Eiruvin, chapter ten, mishnah fifteen - the final mishnah of the tractate. This mishnah continues to deal with the Beis HaMikdash, but from a different angle: a dead creeping creature found in the Mikdash.
A sheretz is one of eight small creeping creatures whose carcasses transmit tumah to anyone who touches them. If a dead sheretz is found in the Beis HaMikdash - a dead mouse, for example - it has to be removed. The question is how: the kohen standing there does not want to become tamei, so he wants to remove it by means of some other object. The nature of a sheretz is that it can be moved without becoming tamei, as long as one does not actually touch it but moves it with the help of an object. And what should he use?
What does he use to remove it:
The best option is an object that does not become tamei in its own right, such as a plain piece of wood - "pshutei klei etz" - flat wooden utensils. That way nothing becomes tamei: not the kohen and not the wood, and the sheretz has been removed. The problem is that such an object is not always within reach. What the kohen does have on hand are the priestly garments he is wearing, and of the four garments, the one easiest for him to use for this purpose is the belt, which the mishnah calls the hemyan.
The mishnah therefore rules: "kohen motzio b'hemyano" - the kohen removes the sheretz with his belt, "shelo l'shahos es hatumah" - so that the tumah should not remain inside the Beis HaMikdash longer than necessary, even though the belt will end up becoming tamei. These are the words of Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka.
Rabbi Yehudah disagrees and says: "b'tzvasa shel etz" - he should use a wooden tongs, "shelo l'rabos es hateme'in" - so as not to increase the number of objects that become tamei, even though obtaining such a piece of wood may take additional time.
The connection between this mishnah and the previous one: a dead mouse is muktzeh, which may not be moved on Shabbos - a rabbinic prohibition. And we have already learned the principle "ein shevus b'Mikdash": a rabbinic decree is not necessarily applied in the Beis HaMikdash when it stands in the way of the service. For that reason the sheretz may be moved on Shabbos, at least indirectly by means of an object.
From where do they remove it:
Since the discussion concerns moving it on Shabbos, we need to clarify in which areas of the Beis HaMikdash the Sages were lenient with the laws of muktzeh and permitted removing it even on Shabbos. The mishnah says: "min haheichal umin ha'ulam umibein ha'ulam v'lamizbe'ach":
The Heichal - which contains the Menorah, the Table and the incense altar.
The Ulam - a kind of porch area, in front of the Heichal.
Between the Ulam and the altar - an area further removed from the holiest parts.
These are the words of Rabbi Shimon ben Nanas. In his view, these are the only areas of the Beis HaMikdash where they were lenient to remove the sheretz on Shabbos, and even in other areas within the Azarah itself they would not remove it.
Rabbi Akiva takes a broader approach: "makom shechayavin al zedono kares v'al shigsaso chatas - misham motzi'in oso" - any place where one who enters while tamei is liable to kares if he did so deliberately and a chatas offering if he did so unwittingly, meaning the entire area of the Azarah, from there the sheretz is to be removed on Shabbos, even though it is muktzeh.
"Ush'ar kol hamekomos - kofin alav psachter" - in all other places (according to ben Nanas: the remaining parts of the Azarah; according to Rabbi Akiva: anywhere outside the Azarah) they overturn a psachter upon it - a large vessel that was used in the Beis HaMikdash - and cover the sheretz with it until Shabbos ends, and then they remove it directly.
"Makom shehitiru lach chachamim mishelach nasnu lach":
Rabbi Shimon says: "makom shehitiru lach chachamim mishelach nasnu lach, shelo hitiru lach ela mishum shevus" - wherever the Sages permitted something, it is not a new leniency; rather, they gave you what was already yours, something that was permitted to you from the outset; and whatever they permitted, they permitted only matters whose prohibition is rabbinic alone.
What is this referring to? The Gemara explains that Rabbi Shimon comes to resolve an apparent contradiction between two things he said.
At the end of chapter four we learned that someone who was outside the techum when Shabbos began, even one cubit outside the techum, may not enter. And Rabbi Shimon said that even someone who was fifteen cubits outside the techum may enter, because those who measure the techumin build in extra space: they measure fifteen cubits short, so that there will be a surplus area in which a person who left the techum can stand. It turns out that anyone who finds himself even within fifteen cubits outside the techum is really inside the techum. So in this case Rabbi Shimon is very lenient.
However, in mishnah thirteen we learned that a Levi whose harp string snapped in the Mikdash may tie the string on Shabbos if necessary. And in a beraisa in the Gemara Rabbi Shimon disagrees and says that even in the Beis HaMikdash they would not tie it, since in his view this could lead to desecration of Shabbos. That beraisa follows the approach that the mishnah permitted only something that involves no Torah prohibition, and Rabbi Shimon disagreed and said that even though it is not a Torah prohibition it should not be done; rather, he makes a bow and does not tie an actual knot.
To this Rabbi Shimon says in our mishnah that there is no contradiction, even though on the surface it appears that he is lenient in the rabbinic law of techumin and strict in the rabbinic law of tying:
Regarding techumin: "mishelach nasnu lach" - the fifteen cubits were his own place to begin with, and he was not outside the techum at all; this is no leniency whatsoever.
Regarding tying: "lo hitiru lach ela mishum shevus" - in the Mikdash they permitted only something whose prohibition is rabbinic alone; but tying the string is something that could lead to a Torah prohibition, and in that the Sages were not lenient.
To summarize: in this mishnah we learned how a sheretz found in the Mikdash is removed - according to Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka with the kohen's belt, so as not to let the tumah remain, and according to Rabbi Yehudah with a wooden tongs, so as not to increase the number of objects that become tamei; from where it is removed on Shabbos - according to Rabbi Shimon ben Nanas from the Heichal, from the Ulam and from between the Ulam and the altar, and according to Rabbi Akiva from any place where one is liable to kares if deliberate and a chatas if unwitting, while in all other places they overturn a psachter upon it; and finally we examined Rabbi Shimon's statement, "wherever the Sages permitted something, they gave you what was already yours," and how his position is consistent between the leniency in techumin and the stringency in tying the string.
I hope you will join us for Maseches Pesachim, beginning with the very next mishnah.