במדבר לא, כב: אך את הזהב ואת הכסף את הנחשת את הברזל את הבדיל ואת העפרת
כג :כל דבר אשר יבא באש תעבירו באש וטהר אך במי נדה יתחטא וכל אשר לא יבא באש תעבירו במים
These verses were stated following the capture of eating vessels from the war with Midyan. These verses are the source of many laws, yet there exists many different interpretations of these verses.
Two major laws are reflected in these verses: hechsher keilim, the purging of forbidden foods from food vessels; and tevilas keilim, immersion of the vessel in a Mikvah.
Verse 22: The Torah lists six metals that will be the subject of verse 23: gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead. Newer metals, such as aluminum, and hybrids such as steel are assumed to be included. Wood, earthenware, stone, rubber and plastics are assumed not to be included.
Verse 23: Source of the law of Hechsher Keilim, the purging of forbidden foods from vessels:
- The verse teaches regarding a vessel that is used in fire without liquids, such as a roasting spit, would be koshered through fire (Libun). However, vessels that are not used through direct fire (like pots) require koshering by water (Hagalah).
- The verse teaching regarding a vessel that is used in fire, whether with or without liquids (includes pots), is koshered according to the fire usage (Libun when without liquids; Hagalah for pots). However, those vessels which are not used with fire but with cold are koshered by cleansing with water.
- The verse only teaches about a vessel that is used with liquids (pots) used with fire (vessels that are used with fire without liquids is a learning from the Rabbis based on the principal of KeBolo Kach Polto, the way it is absorbed is the way it is purged). However, those vessels which are not used with fire but with cold are koshered by cleansing with water.
Verse 23: Source of the law of tevilas keilim, immersion in a Mikvah:
- וכל אשר לא יבא באש תעבירו במים indicates that the vessel is put into the water of a Mikvah.
- The word יתחטא is extra and indicates the vessel is put into the water of a Mikvah.
- The immersion in a Mikvah is not from the Torah but a decree from the received tradition.
Verse 23:Taam KeIkar (taste of something prohibited although the food itself is no longer there):
Rabeinu Bachye states that 'Ta'am ke'Ikar' is Asur min ha'Torah. He refers to the Midyonite cooking utensils that required hag'alah in order to exude the non-Kasher food that the utensils had absorbed.
He explains that the Torah only forbids a taste that is 'fit for a Ger' - in other words, one which tastes pleasant. After twenty-four hours, what is absorbed in the walls of a vessel becomes spoiled, so that the taste that it adds to other food that was subsequently cooked in the vessel is now permitted.
That being the case, all the vessels that they now had to Kasher would anyway have become permitted twenty-four hours after their Midyonite owners had last used them. Moreover, we have a principle that 'Stam keilim einan bnei yoman' - unless we know for sure that a vessel has been used by a gentile within twenty-four hours, we assume that it hasn't been used within the last 24 hours.
It therefore transpires that the Halachah being taught affected only those cooking utensils that were known for sure to have been used within twenty-four hours. And even those utensils would become permitted once those twenty-four hours had passed. Granted, the Chachamim forbade using such vessels even after many years without Tevilah, but min ha'Torah, they were permitted. That being the case, practically speaking, it is doubtful whether even one cooking utensil that the soldiers brought back with them actually required Hagala, and Elazar presented those Halachos in the form of a Halachah Shiur, even though it was barely relevant at that time.
TYPES OF KASHERING
- “Iruiy” – pouring boiling water from a vessel over a utensil
- “Hagala”- immersion in boiling water
- “Libun Kal” – heating to a point that a piece of straw burst into flames if it touched the vessel
- “Libun Gamor” – heating to red-hot (Blow-torch, etc.)
According to Rav S.R. Hirsch, metal vessels, which require mankind’s mining, extracting and processing, represent man’s mastery over the earth and its materials. Whereas vessels made of earthenware or wood involve only man shaping the world’s materials to fit his needs, the manufacture of metal demonstrates man’s creative abilities to utilize natural mineral resources to fashion matter into a usable form. Consuming food, on the other hand, serves man’s most basic physical nature. Use of metal food vessels, then, represents the intellectual aspect of man serving his physical self, which, in a sense, is the opposite of why we were created — using our physical self to assist our intellect to do HaShem’s will. Specifically, in this instance, the Torah requires that these items be immersed in a mikvah before we use them to endow them with increased kedusha before they are put to food use. This demonstrates that, although one may use one’s intellect for physical purposes, when doing so one must first sanctify the item in order to focus on the spiritual.
The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 17a) compares a sinner to a blackened pot. The process of repentance (teshuvah – lit. return) is a two-stage process. Initially, one must admit to and desist from the sinful act. This is similar to the process of hechsher keilim; it yields a noticeable change in behavior. Subsequently, the sinner must begin to make internal character changes as a safeguard from repeating the negative act. This is similar to tevilas keilim, which does not generate a physical change, but represents a profound spiritual transformation.
Lubavitcher Rebbe (Lekutei Sichos chelek 18)
Purpose of הגעלה: to cleanse the vessel from actual non-kosher food that was in it לטהרה.
Purpose of Tevilah: to prepare the vessel for a Jew’s use after it was available for use for non-Kosher (by a non-Jew) להכשירה.
This explains why no tevilah regarding the previous conquered nations, or regarding vessels sold on Pesach, or regarding milk vessels after Matan Torah.
The Torah requires the six types of metal vessels mentioned in the previous verse to be cleansed of their impurity by either being purged by fire or immersed in purifying waters. The Yerushalmi Kesubos chapter #8 states that Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach instituted schools for young children and that ancient impurity be reinstated for metal vessels. This means that by Torah law any vessel, even made of metal, that is impure, if destroyed, loses its impurity, as it is no longer a vessel. However, Rabbi Shimon instituted that if the vessel were to be recast or repaired in any other way, the previous impurity would re-awaken. Why is this stated together with his instituting a schooling system for young children? Is there any connection?
Rabbi Meir Shapiro, Rosh Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, answers that the common thread is that the law of a metal vessel retaining its impurity when reconstructed is a most powerful nature of retention. Even if the vessel was totally destroyed, rendering it unfit for any function, nevertheless, upon being reconstructed its original defiled status remains. If so, it is of the utmost of importance to instill Torah values and knowledge into a child from his earliest years. Thus, even if he goes through much travail throughout his life there is the great possibility that he will retain the values of his formative years. Although it is the responsibility of the father to instill both Torah knowledge and values into his children, this was not always done, often throwing himself headlong into pursuit of a livelihood. Rabbi Shimon therefore instituted Torah schools.
