Eduyot 8

הֵעִיד רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן בְּתֵירָא עַל דַּם נְבֵלוֹת שֶׁהוּא טָהוֹר. הֵעִיד רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן בְּתֵירָא עַל אֵפֶר חַטָּאת שֶׁנָּגַע טָמֵא בְמִקְצָתוֹ, שֶׁטִּמֵּא אֶת כֻּלּוֹ. הוֹסִיף רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא, עַל הַסֹּלֶת וְעַל הַקְּטֹרֶת וְהַלְּבוֹנָה וְהַגֶּחָלִים שֶׁנָּגַע טְבוּל יוֹם בְּמִקְצָתָם, שֶׁפָּסַל אֶת כֻּלָּם:

R. Yehudah b. Betheira testified about the blood of carrion (nevilah) that it is tahor, [and does not cause tumah, as carrion itself does, with an olive-size, but it does cause tumah with a revi'ith (one-fourth of a log of vital blood). For there is nothing but the sheretz (a creeping thing) which causes tumah with (the same quantity of) its blood as with (that of) its flesh. As to our having learned above (5:1): "The blood of neveiloth — Beth Shammai rule it tahor" — Beth Shammai ruled it tahor entirely. "And Beth Hillel ruled it tamei" — but not as (the flesh of) a neveilah, an olive-size of which is tamei, but only with a revi'ith.]

הֵעִיד רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶן בָּבָא וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה הַכֹּהֵן עַל קְטַנָּה בַת יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּשֵּׂאת לְכֹהֵן, שֶׁהִיא אוֹכֶלֶת בַּתְּרוּמָה כֵּיוָן שֶׁנִּכְנְסָה לַחֻפָּה אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁלֹּא נִבְעָלָה. הֵעִיד רַבִּי יוֹסֵי הַכֹּהֵן וְרַבִּי זְכַרְיָה בֶן הַקַּצָּב עַל תִּינוֹקֶת שֶׁהֻרְהֲנָה בְאַשְׁקְלוֹן, וְרִחֲקוּהָ בְנֵי מִשְׁפַּחְתָּהּ, וְעֵדֶיהָ מְעִידִים אוֹתָהּ שֶׁלֹּא נִסְתְּרָה וְשֶׁלֹּא נִטְמָאָה. אָמְרוּ לָהֶם חֲכָמִים, אִם מַאֲמִינִים אַתֶּם שֶׁהֻרְהֲנָה, הַאֲמִינוּ, שֶׁלֹּא נִסְתְּרָה וְשֶׁלֹּא נִטְמָאָה. וְאִם אֵין אַתֶּם מַאֲמִינִים שֶׁלֹּא נִסְתְּרָה וְשֶׁלֹּא נִטְמְאָה, אַל תַּאֲמִינוּ שֶׁהֻרְהָנָה:

R. Yehudah b. Bava and R. Yehudah Hakohen testified about the minor daughter [an orphan] of an Israelite, who married a Cohein, that she eats terumah as soon as she enters the chupah, even though she had not yet had conjugal relations (see 7:9). [It is added here that once she enters the chupah, even though she had not yet had conjugal relations, (she may eat terumah). For from the preceding testimony, we can conclude that she eats terumah only when she has had conjugal relations]. R. Yossi Hakohen and R. Zecharyah ben Hakatzav testified about a minor who was taken as a pledge [by gentiles] in Ashkelon and whose family "distanced" her (from marrying a Cohein), and whose witnesses (to her having been taken as a pledge) testify that she had not been secreted and had not been violated — the sages said to them (the family): If you believe (the witnesses) that she had been taken as a pledge, then believe that she had not been secreted and had not been violated. And if you do not believe that she had not been secreted and not been violated, then do not believe that she had been taken as a pledge. [And it is only of this one, about whom the witnesses testify that she had not been violated, that the rabbis said — "Believe her," and that she had been wrongfully distanced by her family. But if she had no witnesses (that she had not been violated), then a woman who had been taken as a pledge for money at a time when the gentiles had the upper hand is forbidden to her husband, a Cohein, whether she had been taken willingly or forcibly.]

