אֵינוֹ אֶלָּא...

ביטוי (אנגלית)

is nothing but..., is merely..., is only and no more and no less than...

הגדרה (אנגלית)

An expression of limitation and emphasis, meaning that something is only what is specified after it, no more and no less. It negates any addition or nuance beyond the declared meaning.

("Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Anyone who says Reuven sinned is nothing but mistaken, as it is said (Genesis 35): 'And the sons of Jacob were twelve,' teaching that all of them were equal as one... Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Anyone who says the sons of Eli sinned is nothing but mistaken... Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Anyone who says David sinned is nothing but mistaken"—Shabbat 55b. Similarly: "And anyone who alters the formula established by the sages for blessings is nothing but mistaken"—Maimonides, Book of Love, Laws of Blessings, Chapter One, 5, 245. Also: "A woman, even though she is a woman of valor, is after all nothing but a woman"—Mendele Mokher Sefarim, Travels of Benjamin III, 3:22. As well: "If you say that the big buyers, the wholesalers, are better than them—you are nothing but mistaken"—Sholem Aleichem, The Man with the Stomach. And: "It is almost certain that the incident of reading Homer and all that stems from it is nothing but a legend"—Agnon, Until Now, Oath of Allegiance, 171.)