Комментарий к Пара 5:11

המביא כלי חרס לחטאת – that he goes near the potter to buy from him an earthenware vessel to place in it the ashes of the sin-offering or the water of the sin-offering/lustration.

Introduction Our mishnah talks about measures taken to ensure the purity of the vessel into which the ashes and water were mixed.

טובל ולן על הכבשן – he begins to guard them in purity so that someone who doesn’t observe certain religious customs regarding tithes and Levitical cleanness (i.e., עם הארץ) wouldn’t touch them prior to their smelting them in a kiln/furnace, which is the conclusion of their labor to be susceptible to receive defilement.

He who brings the earthen vessel for the hatat must immerse, and spend the night by the furnace. Rabbi Judah says: he may also bring it from the house and it is valid, for all are deemed trustworthy in regard to the hatat. The person who is going to bring the earthenware vessel to be used for the hatat (the red cow) must first immerse himself in a mikveh. When doing so, he must have the specific intent that he will be occupied with the hatat (see Hagigah 2:6). He must sleep next to the furnace in which the vessel is being made to make sure that it is not touched by someone impure. Rabbi Judah rules much more leniently for he believes that people can be trusted to preserve the purity of anything to do with the hatat. People recognize the sanctity of the red cow and would not claim that a vessel was pure if it was not. Therefore, he can even bring it directly from the house in which it was made, without sleeping next to the furnace (might not be so comfortable in the summer).

ר' יהודה אומר אף מן הבית הוא מביא וכשר – we believe an person who doesn’t observe certain religious customs regarding tithes and Levitical cleanness if he says that he guarded it on the purity of a sin-offering, as we stated in the Chapter “A More Stringent Rule Applies to Holy Things”/"חומר בקודש" (Tractate Hagigah 22a), that people who don’t observe certain religious customs regarding tithes and Levitical uncleanness (עמי הארץ) are believed on the ritual purity of wine for libations and oil for meal-offerings, so that each and every person would not build a platform for himself and burn the Red Cow/Heifer for himself. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

In the case of terumah one may open the furnace and take out [the vessel]. Rabbi Shimon says: from the second row. Rabbi Yose says: from the third row. When it comes to a vessel made for holding terumah, one need not sleep next to the furnace. However, he should go to the furnace, open it up and take it out himself. He should be able to tell by looking at the vessel whether it had yet been touched. He should not trust the potter's purity. Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yose rule more strictly saying that he should take from either the second row of vessels in the furnace or the third row, for it is more likely that these rows have not been touched and therefore have not been defiled.

ובתרומה – if he brings an earthenware vessel to place heave-offering in it.

פותח את הכבשן וטוטל – even though the its smelting was completed but not their guarding, that since [the oven] was not yet opened and is filled with dust on top of it, we are not concerned that perhaps a person who doesn’t observe certain religious customs regarding tithes and Levitical uncleanness touched it, for they were not stringent regarding heave-offering.

Rabbi Shimon states: “From the second row”/מן הסדר השני. If a person who doesn’t observe certain religious customs regarding tithes and Levitical uncleanness/עם הארץ open the kiln and took vessels from it, he doesn’t take from the first row, for the hand of all handles them, but from the second row which is underneath the first row, he is permitted. But Rabbi Yossi is stringent and forbade even from the second row. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon nor according to Rabbi Yossi, but even though he found the kiln/furnace open, everything is in the presumption of ritual purity, and he can take even from the first row.

המטביל כלי לחטאת (a person who immerses a vessel for a purification rite) – a vessel which requires only rinsing in order to be restored to Levitical cleanness that he immersed it in order to fill it with water and to mix them with ashes, if he filled it with water that is not appropriate for mixing, as for example, the water of a Mikveh that are not potable, running spring water.

