Commentaire sur Pesahim 8:9

האשה תאכל משל בעלה – all the time that she did not explain that her mind/intentions are with her father, for generally her intention is to be counted with her husband.

Introduction It would have been customary for the head of a household to slaughter a pesah on behalf of the members of his household, on the assumption that they would eat it. Our mishnah deals with certain persons about whom it is unclear to which household they belong. The problem will arise if two households slaughter a pesah on behalf of one person from which one can they eat?

רגל הראשון – that was after her marriage, for it is the manner of married women to go to the house of their fathers.

A wife, when she is in her husband’s home, and her husband slaughtered on her behalf and her father slaughtered on her behalf, she must eat of her husband's. A wife who is spending pesah in her husband’s home is assumed to be part of her husband’s household. Therefore, if both her husband and her father slaughtered a pesah on her behalf, she must eat of her husband’s.

תאכל במקום שהיא רוצה – and such is the case where she is not pursued until now to go regularly to the house of her father. Therefore, it is doubtful to us which is preferable to her.

If she went to spend the first festival in her father's home, and her father slaughtered on her behalf and her husband slaughtered on her behalf, she may eat wherever she pleases. If she went to spend the festival in her father’s house, and again both her father and husband slaughtered a pesah on her behalf, she may eat from whichever she chooses. Since she was with her father she may even eat of his. Nevertheless, since she is already married she may alternatively eat of her husband’s pesah. Of course, she cannot eat of both.

אפטרופין – an orphan that had two guardians/administrators and he assigned this one for his Passover offering and that one for his Passover offering.

An orphan on whose behalf his guardians slaughtered may eat wherever he pleases. If an orphan has two or more guardians, each of whom slaughtered a pesah on his behalf, he may eat from whichever he pleases. He does not belong exclusively to any one of them.

לא יאכל משל שניהם – neither from the Passover offering of this one, nor from the Passover offering of that one. For who gave permission to divide the one to be appointed with this one and he has no remedy other that if the both of them wanted to be appointed with the one.

A slave of two partners may not eat of either. A master cannot slaughter a pesah for his slave if that slave is partially owned by another master. The only way to arrange this situation is for the two slave owners to jointly make one pesah.

לא יאכל משל רבו – but he eats from his own [only] and since it is the law that they force the master and he writes a bill of manumission for him, even though he has is not yet freed, he is like a free person. Therefore, he eats of his own.

He who is half slave and half free may not eat of his master's. A half-slave, one who was owned jointly and then freed by one of the partners but not the other may not eat of his master’s pesah. The assumption is that when the master slaughtered the pesah, he did not do so on behalf of his slave whom he owned only partially. The master would have assumed that the slave would make his own pesah. Therefore, this is what the half-slave must do.

שחט גדי יאכל – his master [should eat] from him [the kid] and even though all of the other Passover offerings are regular, the frequent is nullified since he didn’t express to him that he relied on it.

Introduction A pesah can be either a kid (a goat) or a lamb (a sheep) (see Exodus 12:5). This mishnah deals with a slave who slaughters a pesah on behalf of his master, who may or not have cared whether the pesah was a kid or a lamb. The mishnah resolves how to deal with potential confusions.

יאכל מן הראשון – and the second one should be burned. And in the Gemara (Pesahim 88b) maintains that this is specifically with a king and a queen; there are those who say that it is because of the peace of the kingdom, and there are those who say that because they rely on their servants and they are not exacting about their [Passover] meal, whether with kids or lambs. Therefore, he should eat from the first, since there is no intimation that you care for a thing to be exactly as you want it, for with the first, they have fulfilled their religious obligations. But the people of the world that are particular, he should not either from the first nor the second, for we hold that they are not registered with two Passover offerings as one, to eat from whichever of them that he wants, for there is no retrospective designation. For when he wanted to eat from this one, perhaps at the time of slaughtering, mind was not upon it.

One who says to his slave, “Go out and slaughter the pesah on my behalf”, if he slaughtered a kid, he may eat it; if he slaughtered a lamb, he may eat it; if he slaughtered a kid and a lamb, he eats the first. In this case his master did not tell him what type of animal, a kid (a goat) or a lamb (sheep), to slaughter for his pesah. Therefore, the slave may slaughter either of them, even though he knows that his master generally prefers one type or the other, or perhaps generally makes his pesah from a certain type and not the other. If the slave slaughters both a kid and a lamb the first counts as the master’s pesah, whichever that one may be, and the second does not.

