Commentary for Avodah Zarah 74:5
ועל דיקרב למיתא מסאב וקרו ליה יוסף שריא: יוסף אסרא מיבעי ליה ועוד דאורייתא היא דכתיב (במדבר יט, טז) וכל אשר יגע על פני השדה בחלל חרב או במת וגו'
“And that one who comes in contact with a corpse is defiled; and they called him, ‘Yosef the permitter.’” They should have called him “Yosef the prohibiter”! Furthermore [that a corpse defiles] is from the Torah, as it is written, “And whosoever in the open field touches one that is slain with a sword, or a dead body [or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days]” (Numbers 19:16).
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
There are two problems with the last section of the Mishnah. First of all, in this case R. Yose b. Yoezer is stringent. Why then is this put in with the reasons that they call him “Yosef the permitter.”
Second, what he seems to be stringent about is actually in the Torah itself. This is not a rabbinic decree or law of any sorts. It is from the Torah.
Second, what he seems to be stringent about is actually in the Torah itself. This is not a rabbinic decree or law of any sorts. It is from the Torah.
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