If one immersed a vessel for the hatat in water that is not fit for the mixing he must dry it; If in water that is fit for the mixing he need not dry it. The water used to mix in the ashes must be fresh water (see 19:17), water that has not been previously collected. If he takes a vessel that can be purified in a mikveh to use it for mixing in the hatat ash and he immerses it in a mikveh, he must make sure that it is completely dry before he puts in the water for the ritual. But if he immersed it in fresh water, he doesn't need to dry it because that water is fit in any case.

צריך לנגב – [he needs to wipe off] the vessel, for perhaps that which was appropriate would be mixed with that which is inappropriate. But if he immersed it in potable, running spring water waters, they are appropriate for mixing, one doesn’t need to dry it off.

But if [he intended] to collect in it water that was already mixed with the ashes, he must dry it in either case. If he immersed the vessel to gather water in which the ashes had already been mixed, then he needs to dry it no matter where he immersed it. This is because he needs to prevent water that has not been sanctified with the hatat (the water in which he immerses) with the water that has already been mixed.

ואם לאסוף לתוכו מים מקודשים – but if he immersed it in order to bring into water that he had already placed in it the ashes, even if he had immersed it in potable, running spring water, he needs to dry it, so that water that is not mixed becomes combined with water that is mixed, and it is taught in the Mishnah further on (Chapter 9, Mishnah 1 of Tractate Negaim) a flask of lustration that invalid water fell into it.

קרויה (pumpkin-shell used as a drawing vessel, cooler) – a dry, hollow gourd/pumpkin that absorbs water.

If a pumpkin shell was immersed in water that was not fit for the mixing, it is permissible to mix in it the ashes with the water, as long as it had not been defiled. If one designs a dried out pumpkin shell to be a vessel for holding water, then he can immerse it even in a regular mikveh (water not fit for mixing) and he doesn't need to dry it off before mixing in the water to be used with the ashes. This is because the water that remains after the immersion will be absorbed into the pumpkin shell. We are not concerned lest it expel some of this water (which cannot be used with the ashes) into water that will be used for the ashes.

שהטבילוה – a mere preference for lustration, but not because of defilement, for we are speaking of something new that was never defiled.

If it has been defiled, one cannot mix in it the ashes with the water. However, if the pumpkin shell had previously been defiled then it can't be used ever to hold the water and ashes because we are concerned that it will expel some impure water that had been held in its absorbent walls, thereby invalidating the hatat waters.

במים שאין ראויין לקדש מקדשים בה – after it was wiped off. But we don’t concern ourselves that perhaps it absorbed water that are not appropriate for mixing, and it will return and emit them.

Rabbi Joshua says: if one is allowed to mix in it the ashes and water at the beginning, one should also be allowed to do so at the end; and if one is not allowed to do this at the end one should not be allowed to do it at the beginning. In either case it is not permissible to collect in it water that has already had ashes mixed in. Rabbi Joshua points out the obvious inconsistency with the previous opinion. In section one (at the beginning, before it had been defiled) we were not concerned lest it expel any water that it had absorbed. But in section two (at the end, after it had been defiled) we are concerned that it will do so. The inconsistency does not make sense. It seems that this leads Rabbi Joshua to rule strictly. Even if the pumpkin has never been defiled, he still can't use it for fear that it will expel unusable water into the living waters needed for the hatat ritual.

נטמאה אין מקדשים בה – but even though he returned and immersed it, for we are concerned that perhaps it would emit impure liquids that had been absorbed in it. For the Rabbis hold that we should be stricter with impure waters more than with waters that are not appropriate for mixing. The Rabbi Yehoshua harmonized his measures. But if you are concerned, here and there you should be concerned. But if you are not concerned, here and there you should not be concerned. But rather, whether one way or the other, whether at the beginning he immersed it in water that was not appropriate for mixing and dried it off, or whether at the end when it had become defiled and he immersed it even with appropriate [waters] for mixing and dried it off, he should not add into it mixed waters, for we are concerned that perhaps he will emit them. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

Whether or not the pumpkin has ever been defiled, it cannot be used to collect water that has already had ashes mixed in. This is because we fear that it will expel water that had not had the ashes in it, into the water that did (see the end of yesterday's mishnah). We should note that there is some disagreement among the commentators whether this last line belongs to Rabbi Joshua or to the sages.

