Keilim, Chapter 27, Mishnah 8. This mishnah carries forward the discussion of the previous one, which dealt with the smallest measure of cloth that can receive tum'ah, three by three, and with what happens when more cloth is later joined onto that original piece after it had already become tamei. There the subject was tum'at midras. Here the very same picture is examined through a different lens: tum'at meit, the tum'ah of a corpse.
Four Rules to Have in Hand
Before entering the mishnah itself, four principles about how corpse tum'ah spreads need to be clear.
- Any human being, and likewise any keli, that comes in touch with a dead body takes on the tum'ah of a corpse.
- This tum'ah is not washed away by dipping in a mikveh alone. A seven day procedure is required, and the water mixed with the ashes of the Parah Adumah must be sprinkled on the third day and again on the seventh.
- A keli whose contact was with the corpse itself stands at the rank of avi avot hatum'ah. If instead the keli made contact with a human being who had handled the corpse, it takes on that person's rank and becomes an av hatum'ah, and it too needs the full seven day purification.
- A keli, however, whose only contact was with another keli that had handled the corpse never picks up the tum'ah of a corpse at all. It does not reach the rank of av hatum'ah. Its rank is that of a rishon, and a rishon is cleared by immersion in a mikveh and remains tamei only until the sun sets.
The First Case: The Thread Is Pulled After the Garment Is Finished
The mishnah begins by lifting the first case of the preceding mishnah into the realm of corpse tum'ah: "Vechein beged", and so too a garment, "she'arag bo shalosh al shalosh", in which a person wove an area of three etzba'ot by three etzba'ot, fingerbreadths, this being the smallest patch of fabric able to take on the tum'ah of a corpse, "venitma tamei meit", and this little square contracted corpse tum'ah. Make the scene tangible: a man who had handled a corpse, and who therefore stood at the rank of av hatum'ah, laid his hand on the woven square, and the square in turn rose to the rank of av hatum'ah.
"Vehishlim alav et kol habeged": he then continued at the loom, extending the fabric outward from that little square until the garment had reached the dimensions he intended. The newly woven area is now attached to the square that came first. "Ve'achar kach", and only at that stage, "natal chut echad mitechilato": he drew a single thread out of that first section. Its removal leaves the original patch smaller than three etzba'ot by three etzba'ot.
The ruling: "tahor mitmei meit." The whole garment is now clean of corpse tum'ah. The reasoning is straightforward. The original piece has fallen below the measure that made it capable of receiving tum'ah in the first place, so it can no longer hold corpse tum'ah. And the material added later never had corpse tum'ah in its own right; it carried that severe tum'ah only by virtue of being attached to the original square. Once the original loses it, the addition loses it too.
Yet the mishnah continues: "Aval tamei maga tamei meit." The garment is not entirely clean. It is a rishon. Here is how that came about. At the moment the added section was joined to the original square, that square was an av hatum'ah, and the two sections were in contact with one another. Contact with an av hatum'ah makes a keli a rishon. So the added section held two statuses at once: it was an av hatum'ah through its attachment to the original piece, and it was also a rishon through touching it. And a rishon status, once acquired, does not depend on what later happens to the source. When the thread was removed and the original square lost its corpse tum'ah, the added section still remained a rishon.
From that point the tum'ah travels back in the opposite direction. The original square is no longer an av hatum'ah, but it is attached to the added section, which is a rishon. Contact with a rishon renders the original piece a rishon as well. The result is a garment that is clean of corpse tum'ah in its entirety, yet tamei as a rishon in its entirety, needing nothing more than immersion and nightfall.
The Second Case: The Thread Is Pulled Before the Garment Is Finished
The mishnah now flips the order of the two events. In the case just examined, the little square caught corpse tum'ah, then the garment was brought to completion, and only afterward was the thread pulled. Now the mishnah says: "Natal chut echad mitechilato", "ve'achar kach hishlim alav" "et kol habeged." A person wove his square of three etzba'ot by three etzba'ot; corpse tum'ah settled upon it; he then drew out a single thread, leaving the patch under the minimum area, so that its corpse tum'ah fell away. Only after all that did he return to the loom and finish the garment.
The ruling: "tahor." The garment is clean of every form of tum'ah.
Trace the stages one by one. When corpse tum'ah first settled upon the little square, the square rose to the rank of av hatum'ah. Along with that it simultaneously held the rank of rishon, since it stood in contact with itself, and maga, contact, with an av hatum'ah yields a rishon. Then came the removal of the thread. The patch now measures under three etzba'ot by three etzba'ot, and at that instant both ranks fell away at once: it is neither an av hatum'ah nor a rishon. It is wholly tahor. Therefore, when fresh fabric is later woven onto it, nothing remains in it that could pass tum'ah along, and the completed garment is clean throughout.
Why This Differs From Tum'at Midras
Matters do not end this way when the tum'ah involved is tum'at midras. In that case, a cloth that had absorbed midras tum'ah and afterward shrank beneath the area midras requires, three tefachim by three tefachim, sheds the midras and yet holds on to the rank of rishon. In our mishnah, once the square becomes too small, corpse tum'ah and rishon status drop away together and the piece is left wholly tahor. The mishnah itself explains what accounts for the discrepancy.
"Mipnei she'amru", because the Sages laid down this rule: "shalosh al shalosh shenitma'et, tahor." A patch of three etzba'ot by three etzba'ot that has been whittled down below that area is wholly tahor. A scrap that size serves no purpose whatsoever; nothing can be done with it, and it can no longer count as a keli. And since it is in no sense a keli, no grade of tum'ah can take hold in it, neither the tum'ah of a corpse nor the rank of rishon.
"Aval sheloshah al sheloshah shenitma'et, af al pi shetahor min hamidras, tamei bechol hatum'ot." A cloth of three by three tefachim that was reduced is a different matter. It is indeed clean of tum'at midras, since it is no longer fit to be sat or trodden upon, but it remains capable of receiving every other form of tum'ah, because it still serves a purpose and is still a keli.
That is precisely why the previous mishnah could rule that a cloth bearing tum'at midras which shrank below three by three tefachim lost its midras yet stayed a rishon. In our mishnah, where the piece has fallen below three by three etzba'ot, no use whatever is left in it, and so it forfeits both its corpse tum'ah and its standing as a rishon, and whatever is later joined to it is clean.