Commentary for Pesachim 8:8

אונן טובל ואוכל פסחו לערב – since there is no status of a mourner between death and burial from the Torah other than during the daytime, as it states (Leviticus 10:19): “Had I eaten sin offering today,[would the LORD have approved?]” The daytime is prohibited; the nighttime is permitted. And he requires immersion [in a ritual bath, since he is forbidden until now with Holy Things, the Rabbis had to acquire immersion. But, the Onen/mourner between death and burial does not eat the rest of Holy Things in the evening. But mourning between death and burial is forbidden at night according to the Rabbis, but regarding the Passover sacrifice, they did not let their words stand in the place of extirpation. But the eating of other Holy Things is a mere positive commandment (Exodus 29:33): “These things shall be eaten only by those for whom expiation was made with them [when they were ordained and consecrated; they may not be eaten by a layman, for they are holy].

Introduction This mishnah discusses whether various categories of people may eat their pesah in the evening.

השומע על מתו – the day of the report/news [of the death] is the mourner between death and burial according to the Rabbis. And similarly, he who gathered for himself the bones of his father and/or his mother, we say in [Tractate] Moed Katan, that he mourns over them all that day, and in the evening, he does not mourn over them.

An onen immerses [in a mikveh] and eats his pesah in the evening, but not [other] sacred food. To remind ourselves that which we learned above in mishnah six, a person is an onen on the day upon which one of his seven close relative dies. According to Torah law, a person is an onen only during the day. An onen may not eat sacred food. The rabbis added that on the following evening he remains an onen, but at this point he is only an “onen derabbanan”, an onen of rabbinic status. Since his status is not so severe, he may eat the pesah in the evening. The rabbis did not disallow this because this is his only opportunity to eat the pesah. However, he may still not eat other sacred food until the following day.

טובל ואוכל בקדשים לערב – for even the day itself is from the Rabbis.

One who hears about his dead [for the first time], and one who gathers the bones [of his dead relative] immerses and eats sacred food. If one hears that one of his relatives died after some time has passed, meaning not on the day upon which they died, that day he has the status of an onen derabbanan. At night he is not an onen at all and he may therefore eat any sacred food. It was customary in the mishnaic period to bury people and then about a year later when the flesh was gone to collect their bones and put them into an ossuary. On the day upon which a person collects his mother or father’s bones he is an onen derabbanan. He too may eat sacred food, including the pesah, in the evening.

כפורש מן הקבר – and he needs sprinkling on the third and seventh day, and the Schools of Shammai and Hillel did not disagree other than regarding an uncircumcised heathen who circumcised on the fourteenth [of Nisan], as the School of Hillel holds that there is a decree lest he becomes defiled in the next year and would say that last year, I did not purify from my ritual impurity until the day of the Eve of Passover when I immersed and ate. Now also, I will immerse and eat [the Passover sacrifice], but he didn’t know that last year, he was a heathen and was not susceptible to ritual impurity; now he is an Israelite and susceptible to impurity. But the School of Shammai holds that we do not make this decree. But an uncircumcised Israelite , such as one whose both died on account of circumcision, everyone holds that he immerses and eats his Passover offering in the evening, and we don’t make the decree concerning an uncircumcised Israelite on account of an uncircumcised heathen.

A convert who converts on the eve of Pesah: Bet Shammai say: he immerses and eats his pesah in the evening. Bet Hillel say: anyone who separates from the foreskin is like one who separates from the grave. This is somewhat of a difficult section to understand because it is unclear what the immersion in this mishnah is for. It does not seem to be the immersion customary upon conversion. Rather it seems to be some type of immersion to rid the non-Jew of an impurity which he carries over with him through his conversion. According to Bet Shammai this is a mild form of impurity and therefore, once he immerses himself, he may eat the pesah that evening. Bet Hillel says that the impurity is like that of corpse impurity, which is seven days. Hence he may not eat the pesah that evening, just as one who has come into contact with a corpse may not eat the pesah in the evening. The Talmud explains that the debate is about the concern that the non-Jew may have contracted corpse impurity right before he converts. A non-Jew is not subject to corpse impurity and hence when he converts he is pure and could technically eat the pesah. However, if he is allowed to eat the pesah this year then the following year he may think that he is also allowed to eat the pesah, even if he contracts corpse impurity. Therefore Bet Hillel forbids him from eating the pesah this year as well. Bet Shammai does not share in this concern and hence allows him to eat the pesah that night.