Chapter 8, Mishnah 1. We continue with the series of various testimonies.
The testimony of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beseira concerning the blood of neveilos:
"He'id Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beseira" - Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beseira testified that the blood of a neveilah, an animal that died or was not slaughtered with a valid shechitah, is not a source of tumah on the level of an av hatumah. This matter was already discussed above in chapter 5, mishnah 1, where Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel disagreed. According to the simple reading, the way the Bartenura learns it, his words fit with the opinion of Beis Hillel: even though Beis Hillel said there that the blood of neveilos is tamei, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beseira means that in the quantity of a kezayis the blood does not convey tumah the way the flesh of the neveilah conveys tumah as an av hatumah; but in the volume of a revi'is - the measure of a kiddush cup - it is a source of tumah, and this is rabbinic, since the blood is liable to congeal and to look like the flesh of the neveilah.
Others (see the Tosafos Yom Tov) understand his words literally: the blood of neveilos is entirely tahor, which implies that his tradition fits with the opinion of Beis Shammai there in the fifth chapter. In any case, he does not mean to say that the blood cannot be a liquid that transmits tumah, as one of the seven liquids; that is not our subject here. Our subject is its status as an av hatumah, the way the neveilah itself conveys tumah. Regarding that we say that the blood may have a different status.
The testimony of Rabbi Shimon ben Beseira concerning the ashes of the chatas:
"He'id Rabbi Shimon ben Beseira al efer chatas" - a vessel containing the ashes of the chatas, that is, the ashes of the burned parah adumah, "shenaga tamei b'miktzaso - shetimei es kulo": if a tamei person touched any part of the ashes in the vessel, the entire contents of the vessel, meaning all the ashes in it, become tamei.
The novelty here: ordinarily, when tumah is transmitted by direct contact, at each point of contact there is a kind of step down in level - the tamei person who touches makes what he touched a rishon, whatever touches that becomes a sheni, whatever touches that becomes a shelishi, and the tumah gradually dissipates. Since ashes are a fine particulate substance, made up of countless tiny pieces, one might have thought that the tumah would not spread through the whole vessel but only through the area near the spot where the finger of the tamei person entered the ashes. The mishnah therefore teaches: as long as the ashes are contained within a vessel, once part of them becomes tamei through direct contact, all of them become tamei.
To illustrate: a large container holding two small separate piles of ashes that are not touching one another, and a tamei person touched one of them - the second pile as well, since it is in that same container, becomes tamei and unfit for use as the ashes of the parah adumah.
The two additions of Rabbi Akiva:
"Hosif Rabbi Akiva" - the first principle: it is not only the ashes of the parah adumah that are subject to this rabbinic rule, according to which everything placed inside the vessel is regarded as one solid, continuous mass, but also the following:
"V'al hasoles" - the flour used for menachos. If a tamei person touched part of it while it was in the vessel, everything in the vessel becomes tamei and unfit.
"V'al haketores" - the incense powder. It too is an extremely fine particulate substance, and once a tamei person touched part of it inside the vessel, all of it becomes tamei.
"V'al halevonah" - a fragrant resin, the dried sap of the frankincense tree. Its grains are far larger than ashes, flour or incense: they are the size and color of small yellow raisins, and their texture resembles sugar crystals or hard candies. Here too, a quantity of levonah held in a vessel, part of which a tamei person touched - all of it becomes tamei.
"V'hagechalim" - the same law as the ashes. On Yom Kippur, when the Kohen Gadol burns the incense in the Kodesh HaKodashim, he must bring in the pan of coals from the outer mizbe'ach. If a tamei person touched one of the coals in the pan, everything in the vessel becomes tamei.
It should be noted briefly that this rule does not apply to Terumah, which is not kodashim. If we had before us a vessel of Terumah grapes, Rabbi Akiva would agree that if a zav touched them, whatever he touched becomes a rishon, whatever touches that becomes a sheni, and whatever touches that becomes pasul, with the status of a shelishi; but the grapes that are more than three stages removed are still fit to be eaten as Terumah. The rule stated here was said with regard to kodashim and the like.
The second principle that Rabbi Akiva adds concerns the identity of the one who touches: not only a person who is tamei and is a source of tumah, an av hatumah that transmits tumah, but even a tevul yom. A tevul yom is someone who was tamei and immersed in a mikvah: from the moment of his immersion he becomes tahor, yet a remnant of tumah remains in him until sunset, meaning nightfall; and during that remaining part of the day his status is that of a sheini l'tumah.
"SheNaga Tevul Yom B'Miktzatan - SheP'sal Es Kulan" - even a tevul yom who touches one of the items that Rabbi Akiva listed while they are contained in a vessel renders everything in that vessel tamei, as though it were a single solid mass of ashes, fine flour, incense, frankincense or coals, and therefore the entire quantity becomes unfit for whatever use it was designated for.