We continue our study of the mishnayos of Maseches Keilim, and before us is the second mishnah of chapter 30.
This mishnah too deals with glass vessels. Glass vessels are susceptible to tumah only by rabbinic decree, and fundamentally their rabbinic law is halachically similar to the law of earthenware vessels.
The three laws of the aspaklaria:
"Aspaklaria - tehorah" - an aspaklaria is a mirror made of glass, and it is not susceptible to tumah. The reason: it has no receptacle, since it is flat and is not made to hold anything, but only so that one may look at his face in it.
"V'tamchui she'asa'o aspaklaria - tamei" - a tamchui is a large serving tray, wide and long, which has a receptacle, and as a receptacle it is susceptible to tumah in its own right. Now its owner polished it and made it shine, and he uses it as reflective glass - as a mirror. Even so it is tamei, because it has not lost its previous status as a tamchui, which is a receptacle for food and a serving tray. The polishing in itself is fine, and from now on a person can look at his face in it, but fundamentally it is still a tray.
"V'im mitechilah asa'o l'shem aspaklaria - tahor" - a person fashioned a vessel that looks like and resembles a tamchui, but his intention from the outset was to make a mirror. Not every mirror is flat, and it is possible for one to be made in the shape of a long food tray. Since his primary purpose and intention was to make an aspaklaria - it is tahor, and it is not susceptible to tumah.
"Tarvad shehinicho al hashulchan":
A tarvad is a spoon, and in practice a ladle - and here, a glass ladle. When a person sets this ladle down, full of soup or another dish, on the table, it tips onto its side because its bottom is round. Therefore the law depends on what remains inside it:
"Im mekabel kol shehu - tamei" - if even after it has tipped onto its side some of the liquid still remains inside it, it is susceptible to tumah, since its law is that of a receptacle. True, it is a spoon, but the difference is that even when part of it is lying on its side, a bit of soup remains in it.
"V'im lav" - if, once it is set down on the table, it turns over, everything spills out and it holds nothing, the Tannaim disagree about it.
Rabbi Akiva rules it tamei: even so it is susceptible to tumah, for its law is that of an earthenware vessel. Had he not set it down on the table in a position in which everything spills out of it, but rather held it in his hand, it would hold all its contents - and this is its manner of use: to take up soup from the pot with it and pour it into the soup bowl, and all of its use is done while it is held in the hand. Therefore it is an earthenware vessel in every respect and is susceptible to tumah.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri rules it tahor: since nothing can remain in this tarvad, for the moment it is released from the hand it tips and turns over and everything spills out, and it can be used only for that moment in which one scoops from the pot and pours into the soup bowl - it is not considered a receptacle. A receptacle must be a bowl, a cup or a pot; but a spoon that turns over when it is set down on a flat surface is not an earthenware receptacle, and therefore it is not susceptible to tumah.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned that an aspaklaria is tahor because it has no receptacle; that a tamchui which was polished and made into an aspaklaria remains in its tumah, since the name of the original vessel has not left it; whereas a vessel that was made from the outset for the sake of an aspaklaria, even though its form is that of a tamchui, is tahor, for everything follows the intention at the time it was made. We also learned regarding the tarvad that if any amount remains in it after it has tipped onto its side - it is tamei, and if not, Rabbi Akiva rules it tamei because its manner of use is while held in the hand, while Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri rules it tahor because it is not a receptacle.