Avodah Zarah 12:1-10

So let's dive into the beginning of chapter 12 with all these important laws around shaving with Halakha 1. so we don't shave the this is based on language of Leviticus literally means the corners of the head I do not know what that is I don't know that I can point to the corners of the head I don't know that anyone would be able to but that's obviously the challenge in front of us but we don't shave whatever the corners of the head are like the people who practice Avodah Zerah do.

So this is about distinction and about the concept we saw before that we don't do things simply because other people might do them and we don't want to be seen to be like them.

The basis of this is the very famous verse in Leviticus 19, the holiness code.

Don't cut off the corner of your heads.

Obviously, that's a hard thing to define.

So Rambam's going to try and help us understand that.

There's a liability on each and every corner.

Because it says the corner of your head, and because the corner is something that there's always more than one of, you can't have a single corner, those who pay attention to geometry.

There must be more than one corner, and thus there's more than one liability here.

So if you shave two corners, then you're liable for twice as much as if you shave one corner.

based on what he's understood.

It's exactly what he's about to say.

Right? One who shaves both sides, which I'm just going to use the plain language, not the translations.

One who shaves both sides, even if he does it simultaneously at the same moment, and even if he only was warned once about the fact that it's a prohibition, is nonetheless lashed twice.

Because he shaved two corners and it says don't shave the corner.

Echad ha-megaleach ha-peyot bilvad u'meniyach se'ar kol harosh, echad ha-megaleach kol harosh ke-achad, lokei, ho'il v'gilach ha-peyot.

This is the same.

So one who shaves off only the corners of their head, but leaves the remainder of his hair, and one who shaves his entire head all at once, including the corners of his head, are understood to be the same.

Both receive lashes because both have shaved the corners.

So whether you give yourself a full Vin Diesel shave, or whether you just shave the corners, in which case you've both violated both ideas of shaving the two corners of your head, which we're starting to see are defined as the temples, although that itself is a bit of an interpretation.

What are we talking about? So who are we talking about? The person who does the shaving.

but the great bit of grammar here for the grammar nerds going from the pl participle to the heat participle implying that it's been done reflexively or repetitively right the person who's had his head shaved is not lashed unless he helps the person who's doing the shaving So if, I don't know, you kind of grab, the guy has to use the loo while he's shaving your head, and he says, oh, hold this for a minute, and you also do a little bit of shaving too, then you're liable.

But otherwise, if you're the shavee, yes, the shavee, then you are not necessarily liable, while the shaver is.

Okay.

One who shaves the corners of a child's head is liable.