Study Kiddushin folio 69B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
“Matters of controversy within your gates, and you shall arise and go up to the place that YHWH, your God, shall choose” (Deuteronomy 17:8), indicating that the Temple, the place that God chose, is higher than all other cities in Eretz Yisrael. But from where do we derive the claim that Eretz Yisrae
The Talmud asks: If that is what the Mishnah wants to teach, why does the tanna specifically teach: Ascended from Babylonia? Let him teach: Ascended to Eretz Yisrael. The Talmud answers that the wording of the Mishnah supports the opinion of R' Elazar, as R' Elazar says: Ezra did not ascend from Ba
§ It was stated that amora’im had a dispute with regard to this matter. Abaye said: We learned in the Mishnah that there were 10 categories of lineage among the Jews who ascended, meaning that they ascended of their own accord. And Rava said: We learned: Ezra brought them up, against their will.
Abaye does not accept the statement of R' Elazar, since he maintains that they ascended of their own free will, whereas Rava does accept the statement of R' Elazar. Or, if you wish, say that everyone accepts the statement of R' Elazar, and here they disagree with regard to this: One Sage, Abaye,
The Talmud asks: Granted, according to the one who says that the Mishnah means that they ascended of their own accord, without any distinction between the types of people who came, this is the reason that Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: The lineage of residents of all lands is muddled compared to