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Merika and Shetifa for a Tameh Kli

Zevachim (11:5) | Yisrael Bankier | 4 days ago

The eleventh perek of Zevachim discusses the mitzvah to launder clothing that was stained with blood from a chatat and to wash vessels used for a chatat. The sixth Mishnah discusses a copper kli (vessel) that, after being used for a chatat, was taken outside the azarah. The Mishnah teaches that the kli must be taken back inside because the merika and shetifa (scrubbing and rinsing) must be performed inside the azarah. What happens however if the kli became tameh making it forbidden to bring back inside? The Mishnah teaches that one must "pochato" and then bring the kli inside to wash it there. The meaning of pochato is the subject of debate.

The Bartenura explains that this refers to perforating the kli. The purpose of doing so it to break the kli thereby making it tahor. The Bartenura however explains that a significant sized perforation is required to achieve this. The merika and shetifa however must be performed on object defined as a kli and not a broken one. Consequently, the Barternura explains that one would beat the kli to seal the hole, prior to washing it inside the azarah.

The Tosfot Yom Tov notes that this is also the opinion of Rashi and the Rambam. The Tosfot however argues that if breaking the kli was the explanation, then a different solution would have been provided for a garment that was taken outside and became tameh. The Mishnah should have taught that one can simply tear the garment in half, to make it completely tahor, then stitch it together again. The Mishnah however taught that it is torn to a majority of its length. The Tifferet Yisrael explains that once torn to that extent it is no longer tameh (on a biblical level). It must however still be connected somewhat so that it is still considered the original garment when being washed. The Tosfot understands that if it was torn in two, then if stitched together it would be considered a new and different garment. Consequently, if one perforated the kli and then repaired it, it would be a considered a different kli and the mitzvah of merika and shetifa not performed. The Tosfot therefore explains that pochato means that the kli is turn inside out. That way the kli becomes tahor, and it is still considered the original kli.²

The Chazon Ish (Kodshim Kama 37:5) however answers the Tosfot's question that one can differentiate between a garment and kli. If the garment is torn in two then it would indeed no longer require laundering. When it is repaired it is a new garment. The fact that it has absorbed blood from a chatat is not enough to obligate laundering. Not all garments that have absorbed blood required it. He cites the Rambam who ruled that if blood ricocheted from one garment to the next, the second one would not require laundering. The same is not true for a kli and merika and shetifa. Any kli that absorbed some of the chatat, even one that the chatat was not cooked in, requires merika and shetifa. Consequently, even if the kli was perforated and repaired (according to the Rashi) would still require merika and shetifa.

¹ The Rambam in his explanation to the Mishnah however explains that once the garment is torn, the obligation to wash it in the azarah is then rabbinic -- because it is no longer washing the blood "from upon the garment". The same is true in our Mishnah if the large holes were made in the copper kli. In other words, the Rambam effectively accepts the Tosfot's argument, but understands that the requirement in the Mishnah for merika and shetifa is rabbinic.

² The Tifferet Yisrael however finds this explanation even more difficult. He claims that there is no greater "panim chadashut", new instantiation of the kli, than inverting it.

One might ask, why not simply purify the begged or kli in a mikvah instead of the solutions presented in the Mishnah. The Chazon Ish (ad loc) explains that for a begged, even though kibbus is a more involved process, immersing in a mikveh would be considered a minor kibbus which even that would not be allowed outside the azarah. The same is true for the kli nechoshet. Even though hagalaah is required, one is still not allowed to do merika in cold water outside.

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