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Week 18 - Thursday - 4 May 2000

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 8 : MISHNA 8

An onen immerses himself and eats his korban pesah in the evening, but not offerings. One who hears about the death of a relative, and one who gathers for himself the bones, immerses himself and eats of offerings. If a proselyte converted on Pesah eve - Bet Shammai say, He immerses himself and eats his korban pesah in the evening; but Bet Hillel say, one who separates himself from the foreskin is like one who separates himself from the grave.

Kehati

An onen immerses himself and eats his korban pesah in the evening - as explained in mishnah 8:6, above, if one of a person's relatives, for whom he is obligated to mourn, died, according to Torah law he is, on the day of the death, an onen. On the following night, however, he is an onen only according to Rabbinic law. This is learned from the Torah passage regarding the deaths of Nadab and Abihu: "And Aaron spoke to Moses, 'Behold, this day they have offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before the Lord, and there have befallen me such things as these (that I have become an onen ), and if I had eaten the sin-offering today, would it have been well-pleasing in the sight of the Lord?" (Lev. 10:19). We learn from this that an onen is prohibited from eating sacrificial meat during the day, and is permitted the following night. The Sages, however, enacted that the onen may not eat sacrificial meat during the night either. This Rabbinic prohibition applies to other sacrificial meat, but not to the korban pesah. Since the punishment for refraining from eating the latter is karet (as it is written, "But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and refrains from keeping the Pesah, that soul shall be cut off [ve-nikhretah] from his people" - Num. 9:13), the Sages therefore lifted this prohibition regarding the obligation of the korban pesah. Hence the mishnah rules that "an onen immerses himself and eats his korban pesah in the evening," i.e., the evening of the eve of Pesah, but - the onen may - not - eat, even in the evening, other - offerings - for the eating of other sacrificial meat is only a positive obligation, as it is written, "And they shall eat those things wherewith atonement was made" (Ex. 29:33). Therefore the Sages enacted that even one who is an onen according to Rabbinic law may not eat of sacrificial meat. The mishnah's teaching "An onen immerses," that he is required to immerse himself before eating of his korban pesah, is a Rabbinic enactment, which requires the onen to immerse himself before eating any sacrificial meat, as it has been taught, "The onen and one lacking atonement require immersion for (in order to eat of) sacrificial meat." The reason for this enactment is that until now they were prohibited from eating sacrificial meat. Rambam explains the reason regarding the onen: "And he immerses himself and afterwards he may eat, in order to separate himself from his status of being an onen, and not become distracted" (from the eating of his korban pesah).

One who hears about the death of a relative - for whom he is obligated to mourn and - or, one who gathers for himself the bones - of his father and mother, in order to re-inter them in a permanent grave (the practice was to bury the dead in temporary graves, and afterwards to collect the bones and inter them in a permanent grave), immerses himself and eats of - other - offerings - also in the evening, since even on the day when he hears, and on the day of the collection of the bones, he is an onen only according to Rabbinic law, whereas on the night following this day he is not an onen at all.

If a proselyte converted - i.e., who was cirucmcised and immersed himself for the purpose of conversion, on Pesah eve - the fourteenth of Nisan, Bet Shammai says, He immerses himself - an additional time, according to a Rabbinic injunction regarding the eating of offerings, and eats - from - his korban pesah - i.e., for which he is subscribed, in the evening; but Bet Hillel says, one - the convert, who separates himself from the foreskin is like one who separates himself from the grave - one who comes into contact with a corpse is unclean for seven days, and requires sprinkling from the mixture of water and ashes of the red heifer on the third day and on the seventh day after his circumcision and immersion for the purpose of conversion. He therefore may not eat of the korban pesah in the evening.