שכח מה שאמר – that he expressed to him a kid or a lamb.

If he forgot what his master told him, how should he act? He should slaughter a lamb and a kid and declare, “If my master told me [to slaughter] a kid, the kid is his and the lamb is mine; and if my master told me [to slaughter] a lamb, the lamb is his and the kid is mine.” In this case the master did tell him which animal to slaughter but the slave forgot. The solution is for the slave to make stipulations when he slaughters both animals. He slaughters them both and makes a stipulation that if the lamb is what his master wanted, then the lamb is the master’s pesah and the goat is his and vice versa.

וטלה שלי – In the Gemara (Pesahim 88b) maintains it such as the case where the servant when to the shepherd where his master is accustomed and who wants his remedy (i.e., that things go right for the master), and he (i.e., the shepherd) said to him: “If it is a kid,” your master would tell you that the kid is his and that the lam is your on the condition that your master will not have possession of it,” and in such a manner, the servant acquires itr, for it had not been like this, what the servant acquired, the master acquired and it would be that both of them belong to the master.

If his master [also] forgot what he told him, both animals go to the place of burning, but they [the master and the slave] are exempt from sacrificing the second pesah. In this case when the slave returns to the master it turns out that even the master has forgotten what he told his slave to do. The stipulation will not avail because the master doesn’t know which is his and which the slave’s is. Therefore, neither animal can be eaten; both must be burned. However, the mishnah states that neither the slave nor the master has to offer a second pesah a month later because when the blood was sprinkled upon the altar, the master still knew which one was his (assuming that this is true). He only forgot later when the slave returned with the two slaughtered animals.

ופטורים מלעשות פסח שני – and even though both of them go out to the place of burning and are not eaten because their registration was not known. However, the slaughtering and sprinkling [of the blood] are valid, one for this one and one for the other one, for before Heaven it is revealed.

ON HE WHO ARRIVES IN JERUSALEM FIRST - To encourage them, that they will all try to be first. All children will be on the paschal offering but he who comes first merits first and everyone else does so after him, due to him.

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with slaughtering the pesah on behalf of members of one’s family.

עד שיזרוק הדם – he can take possession, even after the slaughtering until the blood is tossed. But Rabbi Shimon admits that they are not registered other than until it is slaughtered. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

If a man says to his children, “Behold, I am going to slaughter the pesah on behalf of whichever of you goes up first to Jerusalem,” as soon as the first has put his head and the greater part of his body [into Jerusalem] he has acquired his portion, and he acquires it on behalf of his brothers with him. A father says to his children that he is going to slaughter a pesah on behalf of the first one that gets to Jerusalem. The idea is not that only one of them will get to eat the pesah and that the others will have to slaughter their own pesah but that the first to get to Jerusalem will merit having the pesah be “his pesah” and his siblings will join him. The mishnah rules that the first person to get his head and majority of his body is the “owner of the pesah” and that he acquires it on behalf of the others.

One may always register for it as long as there is as much as an olive’s worth for each one [registered]. Each person is obligated to eat an olive’s worth of the pesah sacrifice in order to fulfill his obligation. Hence, the mishnah rules that as many people as wish to may register for any given pesah so long as there is an olive’s worth of meat for each one.

They may register and withdraw their hands from it until it has been slaughtered; Rabbi Shimon says: until the blood is sprinkled. New people may register and those who have already registered may deregister (“withdraw their hands”) until the pesah has been slaughtered. Rabbi Shimon says that they may continue to do so until the blood of the pesah has been sprinkled on the altar. According to a source in the Talmud Rabbi Shimon allows people only to deregister after the pesah has been slaughtered and before the blood has been sprinkled. He agrees that one must register before it is slaughtered.

הממנה אחרים על חלקו – one from the members of the group that registered others in his share, without the knowledge of the group.

Introduction This mishnah teaches what happens if a person registers others to share with him in his portion of the pesah.

