For the source text click/tap here: Nazir 10
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The Mishna on our daf presents a very strange case – a person who proclaims: “This cow said, ‘I am hereby a nezira if I stand up’.”
Just as we found in yesterday’s Mishna, Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagree in this case, with Beit Shammai ruling that the person becomes a nazir and Beit Hillel ruling that he does not.
The Gemara opens with the obvious question: how can we possibly understand the suggestion that the cow spoke? Rami bar Hama explains that the cow was lying down and a person who was trying to get the cow to stand up said, “This cow thinks that no one can get her to stand up? I will be a nazir from her meat if she gets up on her own!”
We explore the role of the cow in mythology especially Hindu culture and speaking cows in children’s stories going back to European fables.