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Our mishna states that if one says: An obligation is hereby incumbent upon me with regard to birds, Rabbi Meirsays: He is a nazirite, and the Sages say: He is not a nazirite. The Gemara asks: What is the reason for the opinion of Rabbi Meir? Reish Lakish said: He accepted upon himself an obligation with regard to the birds that are juxtaposed in a verse to hair, as it is written (Dan 4):
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws
Since the verse juxtaposes birds with growing hair, it is understood that when this individual accepted an obligation with regard to birds, he was referring to growing his hair as a nazirite.
We explore the literary and mythical themes of Daniels dream and Nebuchadnezer’s sentence and the curious connection between feathers and hair phylogenetically.