שפופרת (tube) – of reed.

A reed pipe that was cut [for use as a container] for the hatat: Rabbi Eliezer says: it must be immersed immediately. Rabbi Joshua ruled: he defiles it and then immerses it. A reed pipe was cut and made into a vessel usable for holding water (on reed pipes as vessels see Kelim 17, the end of the chapter). Rabbi Eliezer says that it is to be immersed immediately for the sake of a hatat. Rabbi Joshua says that it should first be intentionally defiled and then it can be immersed and used immediately. This way the reed pipe will have the status of "tvul yom" something that is clean but has not yet waited for the sun set. As we saw in 3:7, the rabbis wanted the red cow ritual to be performed by a tvul yom as part of their polemic against the Sadducees who believed that a person was not pure until after the sun had set.

שחתכה – he prepared it to place in it the waters of lustration or the ashes of lustration (i.e., of the sin-offering), even if a חבר/member of a group dedicated to the precise observance of the commandments who is not suspect regarding defilement.

All are eligible to prepare the mixture, except a deaf mute, an imbecile and a minor. Rabbi Judah says a minor is eligible, but disqualifies a woman and a hermaphrodite. Anyone, even a non-priest and even a woman, can take the ashes and put them in the water. Numbers 19:9 says that a pure person must collect the ash. The rabbis take this to mean that the person needs to be pure, but that it can be done by anyone. However, he must have "awareness" meaning the ability to comprehend what he is doing. As we have seen many times throughout the Mishnah, the rabbis considered the deaf mute, the imbecile and the minor to be incapable of such awareness. Rabbi Judah says that a minor is capable of putting the ash into the water, but a woman is not allowed to do so. Similarly, a hermaphrodite who is part man/part woman, cannot perform the mixing of the ash and water.

ר' אליעזר אומר יטביל מיד – and there is recognition, that the [rituals surrounding] the cow/heifer are performed by someone who had immersed himself that day, because vessels that have been completed in ritual purity require ritual immersion for consecrated objects, lest there remain in the vessel the spittle that comes out from the mouth of a person who is not punctilious in his observance of the laws of tithing and ritual purity (i.e., a common, uneducated person/עם הארץ), and it is moist at the time at the time when he completes the vessel and he defiles it. But even though that this defilement does not require [waiting until] sunset but only ritual immersion, nevertheless, there is recognition, because regarding the cow/heifer of lustration (i.e., the sin offering), it makes him like someone who has been defiled by a corpse on his seventh day and he defiles people and vessels, and if there is of a heifer, he would require a sunset [to pass], and it (i.e., the tube of the reed) would also require it.

ר' יהושע אומר יטמא ויטביל – that in another matter there isn’t any recognition, since the vessels that are completed in ritual purity do not require [the passing of] a sunset to mix them. But the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.

הכל כשרים לקדש - all those who are poor are fit/appropriate to cast the ashes into the mater, and even women. As is it written concerning the collection of the ashes of the cow/heifer (Numbers 19:9): “A man/person who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp [in a pure place, to be kept for water of lustration of the Israelite community].,” and we expound [on the word] "איש"/a person or man, to permit the non-Kohen/”foreigner.” [The word] טהור/pure [means] even a woman; [the word] "והניח"/he shall deposit [implies] a person that has cognitive awareness/temperament to place it, excluding the deaf-mute, the imbecile and a minor who lack cognitive awareness. And after [the collection of its ashes], if is written that this Divine service of mixing – and there is no Divine Service that interrupts in the meanwhile. We learned that all who are fit/appropriate for the collection of its ashes are fit/appropriate for mixing.