הֵעִיד רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶן בְּתֵירָא עַל אַלְמָנַת עִסָּה, שֶׁהִיא כְשֵׁרָה לַכְּהֻנָּה, שֶׁהָעִסָּה כְשֵׁרָה לְטַמֵּא וּלְטַהֵר, לְרַחֵק וּלְקָרֵב. אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, קִבַּלְנוּ עֵדוּתְכֶם, אֲבָל מַה נַּעֲשֶׂה, שֶׁגָּזַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי שֶׁלֹּא לְהוֹשִׁיב בָּתֵּי דִינִין עַל כָּךְ. הַכֹּהֲנִים שׁוֹמְעִים לָכֶם לְרַחֵק, אֲבָל לֹא לְקָרֵב:

R. Yehoshua and R. Yehudah b. Betheira testified about an issah ("dough") widow that she is permitted to (marry) a Cohein. [In a family into which a safek (possible) chalal (one unfit for the priesthood) has become intermixed, each one of that family is suspect of being that chalal. And if a woman married one of that family and her husband died, she is called an "issah" widow. For just as dough is kneaded and intermixed, so this widow is "mixed" with (i.e., compounded of) doubts: one, her husband might not be that safek chalal; and,(the other), even if he is, perhaps he is not a chalal in reality. R. Yehoshua permits her to the priesthood, for we have a "a doubt of a doubt," in which instance we rule leniently.] And R. Gamliel holds that even though generally we rule leniently in "a doubt of a doubt," here it is different, for "a special eminence is accorded to family lineage."] (And they testified) that an issah (family) is kosher both for (declaring) tamei or declaring tahor, for distancing or for drawing near. [That is, a family in which a safek chalal has become intermixed is in a status of kashruth as are all of the pedigreed families. And just as the other families may say: "This one is tamei," and they distance themselves from her, and: "This one is tahor," and they draw her near, so, (about) this family in which a safek chalal has become intermixed, we cannot say that since a safek has become intermixed in it they need no longer examine, when they marry women, which is tamei and which is tahor in order to distance her who is tamei and to draw near her who is tahor.] R. Gamliel said: We have accepted your testimony, but what can we do? For R. Yochanan b. Zakkai has decreed not to convene batei-din for this [i.e., for permitting an issah widow ab initio. For] the Cohanim will heed you to distance her [if you rule her forbidden], but not to draw her near [if you rule her permitted. The halachah is that an issah widow is forbidden to marry a Cohein ab initio, but if she does, she is not divorced.]

הֵעִיד רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בֶּן יוֹעֶזֶר, אִישׁ צְרֵדָה, עַל אַיִל קַמְצָא, דָּכָן. וְעַל מַשְׁקֵה בֵית מִטְבְּחַיָּא, דְּאִינּוּן דַּכְיָן. וּדְיִקְרַב בְּמִיתָא, מִסְתָּאָב. וְקָרוּ לֵיהּ, יוֹסֵי שָׁרְיָא:

R. Yossi b. Yoezer, Ish Tz'raidah, testified about ayal kamtza [a type of locust] that it is clean [and may be eaten. (The Targum of "kachagavim" ["like locusts" (Numbers 13:33)] is "kekamtzin")]; and (he testified) about the liquids [i.e., the blood and the water] of the slaughtering house, [in the azarah] that they are clean. [According to one view they are entirely clean; for the tumah of liquids is not Torah-based, but of rabbinic decree, and in this instance they did not decree thus. According to another view they are "clean" in that they do not defile others; but they are tamei in themselves, for the tumah of liquids in themselves is Torah-based, and the Rabbis cannot permit what the Torah has proscribed]; and (he testified) that one who touches a dead body becomes tamei. [That is, one who, of a certainty, touches a dead body becomes tamei, but, in an instance of doubt (safek), even vis-à-vis the stringent tumah of a dead body, he is tahor — how much more so does he come to permit the lesser tumah of a sheretz and a safek of tumah in the public domain. And even though a safek of tumah in the public domain is tahor (even) according to the Torah — for the entire issur of safek tumah is derived from sotah, viz. (Numbers 5:13): "…and she had secreted herself and she be defiled," Scripture telling us that she is forbidden in an instance of doubt ("secreted, etc."), and just as sotah obtains only in the private domain, there being no "secreting" in the public domain, so the tumah of safek obtains only in the private domain — still, before the ruling of Yossi ben Yoezer, they said: "It is a halachah (that tumah does not obtain in the public domain), but we do not teach it." And he came and testified that we do teach it ab initio, to render tahor every safek of tumah in the public domain.] And they called him "Yossi, the permitter." [For he permitted three things vis-à-vis which they deported themselves as being forbidden. For every beth-din which permits three things whose heter (permit) is not apparent is called "a permitting beth-din."]

