Hello kollel!
At the end of 8b there's a "beraisa" discussing tumas yadayim. My question, even though Rashi seems to refer to it as a beraisa, as does the language of the Gemara, isn't this actually a mishna, yadayim 4:5? I know the taharos mishnas are rare enough that tosafos will sometimes comment just to identify them and not to explain, but am wondering why this mishna is called a beraisa.
Thank you!
Josh
Shalom Josh,
It's great to hear from you again, and again with another excellent question.
It should be added to your question that we find that the Gemara on the next page itself (and not only Rashi) uses the term "Tanya," meaning that the quote is a Beraisa. On the other hand, Rabeinu Chananal writes that it is the Mishnah you noted.
There are different opinions among the sages regarding the proficiency of the Rishonim in the Sederim of Kodshim and Taharos. As I said, since the Gemara calls this a Beraisa, this won't help anyway.
I assume you noticed a slight difference in the quoted words. Here it says "Mikra she'Kesavo Targum," but in the Mishnah it says "Ivris she'Kesavo Targum." I think I once saw someone who wanted to say that the Mishnah discusses only the books of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemyah, while the Beraisa -- which uses the general term "Mikra" -- includes the entire Tanach. The explanation is that perhaps one would say that only the books in which there is a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic are subject to special care to ensure that the difference is preserved, while for books that written entirely in Hebrew it might be allowed to write fully in Aramaic. That is why the Gemara brings the Beraisa and not the Mishnah in Yadayim.
Anyway, this is the type of question where the question is better than the answers!
Kol Tuv,
Aharon Steiner