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Week 28 - Tuesday - 6 June 2000

SHEKALIM: CHAPTER 8 : MISHNA 2

All the utensils found in Jerusalem: on the path downward to the place of immersion - are tameh, on the path upward - are tahor, for the path downwards is not that upwards: the words of R. Meir. R. Yose says, All are tahor, except for the basket and the spade and the crusher that are specially used for graves.

Kehati

All the utensils found in Jerusalem: on the path downward to the place of immersion - If they were found on the path which leads down to the place of immersion, they are tameh - are presumed to be tameh, on the path upward - If they were found on the path leading up from the place of immersion, they Are tahor - Are presumed to be tahor, For the path downwards is not that upwards - for they did not use the same path to take the utensils down that they used for bringing them up, so that the utensils which had become tahor should not touch those which were still tameh. Thus, utensils found on the path downward are those which were still tameh. Thus, utensils found on the path downward are presumed to have fallen before they are were immersed and must be presumed to be tameh, while those found on the upward path are presumed to have been immersed, and are thus presumed to be tahor. Others have a version: that its descent is not the same as its ascent (Jerusalem Talmud, Rambam), and Rambam explains that by examining the utensil when found one can tell if it fell before immersion or after;

The words of R. Meir - In Tractate Pesahim the Talmud explains that, according to R. Meir, only if a utensil was found on the downward path is it presumed to be tameh, but anywhere else in Jerusalem it is presumed to be tahor, for the Sages did not decree concerning utensils of doubtful origin. R. Yose says, All are tahor - All utensils found in Jerusalem are tahor, even those on the path leading down to the place of immersion, for the Sages did not issue a decree regarding utensils of doubtful origin in Jerusalem as they did in other cities.

Except for the basket and the spade and the crusher that are specially used for graves - In those days, they would first bury the dead in a temporary grave, and later they would transfer the bones to the family grave; for this purpose they used a special basket to gather the bones, a spade to gather together the bones if they were scattered, and a crusher, this being a metal instrument with a sharp pointed head, which was used to split the rocks needed for the graves; the Jerusalem Talmud explains that this instrument makes the stones "run" (the same word in Hebrew is the name for this tool) by breaking them up and making them more portable. (Bartenura explains this differently, and see Tiferet Yisrael who is surprised at Bartenura's explanation); and if any of these tools was found, even in Jerusalem, it is presumed to be tameh as these are used specifically for graves. The halakhah follows R. Yose.

SHEKALIM: CHAPTER 8: MISHNAH 3

A knife which was found on the fourteenth, one may slaughter with it immediately; on the thirteenth - he must immerse it again. And a cleaver on this or on this he must immerse again. If the fourteenth fell on the Sabbath, he may slaughter with it immediately. On the fifteenth - he may slaughter with it immediately. If it was found tied to a knife, it is as the knife.

Kehati

After we learned in the previous mishnah that if utensils were found in Jerusalem they are presumed to be tahor (according to R. Yose, whom the halakhah follows), this mishnah teaches us that in regard to consecrated objects the Sages were more stringent and required immersion of the utensil before use, as is explained in our mishnah.

A knife - for the slaughtering of animals, which was found - In Jerusalem, on the fourteenth - Of Nisan, one may slaughter with it immediately - He is permitted to use it immediately to slaughter the paschal sacrifice and other sacrifices, for we say that the owner definitely lost it today, for before the festival there is a multitude of people in Jerusalem, and a lost object could not remain unfound for any length of time. It is also presumed that the owner probably immersed the knife the previous day so that it would become totally tahor at nightfall that day and be fit for use today, the eve of Pesah.

On the thirteenth - But if the knife was found on the thirteenth of Nisan, he must immerse it again - i.e., even though it is quite possible that the owner had already immersed the knife, nevertheless, the finder must immerse it due to the doubt involved, for since there is time until just before sunset, we are afraid that the original owner might not have immersed it yet. And even though the decree of our Sages regarding utensils of doubtful origin did not include Jerusalem, as we learned in the previous mishnah (according to R. Yose), the Sages required immersion here because of the stringency of the consecrated objects. And a cleaver - a large knife used for chopping meat and bones, on this or on this - whether it was found on the fourteenth or on the thirteenth of Nisan, He must immerse again - for such a knife is not used for slaughtering, but for chopping up meat and bones, and it is possible that it was tameh and its owner took it on the fourteenth to immerse it, to use it on the festival, and since there is time to immerse it until just before sunset, we are afraid that he might not have immersed it yet.

