Komentarz do Para 12:11

ביום והזה בלילה פסול – as it is written (Numbers 19:19): “The pure person shall sprinkle it upon the impure person on the third day and on the seventh day, [thus purifying him by the seventh day],” during the day, but not at night. And there is an analogy made between ritual immersion and sprinkling, as it is written (Numbers 19:18): “[A person who is pure shall take hyssop] dip it in the water, and sprinkle [on the tent and on all the vessels and people who were there,]” just as sprinkling is during the day, even ritually immersion of the hyssop is during the day.

Introduction The final mishnah of Parah teaches that the dipping of the hyssop and the sprinkling of the waters must be done during the day. This is derived from the word "day" which is repeated in Numbers 19:19, "The clean person shall sprinkle it upon the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, thus cleansing him by the seventh day."

טובל בלילה ומזה ביום – where he delayed his immersion and did not sprinkle on the seventh day, when he does to sprinkle on the eighth or ninth or tenth [days] he is able to advance ritual immersion to sprinkling. But a person who ritually immerses on the seventh according to his precept, he sprinkles first and afterwards ritually immerses, as it is written (Numbers 19:19): “thus purifying by the seventh day,” and afterwards it is written: “He shall then wash his clothes and bathe in water.” (see also Tractate Megillah, Chapter 2, Mishnah 4 – that a person does not ritually immerse in water nor sprinkle other than during the daytime).

If he dipped the hyssop during the day and he sprinkled during the day, it is valid. This is the proper way for the mitzvah to be performed both actions done during the day.

משעלה עמוד השחר כשר – that from then onwards it is day, as it is written (Nehemiah 4:15): “And so we worked on, while half were holding lances, from the break of day until the stars appeared,” and it is written there (Nehemiah 4:16): “[I further said to the people at that time: ‘Let every man with his servant lodge in Jerusalem,] that we may use the night to stand guard and the day to work.’” (see also Tractate Berakhot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1 for the usage of the phrase "עד שיעלה עמוד השחר"/until the crack of dawn).

If he dipped it during the day and sprinkled at night, or dipped at night and sprinkled on the following day, it is invalid. If even one of the actions is performed during the night, the sprinkling is invalid.

But he himself may immerse at night and then sprinkle on the following day, for sprinkling is not allowed until the sun is risen. While the dipping of the hyssop into the waters and the sprinkling cannot be done at night, the person who is going to perform these rituals can immerse himself at night. This immersion is done in preparation for the hatat ritual.

And if any of these was done as early as the rise of dawn it is valid. The dipping and sprinkling should be done during the day, meaning once the sun has risen. But if one did it at first light, at the rise of dawn, it is still valid. This is common to many mitzvoth they should be done after the sun has risen, but if they are done right after dawn, they are valid. See Megillah 2:4. Congratulations! We have completed Tractate Parah! As I always write, it is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. Tractate Parah is all about one of the strangest rituals in the Torah. Indeed the rabbis categorize this as the quintessential "hok" a law that cannot be interpreted rationally. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we may not really be able to understand the rationale behind this cleansing ritual, I hope that by learning the Mishnah, we are at least able to understand how the rabbis imagined it being performed. Interestingly, qualitatively this tractate doesn't seem to be all that different from many other tractates. The rabbis take some passages in the Torah, interpret their details while using certain principles and explain mostly when something has been performed in a valid manner and when it has been performed in an invalid manner. Perhaps we could say in summary that Tractate Parah takes the admittedly irrational and makes it rational. Tomorrow our learning continues with Tractate Toharot. Good luck to everyone and congratulations on your amazing commitment to learning.