Until he is purified? It means: Until he brings his offerings. And who is the author of this opinion? It is the Rabbis, who maintain that he begins his fresh period of naziriteship only after he has sacrificed his offering of impurity (see 18b).

The Gemara answers: Come and hear a resolution of this dilemma from the fact that it teaches in the latter clause of the next mishna that a nazirite who does not have to bring an offering starts counting immediately after the conclusion of his seven days of purification. The Gemara infers from this mishna: If so, what is the meaning of the different term used in the first clause: Until he is purified? It means until he brings his offerings, and whose opinion is it? It is that of the Rabbis, who say that the naziriteship of purity does not commence until the eighth day.

MISHNA: The previous mishna listed the sources of ritual impurity for which a nazirite must shave. This mishna adds: However, the nazirite does not shave for these: The hanging branches over a corpse, i.e., a tree overhanging a body that a nazirite passes, but it is uncertain which branches are over a corpse; and the projecting stones from fences when the place of the impurity is unknown; and a beit haperas, a place that contained a grave and was plowed. In the latter case, the entire area around the grave is impure from a corpse due to an uncertainty, as it might contain human bones.

The mishna continues its list: And the land of the nations, i.e., a nazirite left Eretz Yisrael for another land. The Sages decreed that all land outside of Eretz Yisrael is ritually impure. And the grave cover; and the grave walls upon which the cover rests; and a quarter-log of blood from a corpse; and a tent; and a quarter-kav of bones of a corpse; and vessels that are touching a corpse. And if the nazirite is in the days of his counting, i.e., the seven days a leper must count after purification from his leprosy; or in his days of full leprosy, when he is a full-fledged leper, for these the nazirite does not shave. This is the case even if he is rendered impure by one of the sources listed in the previous mishna.

And in those cases listed that involve ritual impurity from a corpse, one sprinkles the purification water upon him on the third and on the seventh days of his purification,