ר' יהודה מכשיר בקטן ופוסל באשה – but if there is that everyone who is fit for the collection of [ashes] is fit for mixing, it (i.e., the Torah) should write, "ולקח"/and he takes, in the singular with regard to mixing, for just as (i.e., the Torah) wrote, "ואסף"/and he collected – in the singular for collecting [of the ashes], why does it write, "ולקחו"/and they shall take (see Numbers 19:17 – “Some of the ashes from the fire of purification shall be taken for he impure person,”/"ולקחו לטמא מעפר שרפת החטאת", that even those that are invalid there are fit/appropriate here, such as a minor. But not a woman, for it is written (Numbers 19:17): "ונתן עליו מים חיים אל-כלי"/and fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel), "ונתן"/and he shall give, and not "ונתנה"/and she gave.

בכל הכלים מקדשים – whether of wood, whether of bone, whether of glass, and even with vessels of dung, that are not considered a vessel in regard to defilement, not from the words of the Torah nor from the words of the Scribes, as I is written (Numbers 19:17): “And fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel,” but it is not written, “to the vessel.”

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with what vessels can used for making the hatat waters.

מחץ (ladle) – a large earthenware vessel that they call ALMAKHDIR in Arabic. And on one end of it is made in the form of a handle and it the sides of a broken ladle. Such is how Maimonides explained it.

They can make the mixture in all kinds of vessels, even in vessels made of cattle dung, of stone or of earth. All vessels can be used for mixing in the water and ashes, even vessels that cannot become impure, such as those made of dung, stone or earth. We might have thought that something that cannot become impure wouldn't count as a "vessel" and the Torah states that the water must be put into a vessel. Our mishnah counters that notion.[Hard to imagine them actually using vessels made of dung for this ritual, but theoretically, it's possible].

ואין מזין אלא בכלי – meaning to say, that the water must be in the vessel at the time of the sprinkling.

The mixture may also be prepared in a boat. So too a boat cannot become impure. Nevertheless, one can, at least theoretically, put the ashes and water in there.

אין מצילין – all what is inside it [is protected] from the defilement of the tent of corpse through a tightly fitting cover, except [whole] vessels.

It may not be prepared in the walls of vessels, or in the sides of a large jug, or in the stopper of a jar, or in one's cupped hands, for one does not fill up, or mix in, or sprinkle the hatat with anything but a vessel. However, there are things that can hold water that don't count as vessels. The first is the wall of a broken vessel, or the side of a large broken jug. Even though these pieces of earthenware can hold water, they cannot be used because they are not considered vessels. The stopper of a jar cannot be used even if it has a receptacle (see 9:1) because it is not considered a vessel. Finally, one's hands do not count as a vessel.

שאין מצילין מאויר כלי חרס אלא כלים – that if a creeping reptile would fall into the airspace of an earthenware vessel, everything that is within it is impure even though it did not come in contact with them, except for utensils that are not defiled from the airspace of an earthenware vessels, as it is written (Leviticus 11:33-34): “[And if any of those falls into an earthen vessel,] everything inside it shall be impure…as to any food that may be eaten,” food and liquids become defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels, but utensils/vessels are not defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels.

Only on a vessel does tightly fitting cover afford protection, for only in vessels is protection afforded against uncleanness within an earthen vessel. Earthenware vessels that have a tightly fitting lid protect their contents from impurity. For instance, if a vessel with food in it is in an oven with an impure thing such as a sheretz, the food remains pure (see Kelim 8:3). However, this only applies if the food is in a vessel. Non-vessels do not protect their contents in the same way.

שאין מצילין – like, and they do not protect/ואין מצילין , and an example of this is at the beginning of the first chapter of [Tractate] Betza [8a] that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is prepared, and Rabbah stated in the Gemara (Tractate Betza 8a), that this is what he said, that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is ready/prepared.

ביצת היוצרים – every vessel that the potter of earthenware begins to make, he first makes the material round like the form of an egg and makes for it a receptacle.

