How to bring our final redemption closer TB Nazir 56

 The Mishnah on daf TB Nazir 54a and the Mishna on today’s daf TB Nazir 56 are probably the two more important mishnayot in our chapter. By studying them we have learned that there are two levels of a tamei nazir. In level A, the tamei nazir must shave his head, go through a process of becoming ritually ready, offering up specific sacrifices, and begin his nezirut all over again from the beginning. In level B the nazir does not shave nor bring sacrifices. His nezirut is only suspended until he becomes ritually ready

Rabbi Eliezer in the Mishna adds another distinction between the two levels. If a tamei nazir in level A enters the Temple he is liable for the punishment of koreit, a death sentence meted out by God and not humans. The tamei nazir in level B is not culpable for this punishment. “Rabbi Eliezer said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: With regard to any ritual impurity from a corpse for which a nazirite must shave, one is liable due to the prohibition of entering the Temple after contracting that impurity. If someone who became impure from one of those sources of impurity enters the Temple, he violates the prohibition against an impure individual entering the sacred space. And with regard to any impurity from a corpse for which a nazirite does not shave, one is likewise not liable due to the prohibition of entering the Temple after contracting it.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Reporting the chain of tradition in the rabbinic mind is of up most importance because they teach in Pirkei Avot 6:6 “And who says a thing in the name of him who said it. Thus you have learned: everyone who says a thing in the name of him who said it, brings deliverance into the world, as it is said: “And Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name” (Esther 2:22).”  (Sefaria.org translation) That is why we the Gemara is troubled by the chain of tradition mentioned in the Mishna.

Apparently he did not learn this from Rabbi Yehoshua but rather he learned it from Rabbi Yehoshua bar Memel. “Rabbi Eliezer continued: I said to Rabbi Meir: Are you at all familiar with Rabbi Yehoshua bar Memel? He said to me: Yes. I continued: Rabbi Yehoshua bar Memel said this to me in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: With regard to any ritual impurity from a corpse for which a nazirite must shave, one is liable due to the prohibition of entering the Temple after contracting it. And with regard to any impurity from a corpse for which a nazirite does not shave, one is not liable due to the prohibition of entering the Temple after contracting it. This concludes the baraita. The Gemara comments: This is proof that Rabbi Eliezer learned this halakha in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua bar Memel, not directly from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The answer is simple. If you want to speed our final redemption, you should attribute the quote correctly. Nevertheless, you don’t have to include all the “middlemen.” Sometimes the first and the last are sufficient

 “They said: Learn from this case the following principle: With regard to any statement of halakha that was stated as a tradition of three scholars, we say the first and the last names in the chain but we do not say the middle one. Therefore, the mishna mentions the name of Rabbi Eliezer, the last link in the tradition, and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, the first scholar, but it omits that of Rabbi Yehoshua bar Memel, the middle scholar in the chain.

“Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: We, too, learn in a mishna (Pe’a 2:6): Naḥum the Scribe [lavlar] said: This is the tradition that I received from Rabbi Meyasha, who received it from father, who received it from the pairs of Sages who served during the period of the Second Temple, who received it from the Prophets: It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai with regard to one who sows the plants of dill and mustard in two or three separate locations in a single field, that he leaves a corner to the poor for each and every one of these plots on its own, rather than one corner for all of them.

The Gemara explains the proof from this source: And yet Naḥum the Scribe does not mention the names of Joshua and Caleb, despite the fact that they were the Elders who passed down this halakha from Moses to the Prophets. Learn from this that the middle links in a tradition are not necessarily listed.” (Sefaria.org translation)