Vayikra 5:1 · unit 12 · Arachin 18a

Complete Passuk

וְנֶפֶשׁ כִּי־תֶחֱטָא וְשָׁמְעָה קוֹל אָלָה וְהוּא עֵד אוֹ רָאָה אוֹ יָדָע אִם־לוֹא יַגִּיד וְנָשָׂא עֲוֺנוֹ׃

Source Citation

Torah Temimah cites Arachin 18a.

Sefaria — Arachin 18a
E-Daf · Arachin 18a

Core Text — Arachin 18a

וְאַחַר כָּךְ מֵתָה בִּתּוֹ… זֶה הַכְּלָל: כֹּל שֶׁתְּחִילָּתוֹ וְסוֹפוֹ בְּכַשְׁרוּת — כָּשֵׁר. שָׁאנֵי הָתָם, דְּאָמַר קְרָא: ״אוֹ רָאָה… אִם לֹא יַגִּיד״, בִּרְאִיָּיה וְהַגָּדָה תְּלָא רַחְמָנָא.

Afterward his daughter died… This is the rule: anyone whose beginning and end are in fitness is fit. It is different there, for Scripture says “or saw… if he does not tell” — the Merciful One made the matter depend on the seeing and the telling.

Fitness is required at the two critical moments — the seeing and the telling — not necessarily throughout the intervening period.

What Is Learned: A witness who was fit when he saw and fit when he testifies is valid even if he was temporarily disqualified in the middle (for example, as a son-in-law while the daughter lived). The verse anchors liability to the two acts of seeing and telling.