i am curious about the machloikes between rashi and the rambam as to when the eidus tumah of one ed is effective. rashi says it must be with regard to the same setirah that was the basis for her becoming a soitah while rambam says that the eidus can be for a subsequent setirah. what is the basis for their machloikes. i thought that perhaps rashi believes this is a din in neemonus, while the rambam believes it is a din in eidus. since i am not sure if this is right (although there is some proof from the last words of rashi on 3b), i won't go into how the reasoning works. do you have a good suggestion as to the conceptual basis for the machloikes?
thank you and yasher koach in advance.
David Martin, Raanana, eretz yisroel
"Ed Echad b'Tumah" only works in relationship to the man upon whom the Kinuy was made. The Machlokes between Rashi and the Rambam is whether the Ed Echad helps to stop the effectivenes of the Mayim ha'Marim even if he did not come. Rav Chaim Brisker explains that the Rambam holds that the Ed Echad is only beleived to stop the Hashka'ah from taking place, however, he is not actually believed on the Tum'ah, and therefore if he has not yet testified at the time of the Hashka'ah, his testimony is worthless.
D. Zupnik