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Week 23 - Tuesday - 2 May 2000

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 8: MISHNA 4

If one subscribes others with him in his portion, the members of the group may give him his, and he eats his, and they eat theirs.

Kehati

If one - of the members of the group, subscribes others with him in his portion - in the korban pesah without the consent of the other members of the group, e.g., ten people were subscribed for one korban pesah, and one of them subscribed other people with him in the one - tenth part he has in the korban pesah, and the other nine members of the group were not aware of the others, if - the members of the group - do not agree that others should be present in their group, they - may give him his - they may say, before beginning to eat, to their fellow, who subscribed the others with him, that he take the portion that he has in the korban pesah and separate himself from them, and he eats his - together with the others whom he subscribed with him, in a separate group, and they eat theirs - in their group, for it has been taught that the korban pesah may be eaten in two groups (7:13, above).

PESACHIM: CHAPTER 8: MISHNA 5

If a person sees two sightings, they slaughter on his behalf on the seventh. If he saw three, they slaughter on his behalf on his eighth. The woman who observes a day against a day, they slaughter on her behalf on her second. If she saw two days, they slaughter on her behalf on the third. And a woman who has a flux - they slaughter on her behalf on the eighth.

Kehati

This mishnah deals with a zav, a man who has a seminal flux and a zavah, a woman who has a flux, and discusses when the korban pesah may be slaughtered on their behalf. In order to understand this mishnah, we must first explain the following: (1) If one has experienced only one sighting of a seminal discharge, he is considered a baal keri who is unclean until the night (see Lev. 15:16). If he experienced two sightings on one day, or on two consecutive days, he becomes a zav, one who has a flux, whose degree of uncleanness is severe, as specified in the Torah passage concerning the leper (Lev. 14:1-12). He must count seven 'clean' days, immerses himself in a ritual bath on the seventh day, and may eat sacrificial meat that night. If, however, he experienced three sightings on one day, or on two or three consecutive days, his status is more severe than that of one who experienced two sightings, for he is also obligated to bring an offering on the eighth day: "two turtledoves, or two young pigeons" (ibid., 15:14), and he may not eat of sacrificial meat until after he has brought his offering. As long as he has not brought his offering, he is considered to be "one who lacks atonement." Any person who "lacks atonement," even if he has become cleansed of his uncleanness and has immersed himself, and the sun set on him, as long as he has not brought his offering (his "atonement"), may not eat of sacrificial meat. (2) The law regarding the zavah, the woman who has a flux, is different form that regarding the zav. Her uncleanness is dependent, not only on sightings, but also on days; even if she experienced many sightings in one day, they are all considered as one sighting. The laws of uncleanness of a flux apply to her only if she sees blood "not in the time of her impurity [niddah] (ibid., v. 25), i.e., not during the seven days of her menstrual impurity, but rather during the eleven days between the end of the past menstrual period and the beginning of the next. This means that, at the onset, when the woman sees blood (in her childhood), all the first seven days she is called niddah, whether she saw only on the first day or on all seven days. If she stopped seeing on the seventh day, then, according to Torah law, she immerses herself on the night of the eighth and is clean. And if she saw blood from the eighth day on, during the course of eleven days, those days are called "the days of flux," and after eleven days the days of niddah begin once again, and so on. This is the meaning of the statement by the Sages, "Eleven days between niddah and niddah," during which the laws of a flux apply to the woman. This is the law during these days: if she saw blood only one day, she must observe one day in cleanness, corresponding to the day of uncleanness, i.e., she immerses on the day following the day of uncleanness, and if she does not see blood on this day, then she is clean in the evening. Hence the designation of a "woman who observes a day against a day, " because she keeps one day free of flux against a day of flux. Similarly, if she saw blood on two consecutive days, then she observes the third day in cleanness, and if she immersed herself and did not see blood, she is clean in the evening. If, however, she saw blood on three consecutive days, then she is a major zavah; she must count seven clean days, immerse herself on the seventh day, and bring her atonement (her offering) on the eighth, after which she may eat of sacrificial meat. The knowledge of these details is necessary for the understanding of this mishnah; the other details are explained in the commentary on the mishnah. (3) Whoever is not fit to eat of sacrificial meat on the fourteenth of Nisan, but will be fit to eat on the night following the day of the fourteenth, may have the korban pesah slaughtered on his behalf. Therefore, they slaughter the korban pesah for whoever is unclean only until the night, for whoever is unclean with the uncleanness of seven days, but does not "lack atonement" (i.e., he is not obligated to bring an offering), and his seventh day falls on the fourteenth of Nisan, and for a person who "lacks atonement," and his eighth day falls on the fourteenth, even though he had not yet brought his offering. However, (according to Rambam), one who is unclean because of contract with a corpse, and whose seventh day falls on the fourteenth, is an exception to this rule: even though the purifying water has been sprinkled upon him, and he has immersed himself, and he is not in the category of one who "lacks atonement," and he therefore is fit to eat sacrificial meat at night, they nevertheless do not slaughter the korban pesah on his behalf, and he is deferred until Pesah Sheni, for it is written, "But there were certain men, who were unclean by contact with a dead body of a man, so that they could not observe the Pesah on that day" (Num. 9:6); According to tradition, it was their seventh day, and hence they asked, whether the korban pesah was to be slaughtered on their behalf and they would eat it in the evening. And they were instructed not to slaughter on their behalf, and they were deferred until Pesah Sheni (Rambam, Hil. Korban Pesah 6:2; see also Hasagat Haravad, ibid.).

If a person sees two sightings - of a seminal flux on one day, or on two consecutive days, and is unclean for seven days but is not obligated to bring in offering (as explained in the introduction to this mishnah), they slaughter - the korban pesah, on his behalf on the seventh - his seventh day, if this falls on Pesah eve, even before sundown. The Gemara explains that they may slaughter on his behalf only after he has immersed himself, and he lacks only sundown. This restriction was enacted lest he be negligent and not immerse himself. If he saw three - sightings of seminal flux, and he is not fit to eat of the korban pesah until after he has brought the offering of atonement, they slaughter on his behalf - the korban pesah, on his eighth - day if it falls on Pesah eve, even though he has not yet brought his offering of atonement. The Gemara explains that they do not slaughter on his behalf until he has handed over his offerings to the Court. This was enacted lest he be negligent and not offer them.

The woman who observes a day against a day - if a woman sees blood within the eleven days between one niddah period and the next, she is required to observe one day in cleanness corresponding to the day of uncleanness. I.e., she immerses herself on the day following the day of uncleanness, and if she does not see blood on this day, then she is clean at night (as explained in the introduction to this mishnah), they slaughter - the korban pesah on her behalf on her second - day, i.e., on the day she observes in cleanness, after she has immersed herself, for in the evening she may eat sacrificial meat.

If she saw - blood on - two - consecutive - days - and observes the third day in cleanness, they slaughter - the korban pesah, on her behalf on the third - day, after she immersed herself, if it falls on Pesah eve. And a woman who has a flux - who saw three consecutive days during the eleven-day period between one period and the next, and who must count seven clean days, immerses herself on the seventh day, and brings her offering of atonement on the eighth day, they slaughter - the korban pesah - on her behalf on the eighth - her eighth day, if it falls on Pesah eve, even though she has not yet brought her offering of atonement (as explained regarding the zav).

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