The Gemara explains that Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel disagree only regarding the case of an uncircumcised non-Jew who was circumcised on Pesah eve. Bet Hillel prohibit, lest he say, if he becomes unclean because of contact with a corspe the following year on Pesah eve, "Just as last year I immersed myself and I ate of the korban pesah in the evening, so too, this year, I will immerse myself and eat of my korban pesah"; he draws this conclusion not knowing that the previous year he was a non-Jew until the fourteenth of Nisan, and therefore even if he became unclean because of contact with a corpse before he converted, a non-Jew is not rendered unclean. Now, however, he is a Jew, and can become unclean, and becomes clean only after seven days. Bet Hillel therefore say that also this year, he requires the sprinkling on the third day and on the seventh day; while Bet Shammai do not require this this year, on account of possible uncleanness due to contact with a corpse incurred the next year. In the case, however, of an uncircumcised Jew (e.g., a person whose brothers died in consequence of circumcision, and they therefore refrained from circumcising him), who, in any event, may not eat of the korban pesah, as it is written, "but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof" (Ex. 12:48), if he undergoes circumcision on Pesah eve, even according to the opinion of Bet Hillel he immerses and eats of his korban pesah in the evening.

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 9 : MISHNA 1

Whoever was unclean or on a distant journey, and had not observed the first, must observer the second. If he erred or was prevented, and did not observe the first, he must observe the second. If so, why was it stated, "unclean or on a distant journey"? That these are exempt from karet, and these are liable to karet.

Kehati

The Torah states, "if any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a corpse or be on a distant journey, yet he shall observe the pesah to the Lord. In the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall observe it; they shall eat it with matzot and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone thereof; according to all the statute of the pesah they shall observe it. But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and refrains from observing the pesah, that soul shall be cut off from his people; because he brought not the offering of the Lord in its appointed time, that man shall bear his sin" (Num. 9:10-13). The first four mishnayot in this chapter deal with the laws of Pesah Sheni.

Whoever was unclean - on the fourteenth of Nisan, at the time of the slaughtering of the korban pesah, or - was - on a distant journey - in a place which is distant from the Temple, as will be explained in mishnah 9:2, below, and had not observed the first - Pesah, on the fourteenth of Nisan, must observe the second - Pesah (Pesah Sheni), on the fourteenth of Iyar, as the Torah states (in the passage cited in the introduction to this mishnah).

Similarly, if he erred - e.g., he forgot that it is Pesah eve, or was prevented - by any unforseen circumstance, and did not observe the first - Pesah, he must observe the second - Pesah. If so - if one who erred inadvertently or one who was prevented from observing must observe the second, why was it stated - in the Torah, "If any man of you is - unclean or on a distant journey"? To teach - that these - the person who was unclean or the person who was on a distant journey, are exempt from karet - if they do not observe Pesah Sheni, because they were exempted from the first Pesah and deferred until Pesah Sheni, and the punishment of karet applies only to the first Pesah, and not to the second, and these - one who erred or one who was prevented from observing the first Pesah, are liable to karet - if they willfully did not observe Pesah Sheni, because they were obligated to observe the first Pesah, and since they did not observe it, due to an error or because of unforseen circumstances, they are deferred until Pesah Sheni; therefore, if they willfully did not observe Pesah Sheni, they are liable to karet, as it is written, "But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, who refrains from observing the pesah, that soul shall be cut off from his people." This implies that in all the other cases of error or unforseen circumstances that occurred on the first Pesah, excluding the cases of one who was unclean or one who was on a distant journey, are liable to karet if they do not observe the second. Similarly, if a person willfully did not offer on the first Pesah, he must offer on the second; and if he did not offer on the second, even if he erred, he is liable karet, for he did not bring the offering of the Lord in its appointed time, and he acted willfully (Rambam, Hil. Korban Pesah 5:2).

We have explained this mishnah according to Rambam's interpretation, which is followed by all the commentators. The Gemara, however, implies that his mishnah is to be interpreted in a different manner (see Pes. 92b; see also Rambam and the commentaries, Hil. Korban Pesah 5:2).

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