Tevul Yom, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2. The mishnayos that open this perek deal with a tevul yom, a person who contracted tumah, immersed in a mikveh, and now waits only for sunset to complete his taharah, and with what happens when he touches one food item that is resting up against a second one. The recurring question is whether his contact carries onward into the second item as well. A tevul yom bears the mildest tumah of them all, and so in cases where the attachment between two foods is questionable, his contact may affect only what he actually touched and reach no further.
Our mishnah presents the other side of that coin: a list of cases in which the two foods are so firmly joined that no one disputes the matter.
The Cases of the Mishnah
- "Hamechanes chalos", one who brings portions of challah together, "al menas shelo lehafrish", with the intent that they remain united and never be pulled apart again.
- "Ha'ofeh chamita", one who bakes a cake, "al gabei chamita", resting directly upon a second cake, so that the two cling together, "mishekarmu batanur", and this occurs once the oven has already dried a crust onto their surface.
- "Chulis shel mayim she'einah mecholcheles", the foam that forms on boiled water, in a case where that foam is thick and solid rather than hollow and full of air pockets.
- "Rischas grisin shel pol", the scum that rises from a porridge of cooking bean groats, and specifically "sheniyah", the second such rising.
- "Rischas yayin yashan", the foam that forms on wine which has aged.
- "Veshel shemen le'olam", the foam on oil, under all circumstances without exception.
- "Veshel adashim", the foam of cooked lentils.
- Rebbi Yehuda adds one further item to the list: "af shel tofach", the foam of grass peas.
The Halachah
Concerning every item on this list the Mishnah issues its verdict: "teme'im betevul yom", they do indeed contract tumah from a tevul yom. Laying a hand on the one is legally identical to laying a hand on its partner, and the tumah crosses over from one to the other. The Mishnah then continues, "ve'ein tzarich lomar", it hardly requires stating, "bechol hatumo'os", that the same applies to all the other categories of tumah: any tamei person who makes contact with these foods renders both of them tamei.
The point being conveyed here is that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel have no argument whatsoever about these items. Beis Hillel, who in certain marginal situations are willing to rule that two neighboring foods do not count as one unit as far as a tevul yom is concerned, concede in every one of these instances that the two are genuinely bound together, so that contact with either one counts as contact with both. And this is equally true whether the one making contact is a tevul yom, whose tumah is the mildest there is, or a person carrying any other tumah.