Soncino English Talmud
Nazir
Daf 57b
THEY MUST POLL AND BRING [etc.]: But why [should they be allowed to poll]? Perhaps they are not unclean and they will [nevertheless] have rounded [the corners Of the head]? — Samuel replied: [The Mishnah is speaking] Of a woman or a minor. Why does he not regard [the Mishnah] as speaking of an adult [male nazirite], the rounding of the whole head not being considered [an infringement of the prohibition against] rounding? — Since he does not do so, it follows that Samuel holds that the rounding of the whole head is considered [an infringement of the prohibition against] rounding. Mar Zutra taught this exposition of Samuel with reference to a subsequent Mishnah [which reads]: A nazirite who was in doubt whether he had been defiled and in doubt whether he had been a certified leper may eat sacred meats after sixty days [etc.] and must shave four times. [But why?] Will he not have marred [the corners of his beard]? — Samuel replied: [The Mishnah is speaking] of a woman or a minor. R. Huna said: One who rounds [the head of] a minor is guilty. R. Adda b. Ahabah said to R. Huna: Then who shaves your [children's heads]? He replied: Hoba. [Rab Adda exclaimed:] Does Hoba wish to bury her children? During the whole of R. Adda b. Ahabah's lifetime, none of R. Huna's children survived. Seeing that both [R. Huna and R. Adda] hold that rounding the whole head is [an infringement of the rule against] rounding, wherein do they differ? — R. Huna holds that [the verse,] Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard, [signifies] that to whomsoever marring is applicable, rounding is applicable, and since marring does not apply to women, rounding, too, does not apply to them. R. Adda b. Ahabah, on the other hand, holds that both he who rounds and he who is rounded are included [in the prohibition], the one who rounds being compared to the one who is rounded, [to the effect that] wherever the one who is rounded is guilty, the one who rounds is also guilty. Hence, since a child is not punishable and so is not guilty [of the offence of rounding], he who rounds [the child] is also not guilty. Can we say that [the question of] rounding the whole head is the subject of [controversy between] Tannaim? For our Rabbis have taught: Why does Scripture mention his head? Since it says, ye shall not round the corners of your heads,
Sefaria
Mesoret HaShas