Avodah Zarah, Daf Ayin Heh, Part 5
Introduction
This mishnah discusses how a Jew can make usable cooking utensils that were purchased from a non-Jew. Since the non-Jew surely used these utensils to cook unkosher products, the utensils must be kashered.
מתני׳ הלוקח כלי תשמיש מן העובדי כוכבים את שדרכו להטביל יטביל להגעיל יגעיל ללבן באור ילבן באור השפוד והאסכלא מלבנן באור הסכין שפה והיא טהורה:
If [a Jew] purchases cooking-utensils from a non-Jew, those which are customarily used with cold liquids, he must immerse;
Those which are customarily used with hot liquids, he must be dip in boiling water;
Those which are customarily made white-hot in the fire, he must make white-hot in the fire.
A spit and grill must be made white-hot,
But a knife may be polished and is then ritually clean.
The general principle in this mishnah is quite simple: the way that a utensil was normally used is the way that it is made usable by the Jew.
A utensil that was used generally with cold foods may be washed off and it is kosher. Since it was used with cold, it did not absorb the unkosher food and therefore it need only be cleaned with water. If a utensil had been used with hot boiling liquids, such as a soup pot, it absorbed more than the utensil used with cold. Therefore it must be dipped in boiling water to remove the unkosher elements that it has absorbed. Utensils that had been used directly on the fire, such as the spit and the grill, become even more absorbent. The only way to kasher them is to make them white hot.
A knife is a special case: it must be polished so that the outside layer of the knife is actually removed. This is because the knife, which is pressed with force into foods, tends to become more absorbent, even though it is not used directly on the fire. Remember that the knives in those days were not made of the hard stainless steel of which our knives are made.
גמ׳ תנא וכולן צריכין טבילה בארבעים סאה
GEMARA. It has been taught: They all need to be immersed in [a ritual bath containing a minimum of] forty se’ah.
The Talmud adds that in addition to kashering all of these vessels need to be immersed in a mikveh.
מנהני מילי אמר רבא דאמר קרא (במדבר לא, כג) כל דבר אשר יבא באש תעבירו באש וטהר הוסיף לך הכתוב טהרה אחרת
From where is this derived? Rava said: Because the verse states, Every thing that may be put in the fire you shall through the fire, and it shall be clean (Numbers 31:23): The verse has here added for you an additional [process of] cleansing.
Rava derives this requirement from the additional word וטהר found at the end of the verse. This word is extraneous, so Rava uses it as the source for the requirement of immersing vessels bought from non-Jews.
תני בר קפרא מתוך שנאמר (במדבר לא, כג) במי נדה שומע אני שצריך הזאה שלישי ושביעי ת"ל אך חלק א"כ מה ת"ל במי נדה מים שנדה טובלת בהן הוי אומר ארבעים סאה
Bar Kapara taught: Since it says, [Nevertheless it shall be purified] with the water of lustration I might have inferred that it requires sprinkling [with this water] on the third and seventh day; therefore Scripture says nevertheless , to make a distinction. If that be so, why does Scripture say with the waters of lustration ? Say in water in which a niddah immerses.
Bar Kapara derives the halakhah that vessels bought from a Gentile must be immersed in the mikveh from the use of the word the waters of lustration which literally translates as the waters of the menstruant (niddah). Just as a menstruant must immerse in a mikveh, so too must these vessels be immersed in the mikveh.
איצטריך למיכתב וטהר ואיצטריך למיכתב במי נדה אי כתב וטהר ה"א וטהר כל דהו כתב רחמנא במי נדה ואי כתב רחמנא במי נדה הוה אמינא הערב שמש כנדה כתב רחמנא וטהר לאלתר
And it needed to write both and it shall be clean, and with the waters of lustration. If it had only written, and it shall be clean, I might have thought, it shall be clean means by any quantity of water, therefore the Torah wrote, with the waters of lustration ; and if the Torah had only written, with the waters of lustration, I might have thought that the sun needs to set, as is the case with the niddah, therefore the Torah wrote and it shall be clean, immediately [after the immersion].
The Talmud now explains why we need both Rava and Bar Kapara s midrash. Don t they teach the same thing? If we only had the midrash on it shall be clean I would not have known that the immersion needs to be in a mikveh. The cleansing could have been accomplished by pouring water over the person. Thus we need the verse that compares the method of immersion for vessels to that needed by a niddah. And if we only had the verse that mentions the mikveh ( waters of lustration ) I might have thought that the purity laws of immersing Gentile vessels are the same as those for a niddah they are not pure until the sun sets. Therefore, the other verse is necessary to teach that the vessels are immediately pure even before the sun sets.