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Rav Ashi inquires: If one declared to be a nazir in a cemetery, does he require a head-shaving (on the seventh day of his purification process) or not (in the same manner that he does not require to bring the korbanos)? Perhaps only a nazir tahor that became tamei requires a head-shaving, but not for a tamei person who became a nazir, or perhaps, there is no difference?
When a person walks into a cemetery and makes himself a Nazir, the Aveirah is considered to begin at the moment he walks into the cemetery and it is considered to be complete when he makes himself a Nazir. Even if he does not intend to become a Nazir at the time he enters, since he eventually makes himself a Nazir while in the cemetery his transgression is considered one long act of an Aveirah.
We explore the rise of oath taking in late antiquity as well as the difference between nazarene and nazirite in early Christianity. Also Burton Visotzky’s study of Christianities in Rabbinic literature.