Study Nazir folio 41A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
And furthermore, if it should enter your mind that when he performs his shaving with tweezers or a plane he performs a mitzva, from the fact that the word razor is not written he should not be allowed to use a razor at all, in accordance with the opinion of Reish Lakish, who says a principle in this
The Talmud cites the relevant principle: Any place where you find a positive mitzva and a prohibition that clash with one another, if you can find some way to fulfill both, that is preferable; and if that is not possible, the positive mitzva will come and override the prohibition. In this case the
The Talmud asks: And R' Eliezer, what is his reason? From where does he derive the halakha that a metzora must use a razor? He derives it from the fact that the verse states with regard to a metzora: “He shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard” (Leviticus 14:9). As it is taught in a bar
The Talmud rejects this suggestion: And from where do you know that a metzora must shave his head with a razor? Perhaps even if he actually removed it with tweezers or a plane he performs a mitzva. And if you would say: If so, why do I need the verse to teach me that he uses a razor, through the d
The Talmud rejects this suggestion: If it should enter your mind that when a metzora performs his hair removal with tweezers or a plane he performs a mitzva, then from the fact that the verse did not explicitly write: Razor, it can be inferred that he is not allowed to use one, in accordance with