ראשין בני חבורה לומר לו – “take what is yours, and go out and eat, you and your friends, for the members of the group are appeased/reconciled to have all these opinions in their group. And this Tanna has a Passover offering that is eaten by two groups (see Mishnah Pesahim, Chapter 7, Mishnah 13)

If one registers others with him [to share] in his portion, the members of the company are permitted to give him his [portion], and he eats his and they eat theirs. The person in this mishnah registers others to eat his portion of the pesah but he doesn’t tell the other members of the company. When they find out they don’t want to share their pesah with this person. What they may do is tell their friend that he can share his portion with those who registered with him and that they are not going to share their portion. He and those who registered with him eat his portion and the other people eat theirs. In essence, he has made his own new eating company.

זב שראה שתי ראיות – for he is defiled for a seven day period, and does not require a sacrifice.

Introduction In order to understand this mishnah we will first need to explain some of the terms and halakhot it mentions. These are some technical laws concerning purity/impurity. The mishnah deals with a “zav” and a “zavah” a man or woman who have had abnormal genital discharge (i.e. not semen or menstrual blood). A man who experiences one such occurrence is impure until the evening, the same as a man who has a seminal discharge. If he experiences two such discharges, either on the same day or on consecutive days he is now a zav (see Leviticus 15:1-12). He is impure for seven days. If he experiences three discharges he must also bring a sacrifice at the end of the period of his impurity, on the eighth day. In both latter cases he cannot eat sacred food until he is pure and if necessary has brought the requisite sacrifices. The main difference between a zav and a zavah is that a zavah must experience her discharges on different days two discharges on one day count as one and not as two. Furthermore, the discharge must not come when she normally has her menstrual period. Since this is not supposed to be her menstrual period, even blood counts as “abnormal discharge.” Calculating when this period falls is complicated and I shall not enter into it here. If during this period she sees discharge/blood for one day she needs not to have a discharge the following day, and then she can go to the mikveh (ritual bath). This woman is called “observing a day for a day.” If she has two consecutive days of discharge, on the third day she can go to the mikveh, provided that she has no discharge on that day. However, if she has three consecutive days of discharge she becomes a “complete zavah”. She must now wait seven days in which she does not have a discharge, on the seventh day she can go to the mikveh and on the eighth day she brings a sacrifice. As is the case with the zav, she cannot eat sacred food until she has brought these sacrifices. Our mishnah teaches that one should slaughter the pesah on behalf of a person who can eat sacred food in the evening of the fifteenth of Nisan, the time when the pesah is eaten, even though on the fourteenth he/she is still unable to do so. The only exception to this rule is someone who is impure through contact with a corpse even if he becomes pure at night if he is impure during the day of the fourteenth they do not slaughter the pesah on his behalf.

שוחטין עליו – even though the sun had not set and he who immersed at the time of the slaughter [of the Passover offering],is worthy to eat it in the evening, and especially someone who was impure who came in contact with the dead whose seventh day occurs on the fourteenth [of Nisan] is postponed until the Second Passover (14 Iyyar), even though it is proper to eat it at night, as it is written (Numbers 9:6): “But there were some men who were unclean by reason of a corpse and could not offer the Passover sacrifice on that day.” On that day they were not able but in the evening they were able to eat the Passover offering, but they are postponed until the Second Passover. But other defilements, if they are worthy to eat at night, we slaughter for him and even though sunset had not come.

If a zav saw two instances [of discharge], they slaughter [the pesah] on his behalf on his seventh [day]. This zav has seen only two episodes of discharge and hence he is not a “complete zav” who would have to bring a sacrifice at the end of seven days. At the end of seven days he need only go to the mikveh. If his seventh day falls on the fourteenth of Nisan they slaughter the pesah on his behalf because he can eat it that night.

ראה שלש – he was not worthy to eat until he brought atonement.

If he saw three [instances of discharge], they slaughter on his behalf on his eighth [day]. If he saw three instances of discharge he goes to the mikveh on the seventh day and must bring sacrifices on the eighth day. He cannot eat sacred food until after he has brought his sacrifices. Therefore if the eighth day falls on the fourteenth they may slaughter the pesah on his behalf. If, however, the seventh day were to fall on the fourteenth they would not be able to slaughter the pesah for him because he could not eat it at night, before he brings the sacrifices the next day.