The Talmud (Pesahim 70a) asks: "Isn't the chopping knife suitable for cutting the haggigah sacrifice that accompanies the paschal sacrifice on the fourteenth of Nisan, since breaking bones of that sacrifice is permitted, unlike the bones of the paschal sacrifice. Why then must one who finds it on the fourteenth immerse it? Why shouldn't we say that the owner probably immersed the chopping knife on the thirteenth, so that he can use it to cut the haggigah on the fourteenth, as we say regarding a knife found on the fourteenth? The Talmud concludes there that the mishnah refers to a case where the nasi (exilarch) was deathly ill on the thirteenth, and should he die, the entire community would become tameh, for all of Israel are commanded to take part in his burial. In that case, the paschal sacrifice would be offered with everyone being tameh, and there would be no need to purify the utensils. In the case of a knife which is suitable for slaughtering the paschal sacrifice, since there is only one unknown - whether the nasi will die and they will have to perform the paschal sacrifice while they are tameh - no one refrains from immersing the knife because of that unknown, for it is possible that the nasi will not die and they will prepare the paschal sacrifice in purity. Therefore. "A knife which was found on the fourteenth, one may slaughter with it immediately," for it is assumed that it was immersed the previous day so as to slaughter the paschal sacrifice today, on the fourteenth. But with a cleaver there are two unknowns: a) whether the nasi will die and they will prepare the paschal sacrifice while they are tameh, in which case they will not bring the haggigah and there will be no need for the cleaver b) Even if the nasi does not die, maybe there will be few people in the group for this particular paschal sacrifice, and they will not bring a haggigah at all (see Mishnah Pesahim 6:3); therefore if a cleaver is found on the fourteenth, the presumption, based on these two unknowns, is that it was not immersed, and therefore we learn here, "a cleaver on this one or on this one he must immerse again again."

If the fourteenth fell on the Sabbath, he may slaughter with it immediately - Even if one found a cleaver, he may slaughter with it immediately, for as one is forbidden to immerse utensils on the Sabbath, the presumption is that he owner immersed it on Friday, namely the thirteenth. And even though one does not offer a haggigah sacrifice when the fourteenth of Nisan is on the Sabbath, and thus there is no need for a cleaver, we nevertheless say that the owner certainly cleansed it for the haggigah which he will offer on the fifteenth. And the mishnah uses the word "slaughter" here, even though a cleaver is not meant for slaughtering but for chopping up the meat and bones, because one can nevertheless slaughter with it if one wishes to (Tosefot Yom Tov.)

On the fifteenth - If the cleaver was found on the fifteenth of Nisan, namely on the first day of Pesah, he may slaughter with it immediately - The sacrifices of the festival, for the reason given above, for as one is forbidden to immerse utensils on Yom Tov, he certainly immersed it before Yom Tov. If it - the cleaver, was found tied to a knife, it is as the knife - It is considered a knife, and even if it was found on the fourteenth of Nisan which is on a weekday, he may use it immediately, for the cleaver was definitely immersed together with the slaughtering knife on the thirteenth, as it is tied to it.

We have explained the mishnah here in accordance with Rashi (Tractate Pesahim 70a), and this is the way most of the commentators explain it. Rambam, though, explains the latter part as referring to a knife (not a cleaver), and according to his explanation the mishnah teaches us that even if a knife was found on the fourteenth which is on a Sabbath, one does not fear that the knife might be tameh, and as a result the sacrifice is tameh and he has violated the Shabbat not for the purpose of a mitzva, because every knife found on the fourteenth of Nisan is presumed to be clean and therefore can be used for slaughtering immediately, and the same applies where the knife was found on the fifteenth, namely on the day of Yom Tov itself, and one may slaughter with it immediately, for the presumption is that all utensils are tahor, for as everyone knows that one cannot immerse utensils on Yom Tov, all immerse their utensils on the day before. Finally, the mishnah tells us that if a knife was found tied to another knife that a person recognized, the unfamiliar knife has the same law as the familiar one, being either tameh or tahor just as the other one. As to the words shoneh u'matbil, which we translated above as "he must immerse again," Rambam explains it differently. According to him, the word shoneh means that he repeats the sprinkling with the ashes of the Red Heifer, for we fear that this knife might have come in contact with a corpse, and we consider the thirteenth of Nisan, the day the knife was found, as the seventh day of the purification process which requires sprinkling the knife the second time with the ashes of the Red Heifer, as it says regarding coming in contact with a corpse (Num. 19:19): "And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh." Therefore he repeats the sprinkling and then immerses the knife, and may use it the following day for slaughtering (Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah; Hil. Avot Hatum'ah 13:5-7; and see comments of Ravad and Kesef Mishneh).

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