The Mishnah on yesterday’s daf concludes with one more case of thanks to the merit of the tzitz, the korban Pesakh is accepted. “The mishna introduces a halakha with regard to ritual impurity of the deep, a term that refers to a source of impurity that is unknown to anyone and is discovered only after it has rendered someone impure. If it became known after the offering was brought that the person had become impure due to ritual impurity of the deep, stayed, the frontplate appeases God and the offering is valid.” (Sefaria.org translation) A baraita on today’s daf TB Pesakhim 81 ( but partially quoted on TB Pesakhim 80b) limits a ritual impurity of the deep as the ritual impurity to a corpse impurity with one more qualification. “And which corpse is considered impurity of the deep? Any corpse of which no one is aware, even at the end of the earth; but if even one individual is aware of it, even if that individual is at the end of the earth, this is not considered impurity of the deep.” (Sefaria.org translation) The Gemara wants to know the source of this law
“The Gemara asks: And with regard to impurity of the deep itself, which is permitted in the cases of a nazirite and one who sacrifices the Paschal lamb, due to the fact that the frontplate appeases God for the impurity, where is it written? Rabbi Elazar said that the verse states with regard to a nazirite: ‘And if any man shall die very suddenly beside him’ (Numbers 6:9). The emphasis provided by the expression ‘beside him' indicates that it is clear to him that he has become impure. However, one is not impure if the presence of the corpse is unknown.
“The Gemara asks: We found a source for impurity of the deep with regard to a nazirite; from where do we derive that impurity of the deep is also permitted with regard to one who performs the ritual of the Paschal lamb? Rabbi Yohanan said that the verse states: 'Any man of you [lakhem] who shall be ritually impure due to a corpse or on a road far away' (Numbers 9:10). The term lakhem is interpreted as indicating that the impurity must be clear to you [lakhem]. However, any ritual impurity that is not clearly identified does not render one who wishes to sacrifice the Paschal lamb impure.
“Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: This halakha may be derived in a different way, from the word ‘road’ which is juxtaposed in the verse to the phrase 'ritually impure.' This indicates that the impurity is like a road. Just as a road is in the open, so too, the impurity is in the open.
“(Because of objections about the three verses mentioned above, the Gemara concludes) Rather, one must conclude that the previous sources cited are insufficient and say that they learned the principle of impurity of the deep as a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai, and the verse that the amoraim quoted is a mere support for the halakha and not its actual source.” (Sefaria.org translation)
The term “halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai-הלחה למשה מסיני) is “part of the Oral law, a number of laws, possessing biblical authority but neither stated in Scripture nor were derived by hermeneutical principles... The term occurs only three times in the Mishnah...but is found frequently together with terms of similar import in other sources of rabbinic Judaism.... The medieval commentators point out that on occasion the term, halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai, is used of much later enactments and it is not always to be taken literally, but refers to a halakha which is so certain and beyond doubt that it is as though it were a halakha given to Moses at Sinai.... In most cases, however, they explained it literally, i.e. that these halakhot were transmitted by God to Moses at Sinai. Modern scholarship is skeptical on the whole question, but it is clear that the rabbis themselves did believe the existence of laws transmitted verbally to Moses.” ( Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, 1167)
No comments:
Post a Comment