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Perek 2

Mishnayos Shevuos Perek 2 Mishnah 3

שבועות פרק ב׳ משנה ג׳

3
The first part of the mishna discussed one who became ritually impure before entering the Temple. The mishna proceeds to consider a case involving one who was ritually pure when he entered the Temple but who became impure while in the Temple courtyard, and afterward, his impurity was hidden from him but he remembered that he was standing in the Temple, or the fact that he was standing in the Temple was hidden from him but he remembered his impurity, or both this fact and that fact were hidden from him. In all these cases, if he bowed down, or he tarried in the Temple courtyard long enough to bow down even though he did not actually bow, or he went out by way of a longer route when he could have taken a shorter route, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering. But if he left the Temple via the shortest way, he is exempt. This mitzva that the ritually impure must be sent out of the Temple is the positive mitzva concerning the Temple for which, as is taught elsewhere in the Mishna (Horayot 8b), the Sanhedrin is not liable to bring an offering for an erroneous ruling. A communal bull sin-offering is brought because of the unwitting transgression of a prohibition involving an action by the Jewish people resulting from an erroneous halakhic decision handed down by the Sanhedrin. But if the Sanhedrin mistakenly ruled that one who became impure while in the Temple may leave by way of a longer route, they do not bring this offering, as it is brought only for an erroneous ruling on a matter that requires the bringing of a fixed sin-offering, and not a sliding-scale offering, for its unwitting violation.

נִטְמָא בָעֲזָרָה וְנֶעֶלְמָה מִמֶּנּוּ טֻמְאָה וְזָכוּר אֶת הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, נֶעְלַם מִמֶּנּוּ מִקְדָּשׁ וְזָכוּר לַטֻּמְאָה, נֶעְלַם מִמֶּנּוּ זֶה וָזֶה, וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוָה אוֹ שֶׁשָּׁהָה בִכְדֵי הִשְׁתַּחֲוָאָה, בָּא לוֹ בָאֲרֻכָּה, חַיָּב. בַּקְּצָרָה, פָּטוּר. זוֹ הִיא מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁבַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, שֶׁאֵין חַיָּבִין עָלֶיהָ:

ג׳

נטמא בעזרה – and he knew that he was defiled and prostrated himself with this act that escaped him towards the inside, even though he did wait/delay, or prostrated towards the outside, and he who delayed/waited in order to prostrate. But the measure of the prostration is in order that a person can read this Biblical verse in their inhabitable condition (restoration) (II Chronicles 7:12): “they knelt with their faces to the ground and prostrated themselves, praising the LORD, ‘For He is good, for His steadfast love is eternal,” and this is the Biblical verse.

או שבא לו בארוכה (if he went out by the longer way, he is liable) – hat he left through the longer path, for there is something shorter than It, and even if he did not first wait/delay, he is liable.

ובקצרה פטור – where he didn’t prostrate, and did not wait, and left the shorter route, he is exempt.

זו היא מצוה עשה שבמקדש – for there is here (Numbers 5:2): “[Instruct the Israelites] to remove from camp…anyone defiled [by a corpse].”

שאין חייבין עליה – the Jewish court, the bull for an unwitting communal sin, for if they erred unwittingly and error in this teaching, and taught to him that he should leave by the longer way, hey don’t bring on the inadvertent error of this teaching a bull for an unwitting communal sin.

נטמא בעזרה. וידע שנטמא והשתחוה בהעלם זה כלפי פנים, אע״פ שלא שהה. או השתחוה כלפי חוץ, והוא דשהה כדי השתחואה. ושיעור השתחויה היא כדי שיקרא אדם פסוק זה בישוב, ויכרעו אפים ארצה על הרצפה וישתחוו להודות לה׳ כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. והוא פסוק בדברי הימים (ב׳ ז׳):

או שבא לו בארוכה. שיצא לו דרך ארוכה שיש קצרה ממנו לצאת, ואפילו לא שהה תחלה, חייב:

ובקצרה פטור. היכא דלא השתחוה ולא שהה, ויצא לו דרך קצרה, פטור:

זו היא מצות עשה שבמקדש. דיש כאן וישלחו מן המחנה כל טמא:

שאין חייבין עליה בית דין, פר העלם דבר. שאם שגגו וטעו בהוראה זו, והורו לו שיצא בארוכה, אין מביאין על שגגת הוראה זו פר העלם דבר של צבור: