Yadayim, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2. Maseches Yadayim, which sits second from the end of the whole Shas, is given over entirely to netilas yadayim, the pouring of water over the hands. The opening mishnah dealt with the quantity of water required; here the focus shifts to what holds that water. Out of what may one pour, and what fails to count?
Every Kind of Vessel Is Acceptable
Every Kind of Vessel Is Acceptable
The mishnah begins with a sweeping ruling: "B'chol hakeilim nosnin layadayim," water may be poured onto the hands out of vessels of every sort. It then adds three surprising examples, each introduced by "afilu," even: "bichlei galalim," utensils formed of dung; "bichlei avanim," utensils hewn from stone; and "bichlei adamah," utensils of unfired earth. All three are fit for washing.
Why would we have imagined otherwise? The Bartenura explains that these three materials are not reckoned as keilim at all with respect to the laws of tumah; they are incapable of contracting impurity, and in that context the halachah does not treat them as utensils. One might therefore have assumed that they are equally disqualified here. The Mishnah teaches that for netilas yadayim they are perfectly fine.
What May Not Be Used
What May Not Be Used
Now comes the reverse side. "Ein nosnin layadayim," one does not pour water for the hands, out of certain things: "lo b'dofnos hakeilim," not out of the sides of utensils, that is, broken pieces left over from a vessel; "v'lo b'shulei hamachatz," not out of the base of a ladle; "v'lo b'megufas hachavis," not out of a barrel's plug. (Note that the megufah is not the barrel's mouth itself but the stopper wedged into that mouth.)
To this the mishnah appends "v'lo yitein l'chaveiro b'chofnav": a person may not scoop water into his two cupped palms and let it run from there over someone else's hands.
A single reason covers this whole list. The mishnah says "mipnei she'ein memalin," because one may not draw water, referring to the water for the parah adumah; "v'ein m'kadshin," nor may one sanctify that water by mixing in the ashes; "v'ein mazin mei chatas," nor may one sprinkle the chatas water; and the hands, too, may not be washed, "ela bichli," other than by means of a genuine utensil. Netilas yadayim is thus grouped together with several avodos that all insist on a real kli.
The mishnah continues in the same vein: "V'ein matzilin bitzmid pasil," a lid fastened tightly shut affords protection from tumah, "ela keilim," only to true utensils. And "she'ein matzilin miyad kli cheires ela keilim": when something lies within the grasp of an earthenware utensil, only a true utensil can be spared its tumah.
A Grammatical Note
The Bartenura pauses here on the word "she'ein" in that last clause. The prefix shin normally means "that" or "because," but here, he says, it functions as a vav and simply means "and": and nothing is rescued from an earthenware vessel except keilim.
He brings a precedent from the first chapter of Beitzah, where the Mishnah states that the ashes of a stove are considered muchan, prepared, using the same shin prefix. The Gemara there explains the intent as "and the ashes of a stove are prepared." So too in our Mishnah, the shin is to be read as a conjunction rather than as a reason.
Why These Items Are Disqualified
Returning to the practical halachah, the Bartenura spells out why the disqualified items fail the test.
- The walls of vessels may not be used because they are nothing more than broken pieces of vessels. A shard is not itself a kli.
- The stopper of a barrel may not be used because it was never fashioned to hold or handle contents. It was made to serve as a cover and plug for the barrel, and a cover is not a vessel.
Mishnah 2 thus draws the line clearly: the material of the vessel does not matter at all, even dung, stone or earth will do, but it must be a real vessel, made to contain, and not a fragment, a cover, or a person's own cupped hands.