שוחטין עליו – if his eighth day fell on the Eve of Passover, even if he did not bring his atonement. But he gave his sacrifices to the Jewish court.

If a woman observes a “day for a day”, they slaughter on her behalf on her second day. This woman has experienced one episode of discharge/blood during a non-menstrual time of the month. She may go to the mikveh the following night. Therefore, if the second day falls on the fourteenth of Nisan, they slaughter the pesah on her behalf.

שומרת יום כנגד יום – Whomever sees [blood] within the eleven days between one menstruation and the [next] menstruation , that is required to court the day afterwards, we slaughter for her on the day of her counting. But since she counted part of the day, she is permitted to immerse [in the ritual bath]. And even though she is lacking sunset [which had not yet arrived], we slaughter [the Passover offering] on her behalf.

If she saw [a discharge] on two days, they slaughter on her behalf on the third [day]. This woman has experienced discharges for two consecutive days. On the third day she may go to the mikveh, provided she doesn’t have a discharge on that day. Since that evening she may eat sacred food they slaughter the pesah on her behalf.

והזבה – who saw [flux] on three consecutive days within the eleven [days between menstruation cycles], must count seven clean [days] and bring a sacrifice, we slaughter [a Passover offering] on her behalf on the eighth [day].

And as for a zavah, they slaughter on her behalf on the eighth [day]. This woman has experienced three consecutive days of discharge and is therefore a “complete zavah.” She must wait seven clean days (days in which she doesn’t experience discharge) and then she may go to the mikveh at night and must bring sacrifices the following day, the eighth day. If the fourteenth falls on this, the eighth day, they may slaughter the pesah on her behalf because she will be able to eat the pesah that evening.

האונן – all the time that the dead is not buried he is called an Onen (during the period between death of one’s loved one and burial), and after he is buried, all the day of the death he is called an Onen. And the night afterwards he is an Onen from the Rabbis. But they did not let their words stand in place of extirpation concerning the Passover offering. Therefore, we slaughter for him for in evening it is fitting.

Introduction This mishnah discusses slaughtering the pesah on behalf of various categories of people who may not be able to eat it.

והמפקח בגל – that fell on a a person and it is unknown if they would find him alive or dead, we slaughter [the Passover offering] for him as he is presumed to be ritually pure until he knows that he has become defiled.

[As to] an onen, and one who is removing a heap [of stones], and likewise one whom they promised to take out of prison, and a sick or an old person who can eat as much as an olive, they slaughter on their behalf. This is a list of people who may be able to eat the pesah offering in the evening even though they are currently (i.e. on the 14th of Pesah) in a state in which they cannot eat it. A person whose close relative (one of the seven for whom he must mourn: mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, son or spouse) has died is an onen on the day of the death. He is forbidden to eat sacred food. However, the following evening he is no longer an onen and he may eat his pesah. They sacrifice the pesah on his behalf even though there is a chance that while burying his dead he may contract corpse impurity and not be able to eat the pesah. “One who is removing a heap of stones” refers to a person clearing out a heap of stones which may have fallen upon and killed a person. If it turns out that there is a dead body under the heap then he will be impure and will not be able to eat his pesah that evening. Nevertheless, until a dead body is found the remover is assumed to be pure and they do slaughter the pesah on his behalf. One who is stuck in prison on the fourteenth of Nisan may not be able to eat his pesah. Evidently the pesah is not part of the prison meal plan. If they promised to let him out they do slaughter the pesah on his behalf even though it is not certain that he will actually be let out in time. An old or sick person may not be able to eat an olive’s worth of the pesah, even though it seems like they will be able to. In any case, since it seems likely that these people will be able to eat the pesah, they do slaughter it on their behalf. Note that if we know that the old or sick person will not be able to eat even an olive’s worth of the pesah they do not slaughter on his behalf.

שוחטין עליהם – in the group of others.

[Yet in the case of] all these, they may not slaughter for them alone, lest they bring the pesah to disqualification. They should not slaughter the pesah on behalf of a group which is entirely made up of the above categories of people. The problem is that if an entire group cannot eat the pesah then the pesah itself becomes disqualified. It is best to avoid this situation and therefore the entire group should not consist of people who are in a “risky” category.

