Comentario sobre Shekalim 8:4

פרוכת שנטמת בולד הטומאה – [the Curtain] that touched ritually impure liquids that the Sages decreed regarding these liquids that they defile utensils, as a decree because of the liquid of a man or woman with a flux, such as his spittle or nocturnal emission, which are one of the original or direct causes of Levitical uncleanness, and from the Torah, they defile humans and utensils.

Introduction This mishnah discusses the impurity of the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the remainder of the Temple.

מטבילין אותה בפנים – and it does not require being sent outside of the camp of the Divine Majesty (from the entrance of the court and further), because it is was not defiled other than by a secondary cause of Levitical uncleanness.

If the curtain [separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple] was defiled by a derived uncleanness, they immerse it within [the precincts of the Temple] and they bring it back in again. This section discusses a case where the curtain (parochet) was made unclean by a “derived uncleanness”. This term refers to something that has become unclean by virtue of its contact with something that is a “principal uncleanness”. From the Torah (deoraita), only liquids which come into contact with “derived uncleanness” are made unclean. “Derived uncleannesses” do not cause things or people to become unclean. Therefore, the curtain in this case has been made impure with only a low level of impurity, one that is considered to be “derabbanan” of rabbinic origin. The rabbis nevertheless required that it be immersed but they allowed it to be immersed in the mikveh (ritual pool) that was in the precincts of the Temple. Furthermore, it could be brought back again immediately. If it had contracted “deoraita” toraitic impurity, it could not be used again until nightfall, as we shall see in the next clause.

ומכניסין אותה מיד – and it does not require having a sunset (after immersion) for complete purification.

But if it was defiled by a principal uncleanness, they immerse it outside and spread out in the Hel. If it was new it was spread out on the roof of the colonnade, so that the people might behold its workmanship which is beautiful. If it came into contact with a principal uncleanness, for instance a zav or zavah (people with unusual genital discharge), or with a sheretz (a creeping animal) then it must be taken out of the Temple to be immersed. There in an area known as the “Hel”, which was inside the gates of the outer walls but outside the “Ezrat Nashim” (the women’s courtyard) it is let out to dry. If the curtain was knew, they would spread it out in a place where people could see it from far off for it was very beautiful. In its normal place, right in front of the Holy of Holies, few people would have the chance to see this magnificent work.

נטמאת באב הטומאה – with an unclean reptile or a carrion.

מטבילין אותה בחוץ – we immerse it outside for it requires being sent out [of the camp] as we state in the last chapter of Tractate Eruvin (Chapter 10, Mishnah 15; Talmud Eruvin 104b), that a person who brings in an unclean reptile in the Temple is liable.