Keilim, Chapter 2, Mishnah 8. Earlier in this chapter we learned a governing principle about earthenware vessels, keilim of cheres: such a vessel is only susceptible to tumah if it is able to rest on its own, without needing something else to prop it up. This mishnah presents three cases that test the boundaries of that principle and of what counts as a receptacle at all.
The Torch That Cannot Stand Alone
The mishnah begins: "Halapid tamei" - a torch of earthenware is susceptible to tumah. At first glance this seems to contradict the rule we just recalled, since a torch of this kind has no ability to remain upright by itself. It was designed from the outset to be set into a holder and used from there.
Picture how such a torch was built. It was essentially an earthenware bowl filled with oil, with a cloth placed inside to serve as the wick. Attached to the underside of the bowl was a long point, and that point was driven into a pole. The torch was then raised high so that its flame would light up the surrounding area, functioning very much like a street lamp of its day.
Since we might have assumed that a vessel unable to support itself is not a keli at all, the mishnah teaches otherwise: the requirement of standing independently does not apply to a vessel that was never meant to stand independently in the first place. This torch was manufactured precisely in order to be inserted into something else, so its dependence on the pole is not a flaw in its status as a utensil. It remains a keli and can become tamei.
The Seat of the Lamp
The mishnah continues: "Uveit shika'o shel ner mitamei ba'avir" - the socket of a lamp is susceptible to tumah through its airspace. This refers to an earthenware stand with an indentation carved into its top, made to hold a lamp in place. The indentation is quite shallow, and only the bottom of the lamp actually settles into it. Nevertheless, the mishnah rules that this hollow qualifies as a receptacle. Consequently it contracts tumah through its airspace: if a source of tumah passes into the space of that opening, without even touching the stand, the vessel becomes tamei, exactly as with any earthenware container.
The Comb of the Tzartzur
The mishnah now turns to a vessel called a tzartzur. This was a type of jug whose mouth was fitted with a kind of strainer. The strainer served to block dirt and insects from getting in, so that the water inside would stay clean. It was not a drinking cup; it was made to store a substantial quantity of liquid.
In the era of the Mishnah it was fashionable to ornament the rim of such a jug with small projections rising from it. The mishnah refers to these projections as the teeth of a comb.
About this the mishnah says: "Hamasrek shel tzartzur" - the comb of the tzartzur, meaning the area at the top, above the strainer, formed by those teeth. "Rabbi Eliezer metaher" - Rabbi Eliezer rules that this area does not become tamei. His reasoning is that the gaps between the teeth make it impossible for that space to retain liquid, so it is not a receptacle and cannot contract tumah.
"Vachachamim metam'in" - the Chachamim hold that this area is indeed susceptible to tumah, since in their understanding it belongs to the inner cavity of the tzartzur. The jug is a container, and the space between those projections is reckoned as part of its inside. So should a sheretz make its way into the air enclosed above the strainer, tumah spreads to the tzartzur in its entirety. Rabbi Eliezer, by contrast, maintains that a space incapable of holding liquid by itself is no receptacle, and nothing there can become tamei.