שמא יביאוהו לידי פסול – lest he become defiled as an Onen for his dead in the midst of his being busily engaged, and opening up a heap of debris, lest we find him dead, and it is found that he formed a tent (i.e., spread himself) on the defilement [of the corpse]. And the imprisoned, lest he not leave, and we are speaking of someone imprisoned in a jail of idolaters. For even though that they promised him lest they not free him, as their mouths spoke falsehoods, but if he was imprisoned by an Israelite, such as case where they force him to divorce an invalid woman, or to pay money, we slaughter for them [a Passover offering] , even by themselves, if they promised to set them free, for the Remnant of Israel does not speak falsehoods. And if the prison was in the midst of Jerusalem, even in the hands of idolaters, we slaughter [a Passover offering] for them by themselves, for it is possible that they are entering for Passover to the prison and eating it there. But for a sick person and an elder, we don’t slaughter [the Passover offering] for them by themselves, lest the illness become heavy upon them and they are not able to eat even an olive’s bulk.

Therefore if a disqualification occurs to them, they are exempt from keeping the second pesah, except for one who was removing the heap, because he was unclean from the beginning. If they slaughter the pesah on behalf of one of the people in this category and then it they become impure or become otherwise unable to eat the pesah (stuck in jail or sick), they do not need to observe the second pesah. This is because at the moment that the blood of the first pesah was sprinkled on the altar they looked like they were going to be able to eat the pesah at night. The only exception is the one who was uncovering the heap of stones because he was impure at the outset, when the blood was sprinkled. If it turns out that there was a body under the heap, then he was already impure when they slaughtered the pesah on his behalf and sprinkled its blood. To put it another way, concerning this person what is unclear is not whether he will become impure, as it is with the onen, but rather whether he has already been made impure.

לפיכך – since at the time of the slaughtering they were appropriate and the blood is tossed upon them if a defilement befell them, like that which we said that they are exempt from performing the Second Passover.

חוץ מן המפקח הגל – and it is found that he died underneath it one needs to do the Second Passover , for he was ritually impure from the beginning prior to the slaughtering it formed a tent on the defilement from the time that he began to open up the heap of debris, and if the heap was round it certainly formed a tent upon him from the beginning, but if the heap was long, perhaps at the time of the slaughter [of the Passover offering], it had not formed a tent on the defilement, and he is exempt from making the Second Passover.

אין שוחטין את הפסח ביחיד – as it is written (Deuteronomy 16:5): “You are not permitted to slaughter the Passover sacrifice [in any of the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you],” that is to say, for an individual.

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with how the company of those who would together eat the pesah was formed.

אפילו חבורה של מאה – Rabbi Yosi said it, that is to say, the matter does not depend other than on eating. An individual and he is able to eat an olive’s bulk, we slaughter for him; one hundred people and none of them can eat an olive’s bulk, we don’t slaughter for them, and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi.

They may not slaughter the pesah for a single person, the words of Rabbi Judah. But Rabbi Yose permits it. The problem with slaughtering the pesah for a single person is that it is highly unlikely that he will be able to eat the whole thing. In all likelihood, a large portion of it will become “remainder” and it is prohibited to let any of the pesah remain uneaten until the morning. Therefore, Rabbi Judah forbids slaughtering the pesah for a single person. Rabbi Yose permits it, assuming that the person will be able to eat the entire pesah (a Homer Simpsonesque pesah feast).

אין עושין חבורת נשים ועבדים – to slaughter the Passover offering. Women and slaves are in one group because it offers an occasion to sin, but minors and slaves are not in one group, because of the licentiousness of pederasty. But women and slaves, each one alone, they make a group.

And even a company of a hundred who cannot eat as much as an olive, one may not slaughter [a pesah] for them. While Rabbi Yose allows one to slaughter a pesah for a single person who can eat the whole thing he does not allow slaughtering for a large group that can certainly together eat the whole thing unless each person can eat as much as an olive’s worth.

And one may not form a company of women and slaves and minors. There are two different explanations for this section. According to one explanation, it is forbidden to have a company that is all women, all slaves or all minors. According to another explanation, it is forbidden to have a company mixed with slaves and women for fear of licentiousness. This is a common theme with regard to slaves they are considered to be sexually licentious.

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.