But that man accepted five terms of nezirut (Nazirite vow). In Masechet Eduyot, perek dalet (chapter four), Mishnah yud alef (eleven), there is now a machloket (dispute) about a nazir. A nazir is somebody who takes upon himself nezirut. He is not allowed to cut his hair, drink wine, or become tameh (ritually impure) from a dead body. When a person takes upon himself nezirut, we say stam nezirut, the general amount of time he has to wait, is 30 days, unless he designates a different amount of time. A nazir who is tameh when he makes the vow of nezirut cannot start to count his days of nezirut until he purifies himself and becomes tahor (ritually pure).
The rabbis made a decree about all of the galut, all of the land outside Eretz Yisrael (land of Israel), saying that all that land is considered tameh, and a person who is in that land is considered tameh, as if he had already touched a dead body. It is known as Tumat Eretz Ha'amim (impurity of the lands of the nations). We say that the goyim (non-Jews) buried their dead all over the place in unmarked graves, not only in cemeteries. So all of the land outside of Eretz Yisrael may have dead bodies under it, so it is all possibly tameh. On a derabbanan (rabbinic) level, we treat it like that. On a de'oraita (biblical) level, we do not suspect that any dead bodies are under where the person may be standing. But on a derabbanan level, it is known as Tumat Eretz Ha'amim. A person who is outside of Eretz Yisrael would not be allowed to start his term of nezirut, and he cannot fulfill his nezirut obligation over there.
We will talk about somebody who observed the full term of nezirut outside of Eretz Yisrael and only afterwards came to Eretz Yisrael. Somebody accepted upon himself a long term of nezirut. The regular term is 30 days, so this is more than that. He was outside of Eretz Yisrael, and he finished his nezirut there. Only afterwards did he come to Eretz Yisrael. How many days does he have to redo? He observed the full term of nezirut in a problematic way. You are not allowed to start nezirut when you are in Chutz La'aretz (outside the Land of Israel). But he finished it, so what do we make him go through again? “Beit Shammai omrim, ‘nazir 30 yom.’” According to Beit Shammai, he has to be a nazir for 30 days. The Tumat Eretz Ha'amim that we spoke about, which is tameh because he is in exile, is only tumah on a derabbanan level. So technically, he fulfilled his de'oraita, his biblical obligation of nezirut, even though he is outside the land of Israel. But the rabbis penalized him and said that he should not have done it over there, so they are going to make him redo the standard term of nezirut, which is 30 days, one more time. But to repeat the entire term that he took upon himself—let's say it was 60 days—the Chachamim (Sages) are not going to make him repeat that, because he technically fulfilled that obligation on the de'oraita level, even though he was in Chutz La'aretz.
“Beit Hillel omrim, ‘nazir k'vatchilah.’” Beit Hillel say no: he has to be a nazir like he was at the beginning of his swear. He has to do it all over again while he is in Eretz Yisrael. He has to come to Israel, get pure, and fulfill the entire term of nezirut once more. Even though technically, on the de'oraita level, he fulfilled his obligation, the Chachamim obligated him to do it once more because he did not do it correctly. So he has to start all over again from the beginning, as though he had never been a nazir outside of Israel at all.
Someone had two different pairs of witnesses giving testimony about him. “Elu me'idim shenazar shetayim, ve'elu me'idim shenazar chamesh.” The first set of witnesses testifies about a certain man that he accepted upon himself two terms of nezirut, two 30-day terms. “Ve'elu me'idim shenazar chamesh.” But other witnesses, a second set, testify that, no, the man did not accept only two upon himself. Five times 30 is 150 days of nezirut. But the man himself claims he did not take any nezirut upon himself at all. So what do we do in this case? “Beit Shammai omrim, nechlekah ha'edut.” Beit Shammai say that the testimony is divided. In other words, we have a contradiction. One is saying five, one is saying two. They cannot both be correct. So the Beit Din (Jewish court) throws out the testimony of both sets of witnesses. We do not know which set of witnesses found the truth, so we throw all of them out. “Ve'en kan nezirut,” and therefore the person has no obligation of nezirut at all. “Beit Hillel omrim, yesh bichlal chamesh shetayim, sheyihyeh nazir shetayim.” Beit Hillel say that two are included, at least according to the opinion that says he took upon himself five terms of nezirut. Of course, that person would agree that he took upon himself at least two terms of nezirut. So, in other words, everyone agrees that there are at least two terms of nezirut, and that is considered to be valid. So, “sheyihyeh nazir shetayim.” We say the law is that he has to be a nazir for two different terms.