We may sanctify with all vessels, even with vessels made from feces, stone vessels and earthen vessels. And we may sanctify in a boat. We do not sanctify with the sides of [broken] vessels, nor in the crevices of a machatz [a large jug used for drawing water, which had hollow crevices], nor with a barrel lid [which had hollow indentations for handles], nor with cupped hands; for we only fill, sanctify, and sprinkle <i>chatat</i> water in a vessel. [Similarly,] a tight seal only saves [from impurity the contents of] vessels [but it does not save the contents of things not considered vessels]; and only vessels can save from [the impurity of] earthenware vessels [in which they are contained]. [Earthenware vessels have the property that they can only become impure from their inside however if something impure is placed in such a vessel, anything else inside the vessel and the vessel itself become impure. However, if a vessel which cannot become impure or an earthenware vessel are tightly fitted with a cover, or 'tight seal,' the inside is considered protected from the outside and thus things inside cannot become impure. Similarly, if a sealed vessel is inside an earthenware vessel, despite the fact that a ritually impure object placed in the earthenware vessel makes everything inside it impure, the contents of a tightly sealed vessel which is incapable of becoming impure nonetheless remain pure. Our mishnah states that in order for these applications of 'tight-seal' to apply, the container must qualify as a vessel.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
בכל הכלים מקדשים – whether of wood, whether of bone, whether of glass, and even with vessels of dung, that are not considered a vessel in regard to defilement, not from the words of the Torah nor from the words of the Scribes, as I is written (Numbers 19:17): “And fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel,” but it is not written, “to the vessel.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with what vessels can used for making the hatat waters.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
מחץ (ladle) – a large earthenware vessel that they call ALMAKHDIR in Arabic. And on one end of it is made in the form of a handle and it the sides of a broken ladle. Such is how Maimonides explained it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
They can make the mixture in all kinds of vessels, even in vessels made of cattle dung, of stone or of earth. All vessels can be used for mixing in the water and ashes, even vessels that cannot become impure, such as those made of dung, stone or earth. We might have thought that something that cannot become impure wouldn't count as a "vessel" and the Torah states that the water must be put into a vessel. Our mishnah counters that notion.[Hard to imagine them actually using vessels made of dung for this ritual, but theoretically, it's possible].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
ואין מזין אלא בכלי – meaning to say, that the water must be in the vessel at the time of the sprinkling.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
The mixture may also be prepared in a boat. So too a boat cannot become impure. Nevertheless, one can, at least theoretically, put the ashes and water in there.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
אין מצילין – all what is inside it [is protected] from the defilement of the tent of corpse through a tightly fitting cover, except [whole] vessels.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
It may not be prepared in the walls of vessels, or in the sides of a large jug, or in the stopper of a jar, or in one's cupped hands, for one does not fill up, or mix in, or sprinkle the hatat with anything but a vessel. However, there are things that can hold water that don't count as vessels. The first is the wall of a broken vessel, or the side of a large broken jug. Even though these pieces of earthenware can hold water, they cannot be used because they are not considered vessels. The stopper of a jar cannot be used even if it has a receptacle (see 9:1) because it is not considered a vessel. Finally, one's hands do not count as a vessel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שאין מצילין מאויר כלי חרס אלא כלים – that if a creeping reptile would fall into the airspace of an earthenware vessel, everything that is within it is impure even though it did not come in contact with them, except for utensils that are not defiled from the airspace of an earthenware vessels, as it is written (Leviticus 11:33-34): “[And if any of those falls into an earthen vessel,] everything inside it shall be impure…as to any food that may be eaten,” food and liquids become defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels, but utensils/vessels are not defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
Only on a vessel does tightly fitting cover afford protection, for only in vessels is protection afforded against uncleanness within an earthen vessel. Earthenware vessels that have a tightly fitting lid protect their contents from impurity. For instance, if a vessel with food in it is in an oven with an impure thing such as a sheretz, the food remains pure (see Kelim 8:3). However, this only applies if the food is in a vessel. Non-vessels do not protect their contents in the same way.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שאין מצילין – like, and they do not protect/ואין מצילין , and an example of this is at the beginning of the first chapter of [Tractate] Betza [8a] that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is prepared, and Rabbah stated in the Gemara (Tractate Betza 8a), that this is what he said, that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is ready/prepared.
