Uno se lava las manos en busca de chullin, diezmo (ma'aser) y terumah. [Lavarlos de un recipiente que contiene solo un recipiente de agua es suficiente.] Y para kodesh (comida consagrada), los sumerge [es decir, para comer ofrendas de paz, ofrendas por el pecado y ofrendas de culpa, requiere Una mayor purificación. Debe sumergir sus manos en (una mikve de) cuarenta sa'ah— incluso si solo son stam yadayim ("manos simples"), sin haber tocado un objeto inmundo que hace que todo el cuerpo sea inmundo por la ordenanza de la Torá.] Y para el chatath —Si sus manos se vuelven inmundas, su cuerpo se vuelve inmundo. [Para tocar las aguas de chatath (purificación), el agua santificada con las cenizas de la novilla roja, para rociar de allí a aquellos que se han vuelto impuros por (contacto con) un cuerpo muerto, requiere un (nivel de) más alto purificación, a saber: si sus manos se vuelven impuras a través de una de esas cosas que imparten impureza a las manos pero no al cuerpo— como un pergamino, alimentos impuros, líquidos impuros o cualquier otra cosa declarada impura por ordenanza rabínica —su cuerpo también se vuelve impuro y todo su cuerpo requiere inmersión. Todos estos niveles (de purificación), uno más alto que el otro, están ordenados rabínicamente. Se mencionan aquí junto con las leyes de la oferta del festival en virtud de su conclusión (en el próximo capítulo) con las leyes del festival, es decir, que los no aprendidos se consideran limpios en un festival, pero no en los otros días de el año.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
נוטלין לידים לחולין ולמעשר ולתרומה – for profane things, Second Tithe and Priest’s due, it is sufficient for them by washing [hands] with a utensil which does not have within it other than one-quarter of a log of water.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
Introduction
From here until the end of the tractate the mishnah teaches laws of purity and impurity. The reason why these laws are here is that when Israel would come to Jerusalem and to the Temple for the festival they had to be pure in order to eat their sacrifices. They would immerse their vessels to purify them before Yom Tov. During the festival all of the people of Israel acted like the Pharisees and were extra stringent on eating only while in a state of ritual purity.
Our mishnah deals with the topic of washing hands versus washing one’s whole body. There are some foods which only required one’s hands to be washed while holier foods required one to immerse one’s entire body.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
ולקדש מטבילין – the explanation is to consume peace-offerings, sin-offerings and guilt-offerings. There is a greater degree/level, that it is necessary to immerse one’s hands in one-hundred Seah, and even though they are not other than mere hands, that did not come in contact with impurity that defiles the entire body according to the Torah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
They wash hands for [eating] unconsecrated [food], and [second] tithe, and for terumah [heave-offering]. One of the things that the Pharisees were famous for was washing their hands before they ate even regular unconsecrated food. There is nothing wrong with eating impure food but the Pharisees wished to preserve the laws of purity on a higher level than was required. During the festival, in Jerusalem everyone was expected to purify their hands before eating, even unconsecrated food. Second tithe and terumah are holy and therefore they certainly require one to wash one’s hands before being touched. The handwashing referred to here is done with water poured over one’s hands with a vessel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
ולחטאת – to come in contact with the water of the sin-offering, sanctified water with the ashes of the red heifer to sprinkle from them upon those who are defiled through contact with the dead. There is a greater level/degree that if one’s hands became defiled through one of the things that defile the hands but not the body, such as a [sacred] book, or impure foods and impure liquids, and all defilements that [come] from the words of the Scribes the body is also defiled and the entire body requires ritual immersion. And all of these levels/degrees one higher than the next are from the words of the Scribes. But the fact that these were taken here concerning the laws of the Hagigah/Festival offering is because at their conclusion the laws of the Festival, for the ignoramuses/Amei HaAretz are considered ritually pure on the Festivals, but not on the rest of the days of the year, at the conclusion of [the third chapter of Hagigah], “There is a greater stringency regarding hallowed things.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
But for sacred food they must immerse [their hands in a mikveh]. Before eating sacred food, such as the thanksgiving offering eaten by Israelites and the sin and guilt offerings eaten by the priests the hands must be immersed in a valid mikveh. In the Talmud they debate what this section refers to. According to one opinion this clause refers only to hands which were certainly made impure. Unless one knows that one’s hands had become impure, it would be sufficient to wash them with a vessel. According to the other opinion, in all cases before one eats sacrificial meat one must wash hands by immersing them in the mikveh.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
With regard to the [water of] purification, if one’s hands became impure, one’s [whole] body is impure. The “water of purification” refers to the water with the red heifer’s ashes in it used to purify people who had contracted a serious level of impurity. One who comes to prepare the waters must be completely pure. If his hands had become impure then his whole body was also considered impure and he would have to immerse his whole body.
