Today, with Hashem's help, we will complete Maseches Keilim. Only one mishnah remains before us - mishnah 4 of chapter 30 - and this portion of the shiur will therefore be the final mishnah of Maseches Keilim, learned with you by your faithful servant, Tzvi Hirsch Schwannreich. The next mishnah will already open Maseches Ohalos, chapter 1 mishnah 1, and it is a great privilege for me to share this shiur with my esteemed colleague and a longtime friend of my family, Rabbi Akiva Tendler shlita.
Mishnah 4 of chapter 30 - the laws of glass vessels:
"Tzelochis ketanah shenital piha - temei'ah" - a small bottle with a narrow neck whose neck broke off still receives tumah, because it can continue to be used: one holds it from below, and there is no need to touch the protruding shards of glass at its neck, so there is no concern that one's hand will be cut.
"U'gedolah shenital piha - tehorah" - a large bottle that one does not hold in one hand, but rather needs to handle with two hands. Since it is held with two hands, it is impossible to avoid the jagged edges and the protruding shards of glass around the mouth of the vessel, and therefore it is no longer fit for use and does not receive tumah.
"Shel palyaton - tehorah, mipnei shehi sorachas es hayad" - a palyaton is a small flask used for oil and for various liquid spices, rosewater and the like. One does not normally pour from it; rather, one inserts a finger into it in order to take out a bit of the perfumed liquid inside. Once its mouth broke off, the finger gets scraped on the shards of glass and a person no longer uses it - and therefore it is tahor.
"Leginin gedolim shenitlu pihem - temei'in, mipnei shehu maniach aleihem bosem" - a large glass jug whose wide neck broke off does receive tumah, since it is still useful: even though there are shards of glass around its rim, it can be used for pickling tomatoes and cucumbers - one pours salt and vinegar into it without touching the protruding shards, places the pickled vegetables inside and leaves them until they are pickled, and after two months takes them out - all without any danger to the hands. It is a functioning, useful vessel, and therefore it receives tumah.
"V'afarkeis shel cheresh - tehorah" - an afarkeis is a large glass container or a bin into which one places the wheat that is about to be ground in the mill. A small opening is made in it, and the wheat pours out and descends beneath the millstone that grinds it. This is not truly a receptacle, since the wheat is not kept in it for any length of time; it merely holds it temporarily until the grinding, and therefore it does not receive tumah.
The words of Rabbi Yosi at the conclusion of the maseches:
With this the mishnah concludes, and its final word is "tehorah." On this Rabbi Yosi remarks: "Ashrecha Keilim, shenichnasta b'tumah v'yatzasa b'taharah" - the maseches opened on a note of tumah, since its opening words deal with tumah, and it concludes on a note of taharah.
His words, however, raise a historical question: Rabbi Yosi lived before Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, who is the editor of the Mishnah. How could he comment on the opening and the conclusion of the maseches and praise the fact that it closes with a sign of taharah even though it opened with a sign of tumah, when he apparently passed away before Rabbi arranged the Mishnah? The Acharonim address this question.
The explanation of Rabbi Akiva Eiger:
In his notes on the Mishnah, in Tosafos, Rabbi Akiva Eiger explains that although Rabbi Yosi was Rabbi's teacher and instructor, there were earlier versions and arrangements of mishnayos that preceded Rabbi's editing. This indeed emerges from the words of Tosafos in Maseches Bava Kamma (94b), that there were mishnayos even before Rabbi, and Rabbi merely arranged them, collected them and edited them. Rabbi Yosi therefore had an earlier edition of mishnayos, which opened in the same way and concluded with taharah, and it was on that that he commented.
The explanation of the "Mishnah Acharonah":
The well known commentary known as the "Mishnah Acharonah," an interesting commentary rich in original insights, takes a different approach. According to him, Rabbi Yosi is not commenting on the mishnayos that we have learned over the past four months, since they were finalized after his time; rather, all the Tannaim who preceded Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi had their own private versions of arranged mishnayos, transmitted by tradition from generation to generation. Rabbi Yosi too had such an earlier edition, and it as well concluded with the word "tehorah."
The "Mishnah Acharonah" adds: even if the mishnah that Rabbi Yosi had did not conclude precisely with these words, but rather concluded with this chapter that deals with glass vessels - glass vessels themselves go out with taharah, since by Torah law they do not receive tumah at all. It emerges that Maseches Keilim does not conclude on a note of earthenware vessels, wooden vessels, iron vessels or metal vessels, all of which receive tumah by Torah law under various conditions, but rather on a note of taharah - with glass vessels, which never receive tumah by Torah law. This is the taharah in which Rabbi Yosi rejoiced at its beautiful conclusion.
I can only say that it is my hope that all of you - whether you joined the shiur from time to time or stayed with it for all one hundred and twenty eight days - have advanced from tumah to taharah through the learning of the mishnayos of Maseches Keilim, in a way that is symbolic, literal, halachic and spiritual all at once. Slik Maseches Keilim, hadran alach Maseches Keilim, and from here we move once again to the expert guidance of my dear friend, Rabbi Akiva Tendler, who will begin with the first mishnah of Maseches Ohalos.