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Text Excerpt
מצוה למימרא להו: אי דינא בעיתו, אי פשרה בעיתו? היינו תנא קמא! איכא בינייהו מצוה: רבי יהושע בן קרחה סבר מצוה, תנא קמא סבר רשות.
He means that it is a mitzva to say to them: Do you want a strict judgment, or do you want a compromise? The Talmud objects: Since this opinion is the same as that of the first tanna, who also allows compromise, it is redundant to teach it. The Talmud answers: There is a difference between them with regard to the question of whether it is a mitzva to arrange a compromise. R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa holds that it is a mitzva to offer them the option of compromise, and the first tanna holds that it is merely permitted.
היינו דרבי שמעון בן מנסיא? איכא בינייהו: משתשמע דבריהן ואתה יודע להיכן הדין נוטה, אי אתה רשאי לומר להן ״צאו ובצעו״.
The Talmud objects: If so, the opinion of the first tanna is the same as that of R' Shimon ben Menasya. The Talmud answers that there is a difference between them with regard to the principle: After you hear their statements and you know where the judgment is leaning, it is not permitted for you to say to them: Go out and mediate. In that instance, the first tanna holds that it is still not too late to suggest mediation.
ופליגא דרבי תנחום בר חנילאי, דאמר רבי תנחום בר חנילאי: לא נאמר מקרא זה אלא כנגד מעשה העגל, שנאמר: ״וירא אהרן ויבן מזבח לפניו״. מה ראה? אמר רבי בנימין בר יפת אמר רבי אלעזר: ראה חור שזבוח לפניו.
§ And the various rabbis who offered interpretations of the verse: “And the covetous blesses himself, though he despises YHWH” (Psalms 10:3), disagree with the explanation of R' Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai. As R' Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai says: This verse was stated only with regard to the incident of the Golden Calf, as it is stated: “And Aaron saw this, and he built [vayyiven] an altar [mizbe’aḥ] before it…and said: Tomorrow should be a feast to YHWH” (Exodus 32:5). What did Aaron see? R' Binyamin bar Yefet says that R' Elazar says: He saw Hur, who had been appointed together with Aaron by Moses to lead the people during Moses’ absence (see Exodus 24:14), slaughtered before him, as he had protested the plan to fashion a calf and had been murdered by the people as a result. The verse is therefore interpreted not as: Aaron built an altar before the calf, but rather: He understood [vayyaven] from the slaughter [mizavuaḥ] before his own eyes; and he then called for a feast.