Go deeperOpen what helps. Nothing here is needed to learn the Mishnah.
הָרֶקַע: Six Leniencies of Beis Shammai
R. Yose presents six cases where Beis Shammai is lenient and Beis Hillel is stringent — the reverse of the usual pattern
The standard assumption is that Beis Shammai is stringent and Beis Hillel is lenient. R. Yose highlights six exceptions — cases where the positions are reversed. The sixth and final case is the one relevant to Erev Pesach: a convert who completes his conversion on 14 Nissan. All six are presented here; the convert case is examined in depth below.
The Six Cases — Beis Shammai Lenient / Beis Hillel Stringent
Case
Beis Shammai — Lenient
Beis Hillel — Stringent
עוֹף וּגְבִינָה Fowl & Cheese
Fowl may be placed on the table with cheese — just not eaten together
Fowl may not even be placed on the table with cheese
A man completes his conversion on Erev Pesach — he has undergone circumcision (milah) and now immerses in the mikveh. Can he eat the Korban Pesach that evening, his very first night as a Jew?
בֵּית שַׁמַּאי — מְקִילִּין
טוֹבֵל וְאוֹכֵל אֶת פִּסְחוֹ לָעֶרֶב
He immerses and eats the Korban Pesach that evening. Once milah and tevilah are complete, he is a full Jew — and as a Jew on 14 Nissan, he is obligated in and may eat the Pesach. No waiting period is required.
בֵּית הִלֵּל — מַחְמִירִין
הַפּוֹרֵשׁ מִן הָעָרְלָה כְּפוֹרֵשׁ מִן הַקָּבֶר
One who separates from orlah (i.e. has just been circumcised) is like one who separates from a grave — he requires a seven-day waiting period before being fully tahor, just as a meis-tamei person does. He may not eat the Pesach that evening.
Just circumcised — the foreskin (orlah) has been removed. The convert has separated from his uncircumcised state. Beis Hillel: this departure requires a process, not just a single act.
Separating from a Grave
פּוֹרֵשׁ מִן הַקָּבֶר
Someone who was tamei from a corpse and has now separated from it — still requires seven days of purification before becoming tahor. Beis Hillel draws the same rule for the new convert.
מַה שֶּׁמְּיֻחָד: Why This Case Is the Sharpest of the Six
The other five cases are about table practice, terumah, or keilim — this one has immediate, personal, time-bound consequences
Stakes and Timing
The other five leniencies of Beis Shammai involve questions of permitted practice — what may sit on a table, what produce may be used for terumah. But the convert case is different: the Korban Pesach is time-bound, the consequence of missing it is karet, and the question must be answered today — on Erev Pesach itself. Beis Shammai's leniency here is not merely academic. It determines whether this man — who chose to become a Jew and completed his conversion this very day — gets to celebrate his first Pesach tonight, or must wait until next year. Beis Hillel's analogy to the grave is striking precisely because it treats the joyful act of circumcision as a tumah-generating event requiring seven days of processing.
הַמַּסְקָנָה — Erev Pesach as a Test Case
Eduyos 5:2 is a mishnah about reversals — the six cases where our assumptions about Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are upended. R. Yose saves the most dramatic case for last: a man who converts on Erev Pesach. Every other mishnah in this series shows Jerusalem preparing for Pesach — plowing stopping, maaser being distributed, the market regulated, vows expiring, the lamb going into the oven. This final mishnah asks: who gets to join? Beis Shammai says: anyone who completes the act of conversion today, immerses, and presents himself — he eats with us tonight. Beis Hillel says: not yet. The debate cuts to the heart of what conversion means and what Erev Pesach demands.