R. Yehoshua said: I have received it from R. Yochanan b. Zakkai, who heard it from his master, and his master from his master, "a halachah to Moses upon Sinai," [the Holy One Blessed be He having shown to Moses upon Sinai, each generation and its expounders,] that Eliyahu will not come to rule tamei and to rule tahor, to distance and to draw near [i.e., to resolve genealogical doubts — which families suffered assimilation and which did not — but he will leave them in their status of kashruth for the future, the halachah being that "a family that was breached was breached, etc."], but [he will come] to distance those who had intruded themselves by force [i.e., those who all knew to be pasul (unfit), but who had insinuated themselves forcibly. (But a family that had been "infiltrated" because the p'sul was not known will be left in its status of kashruth)], and [he will come] to draw near all who had been (wrongly) distanced by force. The family of Beth Tzerifah was across the Jordan and Ben Tziyon [a man of violence] distanced it [i.e., proclaimed it pasul] by force. And another family was there [which was pasul], and Ben Tziyon drew it near by force [i.e., he proclaimed them to be kosher for marriage. The tanna was solicitous of men's honor and did not mention the name of the family that Ben Tziyon drew near by force as he did mention the name of the family that was kasher, to teach how much one should take care not to speak in denigration of his friend and "to cover shame." If thus with those who are pasul, how much more so with those who are kasher!] Such as these [whose kashruth and p'sul are known but who have been distanced by force or drawn near by force] Eliyahu will come to pronounce tamei and tahor, to distance and to draw near. R. Yehudah says: (He will come) to distance, but not to draw near. [He will draw near the kosher family, which was distanced by force, but he will not distance the family that was drawn near by force.] R. Shimon says: He will come to resolve disputes (among the sages). And the sages say: Neither to distance nor to draw near, but to make peace, as it is written (Malachi 3:24): "Behold, I am sending to you Eliyahu the prophet… and he will return the heart of the fathers to the sons and the heart of the sons to their fathers." [He (Eliyahu) is destined to say through the Holy Spirit: "This one is a descendant of that one." And according to R. Shimon, "fathers" are the sages, and "sons," the disciples — their hearts will be attuned to each other and dispute (machloketh) will not befall them.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
הלכה למשה מסיני – For the Holy One, blessed be He showed Moses at Sinai, each generation and its expounders, and showed him that Elijah does not come to make impure or to make pure, to distance or to bring close, to verify [doubtful] families mixed up (i.e., lost to the priesthood as they had been mixed with Israelites beyond traces of genealogical disabilities) beyond recognition; who had been mixed up beyond recognition and who had not been mixed up beyond recognition, but he should leave them and they will be valid in the future to come, for the Halakha is that a family that had mixed up beyond recognition remains mixed up beyond recognition.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Introduction
The final mishnah of Eduyoth discusses what Elijah, who according to the end of Malachi, will reappear at the end of time, will do.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
אלא לרחק המקורבים בזרוע – for everyone presumes them as invalid, but that they were brought close by force, but a family which had been mixed up beyond recognition on account that it was not known that its defilement was unknown, should be left in its fitness.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Rabbi Joshua said: I have received a tradition from Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who heard it from his teacher, and his teacher [heard it] from his teacher, as a halakhah [given] to Moses from Sinai, that Elijah will not come to pronounce unclean or to pronounce clean, to put away or to bring near, but to put away those brought near by force and to bring near those put away by force. The family of Beth Tzriphah was on the other side of the Jordan and Ben Zion put it away by force; and yet another family was there, and Ben Zion brought it near by force. It is such as these that Elijah will come to pronounce unclean or to pronounce clean, to put away or to bring near. Rabbi Joshua says that Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai had a tradition that can be traced all the way back to Moses who received it at Sinai, that when Elijah the prophet reappears in Messianic time, he will not clarify which families are clean, meaning they have not intermarried with forbidden relationships, nor will he clarify the opposite. He will neither put away the unclean families nor draw near the clean families. All that he will do is bring near the families who were forcibly and illegitimately put away and put away the families that were forcibly and illegitimately brought near. In other words, decisions that humans had made as to which families were clean and which were not, and were made in a legal fashion