We now return to a topic we began discussing in Mishnah 4 of Chapter 11: a chatas offering that was cooked in a metal vessel - the vessel requires scouring and rinsing (merikah and shetifah), meaning cleaning and rinsing; and if it was cooked in an earthenware vessel - the vessel requires breaking, and the breaking must be done in a holy place, in the Courtyard of the Temple. In our current Mishnah, we will delve deeper into the matter of the scouring and rinsing themselves.
The Source of the Law in the Verse:
The commandment is derived from the verse: "V'im bikli nechoshes bushla - umorak v'shutaf bamayim" - "And if it is boiled in a copper vessel, it shall be scoured and rinsed in water." "Morak" - this refers to the scouring, the cleaning; "shutaf" - this is the rinsing, and both are done in water. The underlying principle is that once the designated time for eating the meat of the korban has passed, it becomes nosar, and at this point, eating it is forbidden under the penalty of kares. Since we cannot leave behind absorbed flavors of a forbidden food, and regarding absorbed flavor we apply the rule of "ta'am k'ikar" (the flavor is treated like the primary substance itself) - as if the food itself is still present in the vessel - a person is obligated to rid the vessel of the absorbed flavor in order to continue using it.
However, the general concept of kashering vessels - the knowledge that a forbidden flavor absorbed in a vessel requires removal - is not a novel concept introduced by these verses, but rather an established halachah that is not derived from here. Hence the assumption that the special requirement of "umorak v'shutaf bamayim" comes to add something to the basic foundation of kashering vessels.
The Two Additional Requirements:
The Mishnah will later bring different opinions, but according to halachah, there are two additions. In regular kashering of vessels, a vessel that absorbed a forbidden flavor - for example, a non-kosher bird that was cooked in soup - requires hagalah: the expulsion of the absorbed flavor by means of hot water. However, for regular hagalah, one can use water or any other liquid (even boiling grape juice), and it is sufficient to immerse only the part of the vessel that touched the food, without needing to immerse the entire vessel. For the scouring and rinsing of absorbed nosar, two requirements were added:
Specifically water - no other liquid is sufficient.
The entire vessel - and not just the part that came in contact with the food.
Cooked In It or Poured Into It:
The Mishnah states: "Bein shebishal bo uvein she'erah lesocho rose'ach" - whether he cooked in it, or whether he poured boiling liquid into it. That is to say, not only the vessel in which the korban was cooked, but even the vessel into which the boiling broth was poured. Irui mikli rishon (pouring from a primary vessel) - pouring directly from the pot that was on the fire - imparts flavor into the receiving vessel upon which the stream of liquid falls. Although it does so at a more superficial level and not throughout its entirety inside and out, the power to impart flavor exists. Hence a related law: on Shabbos, one may not pour directly from the urn onto tea leaves or raw coffee, since the pouring cooks them.
Therefore, the bowl or vessel into which he poured from the pot also requires scouring and rinsing. This law applies to all types of korbanos, since each one has a set time limit after which its meat becomes nosar, and thus the problem arises with all of them.
It is worth noting that this presentation is somewhat simplistic, since, as mentioned, the scouring and rinsing come in addition to the kashering; regardless, we learn from the verses that the additional requirement of scouring and rinsing applies to any absorbed flavor of korban meat that becomes nosar. In the verses in Vayikra Chapter 6, the context is clearly a chatas, and the blood of the chatas is also included in this. However, there is a redundancy in the text: "bakohenim yo'chal osah" (among the kohanim it shall be eaten) - the word "osah" (it) is seemingly extra, and the phrase "kodesh kodashim hi" (it is most holy) is also extra. From these redundancies, this Tanna learns to expand the law to all korbanos, and not just to kodshei kodashim.
Kodshei Kodashim and Kodashim Kalim:
The language of the Mishnah is: "Echad kadshei kodashim v'echad kodashim kalim - te'unin merikah u'shetifah" - whether most holy offerings or lesser holy offerings, they require scouring and rinsing. Any flavors absorbed from the offerings, once they reach the status of nosar (leftover offering meat), require this additional scouring and rinsing, which goes beyond standard kashering.
Conversely, "Rabbi Shimon omer: Kodashim kalim einan te'unin merikah u'shetifah" - Rabbi Shimon says: Lesser holy offerings do not require scouring and rinsing. Based on his understanding of the biblical exegesis - and the explanation is technical and complex - Rabbi Shimon concludes that this additional stringency was stated only regarding most holy offerings and not lesser holy offerings. Even Rabbi Shimon agrees, of course, that if one cooked shelamim in a pot and the absorbed flavor became nosar, the pot requires kashering before it can be used again; however, in his opinion, there is no obligation here to specifically use water or to kasher the entire pot.
