he eats sacrificial food after sixty days, when the status of uncertain leprosy has passed, and when he has completed all his obligations of naziriteship. He cannot shave for his leprosy right away, as he might be a pure nazirite, and the status of uncertain leprosy does not override naziriteship. Instead, after thirty days he shaves for his uncertain status as a confirmed leper and for his uncertain status as a pure nazirite. Once again, he is not permitted to shave a second time seven days later for the shaving done by a leper as part of his purification process in case he was not a leper but impure. Were that the case, it would mean that the previous shaving was for his impurity, and therefore he would be required to observe naziriteship in purity for thirty days. At the conclusion of this period, i.e., the sixtieth day, he shaves and may eat sacrificial food on the following day, as even if he was a full-fledged leper he has now shaved twice.

And he drinks wine and may become impure to bury a corpse after 120 days. In other words, this individual has not yet completed his naziriteship vow, as he might have been a confirmed leper, in which case both his acts of shaving would have counted for his leprosy. He therefore waits another thirty days and proceeds to shave on day ninety. Even at that stage, he may not yet drink wine or contract ritual impurity from a corpse, as he might have been impure, which would mean that his third shaving was for his impurity. Consequently, he counts another period of thirty days for his naziriteship of purity, at the end of which he may perform the shaving of purity, drink wine, and become impure from a corpse, 120 days from the start of his naziriteship.

And it is taught in the Tosefta (6:1) with regard to that mishna: In what case is this statement said? With regard to a short naziriteship of thirty days. However, with regard to a naziriteship of a year, he eats sacrificial food after two years. He cannot shave until a year has passed, in case he is not a leper, and he may shave the second time only after a second year, in case he was ritually impure, and this was his naziriteship observed in purity. After two years, he may eat sacrificial meat, for if he was a full-fledged leper he has shaved twice.

However, if the first two shavings were for his leprosy, he has not shaved for his naziriteship at all, and therefore he must observe an additional year, shave, and observe another year of naziriteship, as perhaps his third shaving was for impurity and the other for his naziriteship in purity. And consequently, he may drink wine and become impure to bury a corpse after four years.

And if it enters your mind that the days during which he was ritually impure count toward his naziriteship, it should be enough for him to observe three years and thirty days. Due to uncertainty, he cannot shave for his leprosy until a year has passed, in case he was a pure nazirite, and he must wait another year for his second shaving, as he might have been an impure nazirite. However, at that point, if the days of his counting are considered part of his naziriteship, as claimed by Rav Ḥisda, he should be allowed to wait a mere thirty days for hair growth, shave for his impure naziriteship, and then add a final year for his naziriteship in purity. The fact that he is obligated to wait four years proves that his time as a leper does not count toward his naziriteship.

And Rav Ashi raised a further objection from the following halakhic midrash: I have derived only that the days of impurity do not count as part of his tally of his naziriteship. From where do I derive that the days of his status as a confirmed leper also do not count toward his naziriteship? And is this not logical: After the days of impurity he shaves and brings an offering, and after his days of confirmed leprosy he likewise shaves and brings an offering; just as his days of impurity do not count as part of his tally, so too, the days of confirmed leprosy should not count as part of his tally.

The Gemara rejects this argument: No, if you say that this is true with regard to his days of impurity, which negate the previous days, shall you also say that this is the case with regard to his days of confirmed leprosy, which do not negate the previous ones, as stated in the mishna?

The Gemara suggests another proof. You can say it is an a fortiori inference: And if a nazirite who uttered his vow when he was in a ritually impure place, e.g., a place of a grave, whose hair is fit for the shaving of naziriteship, and yet those days when he was impure do not count as part of his tally, then with regard to his days of confirmed leprosy, when his hair is not fit for the shaving of naziriteship, as he must first perform the shaving of leprosy, is it not all the more so that they should not count toward his naziriteship?

And I have derived only his days of confirmed leprosy. From where do I derive that his days of counting for purification from leprosy are not considered part of his term either? And is this not logical: