Halakhah for Parah 4:4

כָּל הָעֲסוּקִין בַּפָּרָה מִתְּחִלָּה וְעַד סוֹף, מְטַמְּאִין בְּגָדִים, וּפוֹסְלִים אוֹתָהּ בִּמְלָאכָה. אֵרַע בָּהּ פְּסוּל בִּשְׁחִיטָתָהּ, אֵינָהּ מְטַמְּאָה בְגָדִים. אֵרַע בָּהּ בְּהַזָּיָתָהּ, כֹּל הָעוֹסֵק בָּהּ לִפְנֵי פְסוּלָהּ, מְטַמְּאָה בְגָדִים. לְאַחַר פְּסוּלָהּ, אֵינָהּ מְטַמְּאָה בְגָדִים. נִמְצְאָה חֻמְרָהּ, קֻלָּהּ. לְעוֹלָם מוֹעֲלִים בָּהּ, וּמַרְבִּין לָהּ עֵצִים, וּמַעֲשֶׂיהָ בַיּוֹם, וּבְכֹהֵן, הַמְּלָאכָה פוֹסֶלֶת בָּהּ, עַד שֶׁתֵּעָשֶׂה אֵפֶר, וְהַמְּלָאכָה פוֹסֶלֶת בַּמַּיִם, עַד שֶׁיַּטִּילוּ אֶת הָאֵפֶר:

Anyone involved with the heifer from its start to its end [from when it slaughtered to the collecting of the ashes], his clothing becomes impure and he invalidates her [the heifer] with [any other] work [he engages in during the ritual]. If an invalidation occurs with her slaughter, the clothing does not become impure. If it occurs with the sprinkling, the clothing of anyone involved with it before the invalidation becomes impure, and the clothing of those involved with it after the invalidation does not become impure. We find that the stringency provides a leniency [in that a stringency which invalidates acts as a leniency with respect to whether the clothing is made impure]. There is always <i>me'ilah</i> with it [me'ilah is the transgression of benefitting from sanctified property, see tracate Me'ilah for details], and one may add wood [to the pyre while its being burnt], and it [the ritual] is performed during the day and by a priest. [Other] work [done by the priest at the same time] invalidates it, until it is made into ashes. And [other] work [done at the same time] invalidates the water [which the ashes are mixed into] until the ashes are poured in.

Sefer HaChinukh

From the laws of the commandment - that which they said (Mishnah Parah 6:5) that we only fill the waters that we put on the ashes, with a vessel, from the bubbling springs and from the flowing rivers; [that] the placing of the waters on the ashes is called by our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, the "sanctification of the sin-offering waters"; [that] the waters that he places upon the ashes are called the "niddah waters" by the verse; [that] all are fit to fill the waters and to sanctify, except for a deaf-mute, a mentally incapacitated person or a minor (Mishnah Parah 10:4); [that] one who is involved in another work at the time of filling the waters or in bringing them, disqualifies them (Mishnah Parah 4:4), but that after he puts the ashes in them, [other] work does not disqualify them; [that] a wage also disqualifies in the sanctification and the sprinkling (Bekhorot 29a), [such that] the waters and ashes of one who takes a wage to sanctify or sprinkle are like the [regular] waters of a cave and like the [regular] ashes of an oven, but one who takes a wage for the filling [of the waters] does not disqualify [them]; and the rest of its many details - are [all] elucidated in Tractate Parah (see Mishneh Torah, Laws of Red Heifer 1).

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