The gemara discusses what happens if someone takes 2 oaths of Nezirus (which would have to be completed consecutively). If he completed the first and set aside a korban, and then asked for an annulment of the first, the first is annulled and the second need not be observed as it is as if he observed the second because it is as if the first never existed. How can someone annul the first one? Why would he annul it if it has been completed and how can you undo an oath that has been fulfilled? Why not ask to annul the second one?
Dan, Teaneck, USA
I posed your question to a Talmid Chacham who helped me arrive at the following answers.
1) The first Nezirus has not yet been fully completed merely by being a Nazir (not drinking wine or cutting his hair, etc.) for 30 days. The proof for this is from the Mishnah in Nazir 28a. Rebbi Akiva states there that it is only when the Nazir slaughters the Korban after the end of the 30 days that the Nezirus can no longer be annuled. The Mishnah there is in fact discussing a husband nullifying his wife's Nezirus, but we can learn from this to a general case of Nezirus also. Therefore, the oath of the first Nezirus has not yet been fulfilled and it follows that before the Korbanos of the first Nezirus are brought, it is still possible to undo it.
2) The reason why he cannot ask to annul the second one is because Rav Papi said (in Nedarim 90a) that everyone agrees that the Chacham cannot annul the Neder until it has actually taken effect. Rashi in Shevuos (27b, DH v'Hifrish) writes that the second Nezirus was prevented originally by the first one from taking effect. Since the second Nezirus was not yet "Chal," it follows that one cannot ask to annul it.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom
Thank you for the reply -- it was very interesting. If, before he offers the korban, he annuls the first and then it is as if he kept the second, must he bring a korban for only the first, only the second or both. He had already set aside the animal for the first. Can he transfer the status of the animal to allow him to offer it for another obligation?
Dan
Rashi (27b, DH v'Hifrish) writes that as the Korban for the second Nezirus he brings the Korban that he separated for the first Nezirus. Rashi explains that this is valid because the reason why the second Nezirus did not apply originally is that the first Nezirus prevented it from taking effect. Now that the first Nezirus is no longer here because he removed it when he asked for it to be anulled, it follows that the second Nezirus takes effect and the Korban now becomes valid for the second Nezirus. Therefore, he need only bring a Korban for the second Nezirus (not for the first, or for both the second and the first), and he does not need to transfer the status of the animal onto the second Nezirus since this latter process happens automatically without him having to do anything. This is because once the first Nezirus disappears, all that remains is the second Nezirus.
B'Hatzlachah Rabah,
Dovid Bloom