הֵעִיד רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מִשּׁוּם נְחֶמְיָה, אִישׁ בֵּית דְּלִי, שֶׁמַּשִּׂיאִים הָאִשָּׁה עַל פִּי עֵד אֶחָד. הֵעִיד רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ עַל עֲצָמוֹת שֶׁנִּמְצְאוּ בְדִיר הָעֵצִים, אָמְרוּ חֲכָמִים, מְלַקֵּט עֶצֶם עֶצֶם וְהַכֹּל טָהוֹר:

R. Akiva testified in the name of Nechemiah, Ish Beth D'li, that a woman may be married on the testimony of one witness. [If her husband went abroad and one witness came and said that he had died, she is married on the strength of his testimony. R. Yehoshua testified about bones that were found in dir etzim [(the wood storage compartment (of the Temple) where they stored all the wood for the wood pile. It was in the northeast corner of the ezrath nashim. Some bones of dead bodies were found there) ]: The sages said: They are removed bone by bone and all is tahor [i.e., We do not fear that men or vessels may have become tamei through them, for this constitutes "safek tumah in the public domain," which is tahor. And in the last chapter of Zevachim the Gemara adduces that they wished to decree tumah in all of Jerusalem because of the bones which were found in the wood compartment, but R. Yehoshua said to them: "Would it not be a shame and a mortification for us to decree tumah upon the city of our fathers!"]

אָמַר רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר, שָׁמַעְתִּי, כְּשֶׁהָיוּ בוֹנִים בַּהֵיכָל, עוֹשִׂים קְלָעִים לַהֵיכָל וּקְלָעִים לָעֲזָרוֹת, אֶלָּא שֶׁבַּהֵיכָל בּוֹנִים מִבַּחוּץ, וּבָעֲזָרָה בּוֹנִים מִבִּפְנִים. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, שָׁמַעְתִּי, שֶׁמַּקְרִיבִין אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין בַּיִת, וְאוֹכְלִים קָדְשֵׁי קָדָשִׁים אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין קְלָעִים, קָדָשִׁים קַלִּים וּמַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין חוֹמָה, שֶׁקְּדֻשָּׁה רִאשׁוֹנָה קִדְּשָׁה לִשְׁעָתָהּ וְקִדְּשָׁה לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא:

R. Eliezer said: I heard that when they were building in the sanctuary (in the days of Ezra) they made curtains for the sanctuary and curtains for the azaroth (the courtyards); but in the sanctuary they built from outside (the curtains) and in the azarah they built inside. R. Yehoshua said: I heard that sacrifices are offered even when there is no Temple, and that holy of holies are eaten even where there are no curtains; lesser order sacrifices and second tithe, even when there is no wall. For the first consecration [of the Temple by Solomon] was for that time and for future time. [But the consecration of the rest of Eretz Yisrael at the time of the first conquest was only for its time until the Babylonian exiles returned and consecrated it a second time. And that consecration was for time to come.]

אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, מְקֻבָּל אֲנִי מֵרַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי, שֶׁשָּׁמַע מֵרַבּוֹ וְרַבּוֹ מֵרַבּוֹ, הֲלָכָה לְמשֶׁה מִסִּינַי, שֶׁאֵין אֵלִיָּהוּ בָא לְטַמֵּא וּלְטַהֵר, לְרַחֵק וּלְקָרֵב, אֶלָּא לְרַחֵק הַמְקֹרָבִין בִּזְרוֹעַ וּלְקָרֵב הַמְרֻחָקִין בִּזְרוֹעַ. מִשְׁפַּחַת בֵּית צְרִיפָה הָיְתָה בְעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן וְרִחֲקָהּ בֶּן צִיּוֹן בִּזְרוֹעַ, וְעוֹד אַחֶרֶת הָיְתָה שָׁם וְקֵרְבָהּ בֶּן צִיּוֹן בִּזְרוֹעַ. כְּגוֹן אֵלּוּ, אֵלִיָּהוּ בָא לְטַמֵּא וּלְטַהֵר, לְרַחֵק וּלְקָרֵב. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, לְקָרֵב, אֲבָל לֹא לְרַחֵק. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, לְהַשְׁווֹת הַמַּחֲלֹקֶת. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, לֹא לְרַחֵק וְלֹא לְקָרֵב, אֶלָּא לַעֲשׂוֹת שָׁלוֹם בָּעוֹלָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלאכי ג) הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא וְגוֹ' וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל אֲבוֹתָם:

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.]