R. Yehoshua ha detto: L'ho ricevuto da R. Yochanan b. Zakkai, che l'aveva ascoltato dal suo padrone e dal suo padrone dal suo padrone, "un'halachah a Mosè sul Sinai", [il Santo Benedetto sia stato mostrato a Mosè sul Sinai, ogni generazione e i suoi espositori] che Eliyahu non lo farà vieni a governare il tamei e a governare il tahor, a prendere le distanze e avvicinarti [ad esempio, per risolvere i dubbi genealogici— quali famiglie subirono l'assimilazione e quali no —ma li lascerà nel loro status di kashruth per il futuro, l'halachah è che "una famiglia che è stata violata è stata violata, ecc."], ma [verrà] per allontanare coloro che si erano intromessi con la forza [cioè, quelli che tutti sapevano essere pasul (inadatti), ma che si erano insinuati con forza. (Ma una famiglia che era stata "infiltrata" perché il p'sul non era noto rimarrà nel suo stato di kashruth)], e [verrà] per avvicinarsi a tutti coloro che erano stati (erroneamente) allontanati con la forza. La famiglia di Beth Tzerifah si trovava dall'altra parte del Giordano e Ben Tziyon [un uomo di violenza] lo allontanò [cioè, lo proclamò pasul] con la forza. E c'era un'altra famiglia [che era pasul], e Ben Tziyon la avvicinò con la forza [cioè, li proclamò kosher per il matrimonio. La tanna era sollecita dall'onore degli uomini e non menzionava il nome della famiglia che Ben Tziyon si avvicinava con la forza mentre menzionava il nome della famiglia che era kasher, per insegnare quanto si dovrebbe fare attenzione a non parlare in denigrazione di il suo amico e "per coprire la vergogna". Se così con quelli che sono pasul, tanto più con quelli che sono kasher!] Come questi [di cui si conoscono kashruth e p'sul ma che sono stati allontanati con la forza o avvicinati con la forza] Eliyahu verrà a pronunciare tamei e tahor, allontanarsi e avvicinarsi. R. Yehudah dice: (Verrà) a distanza, ma non avvicinarsi. [Si avvicinerà alla famiglia kosher, che è stata allontanata con la forza, ma non distanzerà la famiglia che è stata attratta con la forza.] R. Shimon dice: Verrà per risolvere le controversie (tra i saggi). E i saggi dicono: Né per allontanarsi né per avvicinarsi, ma per fare la pace, come è scritto (Malachia 3:24): "Ecco, io ti mando il profeta Eliyahu ... e lui restituirà il cuore dei padri ai figli e il cuore dei figli ai loro padri ". [Lui (Eliyahu) è destinato a dire attraverso lo Spirito Santo: "Questo è un discendente di quello". E secondo R. Shimon, "i padri" sono i saggi e "i figli", i discepoli— i loro cuori saranno in armonia tra loro e la disputa (machloketh) non li colpirà.]
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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בית הצרפה – such is the name of the family.
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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.
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ורחקה – he announced concerning them that they are invalid.
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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.
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בן ציון – he was a strong man and a violent person.
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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.
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ועוד משפחה אחרת היתה שם – that was invalid.
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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.
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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.
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כגון אלו – who validity and invalidity were known but that they were distanced by force and brought closer by force.
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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.
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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.