A potters’ egg is fit [as a vessel]. Rabbi Yose rules that it is unfit. A "potters' egg" is an egg shaped piece of plaster made by the potter and from which he will form a vessel. It has a receptacle. The first opinion holds that this egg is usable for mixing the ashes and water and to sprinkle from it for it is already considered a vessel. Rabbi Yose says that it is not yet a vessel and therefore cannot be used.

כשרה – to mix in it the waters of lustration/sin-offering.

A hen's egg: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah rule it is fit [as a vessel]; But the sages rule that it is unfit. Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Judah hold that even a hen's egg is considered a vessel and therefore can be used. However, the other sages (understandably, in my opinion) disagree.

ור' יוסי פוסל – for it is not considered a vessel to him. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

ביצת התרנגולת – its outer shell.

וחכמים פוסלים – for it is not considered a vessel. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

השוקת שבסלע (the trough which [is hewn] in the rock) – A שוקת/trough is a hollowed rock that is on the rim of a spring and the water enters in it through a hole that is in its wall and waters the animals. But here we are speaking of a rock that is attached that was hollowed out, it is not considered a utensil since it didn’t have the designation of a vessel when it was detached. But even that it was detached [other than] that they attached it and at the end hollowed it out.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with a receptacle carved into a rock into which water from a spring would flow. Can this water be used for the red cow ritual?

ואינה צריכה צמיד פתיל – if it was in the tent of a corpse it protects on what is within it with the covering alone without the tightly fitted lid, because it is not considered a vessel but rather like a pit or a cistern that protects over what is inside of it with a cover without a tightly fitted lid/stopper, as is taught in Chapter Five of [Tractate] Ahilot [Mishnah 6].

It is not permissible to collect the water in a trough set in the stone, nor is it permissible to prepare the mixture in it, nor may the sprinkling be done from it, nor does it require a tightly fitting cover, nor does it render a ritual bath invalid. The reason that this receptacle cannot be used is that it is not considered a vessel, and as we have seen, only vessels can be used for to mix the water and for the sprinkling. Similarly, if it is found in a tent (or tent-like structure) with a dead body (or part thereof) it does not need a tightly fitting lid to protect its contents from impurity. It is sufficient for it to be merely covered. If water from it flows into a mikveh, it doesn't render the mikveh invalid, as it would if the water came from a vessel. Water that flows into a mikveh from a vessel does render the mikveh invalid. The bottom-line it doesn't count as a vessel.

ואינה פוסלת את המקוה – if rain water [fell] from it to the Mikveh/ritual bath, they are not considered drawn water to invalidate the Mikveh.

If it was first a movable vessel and then was subsequently joined to the ground with lime, it is permissible to collect the water in it, to prepare the mixture in it and to sprinkle from it. And it needs a tightly fitting cover and renders a ritual bath invalid. If one made a vessel out of stone and then attached it with lime to the ground next to the spring, it does count as a vessel. In such a case, he can use it for the hatat ritual, it needs a tightly fitting cover to protect its contents when in a tent with a corpse and if water flows from there into a mikveh it renders the mikveh's contents invalid.

ופקקה (inserted a stop-gap) – stopped it up.

If there was a hole in it below, and he stopped it up with a rag, the water in it is invalid since it is not wholly enclosed by the vessel. If the hole was in the side and it was stopped up with a rag, the water in it is valid since it is wholly enclosed by the vessel. This relates to the situation in section two. If there is a hole in that vessel and then he stops it up with a rag, the water cannot be used for the red cow ritual. The reason is not entirely clear and my translation hides the difficulty in the Hebrew. It seems that when the hole is at the bottom the water is drawn toward the hole and the rabbis don't consider the water as being contained by the vessel. To put it another way, the hole below nullifies it from being a vessel. But if the hole was on the upper side of the vessel and there are full walls surrounding it, then the water is considered to be surrounded by the vessel and it can be used for the red cow ritual.

