Commentaire sur Shekalim 8:3

שוחט בה מיד – for certainly, its owner immersed it [in a ritual bath] from yesterday in order that it would have a sunset (required after purification, to be deemed entirely clean) and that it would be appropriate to slaughter with it on the day of the Eve of Passover.

Introduction This mishnah deals with a knife found in Jerusalem around the time of Pesah when many people will need to slaughter their pesach sacrifices. The question is: can he rely on the fact that the knife is pure or must he immerse it before he slaughters with it?

בשלשה עשר שונה ומטביל – meaning to say, even though it is possible to state that its owner already immersed it [in a ritual bath], the person who finds it must immerse it a second time for perhaps, its owner had not immersed it and they had a while to wait until it was close to darkness, and even though they did not decree on doubtful utensils in Jerusalem because the stringency of holy objects required immersion for it. But Maimonides explained [the word] "שונה" /”a second time,” to mean to sprinkle upon it for it had become ritually impure through contact with the dead, and he sprinkled [from the ashes of the red heifer] on the third day (see Numbers 19:12), and now sprinkles once again upon it and afterwards immerses it.

A [slaughtering] knife which was found on the fourteenth [of Nisan] he may slaughter with it immediately. [If it was found] on the thirteenth [of Nisan] he must immerse it again. If the slaughtering knife is found on the fourteenth of Nisan, he may use it to slaughter his pesah immediately, without bringing it to be immersed. In this case we assume that its owners immersed it on the thirteenth, knowing that it would need to be pure the following day, the day on which the pesah is slaughtered. However, if it was found on the thirteenth we must assume that it has not yet been immersed and therefore is unclean. Even though we established in the previous mishnah that all vessels (which includes knives) are assumed to be pure, when it comes to a vessel which will be used with a sacrifice we must be more stringent.

But a chopping knife whether [found] on the fourteenth or on the thirteenth, he must immerse it again. If the fourteenth fell on Shabbat, he may slaughter with it immediately. [If found] on the fifteenth, he may slaughter with it immediately. The knife described here is not used for slaughtering but for cutting meat and bones of an already slaughtered animal. The mishnah uses the word “slaughter” with regard to this knife as well, but the intention is not slaughter but to chop. This type of knife will be used during the festival, already on the fifteenth, but it will not be used on the fourteenth. Since we cannot assume that this type of knife was immersed on the thirteenth of Nisan, it must be immersed on the fourteenth in order to use it on the fifteenth and during the remainder festival. If it was found on the fourteenth of Nisan which fell on Shabbat, then we can assume that it was immersed on the thirteenth because it is forbidden to immerse vessels on Shabbat. They would have immersed it on the thirteenth so that they could use it to chop meat and bones on the fifteenth and during the remainder of the festival. If he found it on the fifteenth, he can assume that it was immersed on the fourteenth. Therefore he may use it without immersing it again.

בזה ובזה – whether on the thirteenth or the fourteenth [of Nisan].

If [the chopping knife] was found tied to a [slaughtering] knife it may be treated as the knife. Finally, if he finds the chopping knife tied to the slaughtering knife, he should treat the chopping knife the same way he treats the slaughtering knife.

שונה ומטביל – he immerses it again for the hatchet/curved cutting tool is not appropriate other than for the Hagigah/the Festival Offering for the breaking of a bone is permitted on it, and in the Gemara of Pesahim (Tractate Pesahim 70b) establishes that at the time when the Nasi/head of the Sanhedrin is on his deathbed on the thirteenth [of Nisan], for if he would die, the entire community will be ritually impure and will sacrifice the Passover offering in defilement, but they would not to ritually purify the utensils; therefore, the knife that one needs for the slaughtering of the Passover offering – this is one doubt, for perhaps the Nasi won’t died and they will make the Passover offering in ritual purity, they immerse it and there is a presumption that they purified it on the thirteenth day in order to slaughter the Passover offering on the fourteenth. Bu the hatchet/curved cutting tool, there are two doubts: a) perhaps the Nasi will die and they will make the Passover offering in a state of ritual defilement and they don’t bring the Hagigah/Festival offering, and there is no need for the hatchet/curved cutting tool, and even if he doesn’t die, perhaps the Passover offerings are many and they don’t do the Hagigah/Festival Offering on the fourteenth; therefore, they don’t immerse it and b) it has the presumption that it they did not purify it.

חל י"ד להיות בשבת שוחט בה מיד – but we don’t say that since it is Shabbat, we will not slaughter it out of a doubt that perhaps it was ritually impure and it is found that the Passover offering was ritually impure, and we desecrate the Sabbath not at the place of a commandment. But my teachers explained that we slaughter it immediately with a hatchet/curved cutting tool stating that even though there is no Festival offering/Hagigah on the Sabbath, nevertheless, there is a presumption that he immersed it from the Eve of the Sabbath (i.e., Friday) for the need of the Festival offering/Hagigah on the fifteenth [of Nisan].

בחמשה עשר שוחט בה מיד – because the entire people knows that sprinkling and immersion are prohibited on the Jewish festival/Yom Tov, and we immerse everything from before the Jewish festival.

נמצאת – the hatchet/curved cutting tool

קשורה לסכין – is tied to the knife. We stated that it was definitely immersed with the knife, but Maimonides explained that it is found that an undefined knife is tied with another known knife, it is like the known knife; if it (i.e., the known knife) is ritual impure, it (i.e., the other knife) is ritually impure; if it (i.e., the known knife) is ritually pure, it (i.e., the other knife) is ritually pure.