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Does the new growth of hair grow from the bottom or from the top (and the hairs closest to the head do not move at all)? The Gemora explains a halachic difference between them. The case is as follows: Bandits shaved a nazir’s head and they left over enough hair to bend the top of the hair to its root. If hair grows from the bottom, they have removed his hairs of nezirus (and his days are forfeited). However, if hairs grow from the top, the hair which he sanctified still remains (and his days are not forfeited).
The Gemora says: Let us resolve this inquiry by observing a live nit, which remains by the hair closest to the head. If hair grows from the bottom, the nit should eventually be found at the top of the hair.
The Gemora deflects the proof: In truth, the hair grows from the bottom. The reason the nit remains on the bottom is because it’s alive, it constantly slides towards the head of the person (in order to survive from the head’s moisture).
We explore the nitty gritty history of nits from ancient times through the typhus ridden camps of WWII and the greatest bluff the NAZIS fell for.