The approach of Rabbi Tarfon:
"Rabbi Tarfon omer: Im bishel bo mitchilas ha'regel - yevashel bo es kol ha'regel" - Rabbi Tarfon says: If one cooked in it from the beginning of the festival, he may cook in it for the entire festival. Rabbi Tarfon raises a different point. In the pots used during the days of the festival - take Succos for example - numerous shelamim offerings are brought on each of the eight days: the shelamim of rejoicing that every person is obligated to bring, and alongside them, the special offering brought by every pilgrim so as not to appear empty-handed, meaning everyone has an olah (burnt-offering) and shelamim. On each day of the festival, new shelamim meat is added, and the number of shelamim offerings circulating in the Temple courtyard is larger than the number of pots, meaning there is a relative shortage of vessels.
Therefore, says Rabbi Tarfon, it can safely be assumed that each and every day, the same pots are reused for additional shelamim. Even if one cooked shelamim in this pot on the first day, and by the end of the second day the absorbed flavor is destined to become nosar - at some point in the middle of the second day he cooks in that very same pot again. This cooking extracts the absorbed flavor and effectively kashers the pot, so the absorbed flavor never reaches the status of nosar. Seemingly, one might wonder how it is permissible to reuse a forbidden pot, but here the absorbed flavors are not forbidden until the final deadline: this is a kosher vessel that is destined to become forbidden tomorrow, and using it today prevents it, so to speak, from becoming forbidden.
Therefore, one may conduct themselves this way on each of the days of the festival, as the pot does not reach the status of nosar until the festival ends; and at its conclusion, on the following day, the absorbed flavor becomes nosar, and then the scouring and rinsing must be performed. This logic is acceptable in principle, but in practice, there is a concern that it is not precise, and perhaps the pot is not reused for shelamim every single day. Therefore, the Sages disagree and say: "Ad zeman achilah" - until the time for eating, meaning until the final deadline for eating that specific offering cooked in the vessel, whether one day or two days, according to the laws of that offering. Once this time has passed, the vessel requires scouring and rinsing before it can be used again. Once the absorbed flavor becomes nosar, the obligation of scouring and rinsing applies. This is the halachah, and not like Rabbi Tarfon.
What are scouring and rinsing?
The Mishnah presents only one opinion - the opinion of Rebbi, the editor of the Mishnah - according to which scouring and rinsing mean washing with cold water on the inside and the outside. This is not the halachah in practice. Rebbi compares this to the obligation of cleaning the inside and outside of a cup of blessing (kos shel berachah): during Birkas HaMazon, a blessing is recited over a cup of wine, and the Gemara in Berachos (10a) lists ten requirements for that cup. As a matter of halachah, four of them are counted, including washing and rinsing - washing the cup on the inside and outside. According to the Magen Avraham and the Mishnah Berurah, nowadays one can wipe the inside and outside with a cloth instead of using water, but the main point is that the cup must be clean inside and out. The same applies to the requirement of scouring and rinsing according to Rebbi: cleaning the inside and outside of the pot after it has been kashered.
The language of the Mishnah is: "Merikah kimerikas hakos u'shetifah kishetifas hakos" - scouring is like the scouring of the cup, and rinsing is like the rinsing of the cup. Usually, shetifah (washing) refers to the inside and hadachah (rinsing) to the outside, and according to this, merikah (scouring) would refer to the outside - which is somewhat perplexing; alternatively, it is possible that merikah, acting as hadachah, is the inside and shetifah is the outside. In any case, the main point is washing the inside and outside with cold water.
"Merikah u'shetifah betzonen" - scouring and rinsing in cold water:
The Mishnah states explicitly that both are done with cold water - "tzonen". There are textual variants that read "scouring in hot water and rinsing in cold water", but this is incorrect; the words "in hot water" should be removed, as they confuse the entire matter.
A spit and a grill:
A shefud is a spit used over a fire, and an askela is a grill or pan used over a fire - vessels that were used directly on the fire and not by means of boiling water. Regarding these, Rabbi says: "Maggilan bechamin" - cold water is not sufficient. After kashering them with glowing heat in the fire, cleaning their exterior is also required, and this cleaning is done with boiling water. With this, the Mishnah concludes.
In summary: We learned the source for the obligation of scouring and rinsing from the verse "and it shall be scoured and rinsed in water", its foundation in the absorption of the taste of leftover sacrificial meat, and the novel aspect of it being beyond standard kashering. We saw that the obligation applies even to a vessel into which one poured, the dispute of Rabbi Shimon regarding sacrifices of lesser sanctity, the opinion of Rabbi Tarfon regarding the days of the festival, and the opinion of the Sages of "until the time of eating". The practical halachah is not like the final part of the Mishnah: the required scouring and rinsing are akin to hagalah - specifically boiling in water, and for the entire vessel that absorbed the taste, all of which requires kashering through those two additional requirements.