מפני שאינם עגולים כלי (because it is not wholly enclosed by the vessel) – meaning to say, that the vessel does not surround the water, that the perforation that is from the bottom neutralizes it from the category of a vessel, for the closing up of a rag does not make it into a vessel. But when the perforation/hole is from the side, the category of a vessel is upon it and we mix with the water that is within it, since the vessel surrounds them (i.e., the waters). And that is that the vessel is round.

If he made a rim of clay for the vessel and the water had risen to that spot, it is invalid; But if it was solid enough for the vessel to be moved with it, the water is valid. This again relates to the situation in which there is a vessel put into the rock. If he made a rim of clay around the top of the vessel and the water rose to that level, the water cannot be used because the clay around the top is not considered to be a vessel. However, if he attaches the clay in such a manner that it would be moved with the vessel, then it is part of the vessel and the water is valid.

עשה לה עטרה (made for it a molding of mud) – a detached trough that was attached with plaster/lime, which is considered a vessel and made a rim of mud/plaster for its fmoutjh and the trough was filled with water until it also filled the rim, the waters are invalid to mix because the addition is not considered a vessel.

ואם היה בריא (but if it was firm) – meaning to say, if this rim was strong and attached to the trough until that if he were to take the trough, he would also take the rim with it, they are fit/appropriate.

שתי שקתות שבאבן- here we are speaking of a stone that is carried that is not an attached rock, and these two troughs have the designation of a vessel.

If there were two troughs in one stone and the mixture was prepared in one of them, the water in the other is not prepared. In this situation there are two troughs set into the stone, neither of which are attached to the ground and therefore both can count as vessels (see yesterday's mishnah). If the mixture of red cow ashes and water is prepared in one, the water in the other is not considered to have been prepared because the two troughs are not connected.

קדש אחת מהן – that he placed ashes fo the heifer/cow in the water that is in one of them.

If a hole of the size of the spout of a water skin passed from one to the other, or if the water overflowed both, even if only [to a depth of] the thickness of garlic peel, and the mixture was prepared in one of them, the water in the other is also prepared. However, if there is a connection between the two, either through a hole or by causing the water to overflow from one into the other, then as soon as one is prepared, the other is prepared as well.

כשפופרת הנוד (tube/mouth-piece of the leather bottle) – like a kind of reed that he placed on the mouth of the leather bottle that through it he empties out the wine or the water within the bottom. And Is measure, in order that there would be the first two fingers of the palm of the hand are able to go back in through the space, not the thumb, but the fingers adjacent to it.

או שהיו מים צפין על גביהן – as for example that the intermediate wall interrupts between the two trough lower than the other walls.

כקליפת השום ([a film of water] of the thickness of a garlic peel) – that when both of them are filled, the water floats on the middle partition like the garlic peel.

הקיפן – made them adjacent/next one to the other. It is the language of two jugs/jars together [to set a pot upon] in Tractate Betzah [Chapter 4, Mishnah 5 and folio 32b].

If one placed two stones close to one another and made them into a trough, and so also in the case of two kneading troughs, and so also in the case of a trough that was split, the water between them is not deemed to be prepared. Someone takes two stones and sets them up next to each other such that there is a receptacle in between. Or he does the same thing with two kneading troughs or he takes one trough set into a stone and divides it in two. In all three of these cases the water between the two vessels, or in the crack between the split trough, is not considered to be in a vessel and therefore cannot be used for the red cow ritual. In other words, if one takes two vessels and puts them next to each other such that a container is formed in between them, the container is not considered to be a vessel.

המים שביניהן – that is between two kneading troughs and that which is between the fissure of the trough. But the rest of the water is mixed, but those that are in the fissure, the mixture of water [and ashes] does not enter into them.

If they were joined together with lime or gypsum and they can be moved together, the water between them is deemed to have been prepared. However, if he joins the two troughs together such that they can be moved together, then the container formed in between them counts as a vessel and water in it can be used for the red cow ritual.

גיפסים – a kind of lime/plaster but it is the whitest. And we call it YISO JIPIS in the foreign language.