Nazir

R. ELEAZAR B. AZARIAH SAID etc.: R. Joseph said: In agreement with whom is the rendering in the Targum  as 'from the kernels even unto the skins'?  — In agreement with the opinion of R. Jose. MISHNAH. A NAZIRITESHIP OF UNSPECIFIED DURATION LASTS THIRTY DAYS.  SHOULD [THE NAZIRITE] POLL HIMSELF OR BE POLLED BY BANDITS,  THIRTY DAYS ARE RENDERED VOID.  A NAZIRITE WHO POLLS HIMSELF, NO MATTER WHETHER HE USES A SCISSORS OR A RAZOR, OR WHO TRIMS [HIS HAIR] HOWEVER LITTLE, INCURS A PENALTY. GEMARA. [The Academy] wished to know whether the growth of the hair takes place at the roots or at the tips.  [The knowledge] is of importance for the case of a nazirite polled by bandits who left enough [of each hair] for the end to be curled in towards the root.  If [the hair] grows at the roots the consecrated part has been removed,  but if it grows at the tips, then the part he consecrated is still there. Judge from the live nit found at the root of a strand [of hair], for if it were true that the growth is at the root ought it not to be found at the tip?  — The growth may well be at the tip, but the nit, being alive, continually moves down [towards the root]. Judge  from a dead nit [that is found] at the end of a strand[ of hair], for if it were true that the growth takes place at the end, ought it not to be found near the root? There again [it may well be] because it has no power [to grasp the hair]  that it slides more and more along it. Judge from the pigtails of heathens  that loosen near the root after growing [for some time]!  There too, [it may well be] because of its being creased by his lying on it that it grows loose. Judge from the sekarta  for the wool grows fresh again underneath [the marking], and this is something which we learned [in a Mishnah];  further when old men dye their beards, these grow white again