without coercion, will be accepted by Elijah, even if he knows that they were wrong. However, actions which were enacted by force and not consented to by the law-abiding sections of society will be corrected. A note about “a law from Moses on Sinai”. The Rambam points out that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai did not actually have a tradition that Moses said these very words. Rather this is how the tradition understood Deuteronomy 30:3-4, which states that if you are scattered to the four corners of the earth, God will bring you back. This is understood to mean that if a family was illegitimately not allowed to intermarry with other Jewish families, Elijah would redeem the situation. The mishnah now proceeds to mention one family that had been put away by force, meaning that this person Ben Zion, forcibly pronounced them unclean and made the rest of society abide by his will. So too, Ben Zion, forcibly pronounced another family clean, and made society abide by his will.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
בית הצרפה – such is the name of the family.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Rabbi Judah says: to bring near, but not to put away. Rabbi Judah claims that Elijah will bring near but he will not put away. This is probably similar to the words of the Sages at the end of the mishnah. Elijah does not come to cause pain by putting some families away. The only problem that he will rectify is families who should be brought near, not those who should be put away.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
ורחקה – he announced concerning them that they are invalid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Rabbi Shimon says: to conciliate disputes. Rabbi Shimon holds that when Elijah will come he will settle all the disputes between the Rabbis.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
בן ציון – he was a strong man and a violent person.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
And the Sages say: neither to put away nor to bring near, but to make peace in the world, for it is said, “Behold I send to you Elijah the prophet”, etc., “and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 3:23-2. The Sages hold that when Elijah comes it will only be to bring peace to the world. However, we should notice what peace means in this mishnah: a state of familial harmony. Peace doesn’t only mean the absence of warfare, rather it is more accurately interpreted as societal well-being, a reconciliation of parents with children. The Sages’ opinion is supported by the final verses of the book of Malachi, the very verses that teach that the Messianic age will be preceded by Elijah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
ועוד משפחה אחרת היתה שם – that was invalid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Questions for Further Thought: • How does Rabbi Shimon’s opinion compare with the other opinions in the mishnah? What does he hold about Godly intervention in human affairs?Congratulations! We have finished Eduyoth.By now, for those of you who have been learning since the beginning of the Seder, you have grown accustomed to this point, where we thank God for helping us to finish learning the tractate and commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives.However, I believe in this case we should give pause and offer an even greater hearty Yasher Koach (congratulations). This tractate is certainly one of the more difficult tractates, one which includes an extremely wide variety of topics. Oftentimes each mishnah or even each section of each mishnah contained a new topic. This has made the tractate difficult to follow. For those of you who nevertheless stuck it out, Yasher Koach. For those of you who gave up, do not despair. The remaining three tractates of Nezikin are much simpler. Tomorrow we begin to learn Tractate Avodah Zarah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
וקרבה בן ציון בזרוע – and he announced concerning them that they are valid to marry with them, and the Tanna/teach of the Mishnah had consideration on the honor of human creations and did not mention the name of the invalid family that Ben Zion drew close forcefully, like he had mentioned the name of the fit/valid family, to teach you how much a person has to be careful not to recount of the denigration of his fellow and to be able to hide degradation. If such is the case with those who are invalid, all the more so regarding those who are valid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
כגון אלו – who validity and invalidity were known but that they were distanced by force and brought closer by force.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
לקרב אבל לא לרחק – the valid family that had been distanced by force, he brings close but he does not distance that which had been brought close by force.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
שנאמר והשיב לב אבות על בנים – that will be said in the future with the Holy Spirit that this because of the children’s children of this one. And according to the words of Rabbi Shimon, the fathers are the Sages and the children are the students, so that the heart of all of them will be equivalent and dispute will not fall between them.
