Shabbat 84a — the Talmud in English

Rava said: ![](pamud.bmp "

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and according to Hanania,

who says that a boat that can be moved is susceptible to ritual impurity—even if it is so large that it can be moved only by oxen—it is also susceptible to impurity, because

moving by means of oxen is considered moving!

As we learned

in tractate Kelim:

Three

types of

carts are

different in their laws with regard to ritual impurity:

A. A cart

made like a chair

that is short and enclosed by walls on three sides is

susceptible to impurity through sitting or lying

because it is intended for sitting.

B. One made

like a bed,

which is long like a bed and designated for transporting merchandise, is

susceptible to impurity from a corpse—

that is, it contracts the other types of ritual impurity through contact, but not impurity through sitting or lying. The expression “susceptible to impurity from a corpse” is used because one who becomes impure through a corpse is a primary source of impurity; the meaning is that this object becomes a primary source of impurity only through a corpse and not through a person with a flux. This cart is a receptacle, but it is not designated for sitting, since merchandise is loaded into it.

C.

And one for stones,

which is made for transporting stones, is

entirely pure,

because there are large openings in its bottom and it is not a receptacle.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: If it has a receptacle large enough for pomegranates,

meaning that the openings are not so large that pomegranates fall through them, it is

susceptible to impurity from a corpse,

because this is the measure for all vessels: whenever an object does not allow pomegranates to pass through it, it still retains the status of a vessel.

Thus, even a cart used to transport stones, which can be moved only by oxen, can contract ritual impurity, because moving by means of oxen is considered moving.

And we learned in the latter clause of that same Mishna

There are three types of chests—

A.

A chest whose opening is on its side is

susceptible to impurity through sitting or lying.

This is because one can lie on the chest while using it from inside through the opening in its side.

B. If its opening is

on top, it is

susceptible to impurity from a corpse.

That means it is susceptible to the other types of impurity but not to impurity through sitting or lying, because it is not intended for lying. If someone lies on it, he is told: “Get up, and let us do our work.”

C.

And one made to a large measure—

a large chest that holds forty se'a, the expression deriving from “men of measures,” since its length and width must be measured—is

entirely pure

because it cannot be moved when full.

The Sages taught: Impurity through sitting or lying does not apply to an earthenware vessel,

because an earthenware vessel does not become impure through sitting or lying when a person with a flux sits on it, as will be derived later from a verse, unless his body enters the interior space of the vessel, since an earthenware vessel contracts impurity only through its airspace .

Rabbi Yosei says: Even the boat.

And we raise the following question about this:

What is Rabbi Yosei saying?

What connection does a boat have to impurity through sitting or lying? A boat is entirely pure, even from impurity through contact.

And we resolve the difficulty:

Rav Zevid said: This is what he is saying: Impurity through sitting or lying does not apply to an earthenware vessel, but it is susceptible to impurity through contact.

If the person with a flux touches the interior space of the vessel, the vessel becomes impure.

And a boat made of earthenware is susceptible to impurity

through contact with the person with a flux, but not through sitting or lying, because it is not designated for sitting; primarily, it is made for transporting merchandise, and one who sits in it is told: “Get up, and let us do our work,”

in accordance with Hanania,

who holds that an earthenware boat differs from other boats, since it was not equated with a sack, and it can contract ritual impurity.

Rabbi Yosei says: Even the boat is pure,

entirely, even from contact with a person with a flux,

in accordance with the tanna,

the sage of the Mishnaic era,

of our Mishna,

which declares every boat pure, even one made of earthenware, based on the verse, “a ship in the heart of the sea.”

Rav Pappa strongly objected to this:

If so,

what does “even

the boat” mean, as Rabbi Yosei says? The first tanna did not declare an earthenware vessel pure from contact so that Rabbi Yosei could say that even the boat is like it. On the contrary, only the boat is pure.

Rather, Rav Pappa said: This is what he is saying: Impurity through sitting or lying does not apply to an earthenware vessel, but it is susceptible to impurity through contact.

And a vessel

of wood,

whether through sitting or lying upon it or through contact with it, is susceptible to impurity. And a Jordan boat is pure,

both from contact and from sitting or lying upon it,

in accordance with our tanna,

who declares even a boat that can be moved when full and empty pure.

Rabbi Yosei says: Even the boat,

of the Jordan, is

susceptible to impurity

through contact,

in accordance with Hanania,

who declares a small boat that can be moved when full and empty susceptible to impurity.

And we raise the following question:

And regarding impurity through sitting or lying upon an earthenware vessel,

from where do we know that it is pure?

Hezekiah said: The verse says,

concerning a person with a flux,

“And a man who touches his bedding.”

The word “his bedding” includes the person with a flux and his bedding.

The verse equates his bedding with him:

Just as he

can become pure through immersion in a ritual bath,

so too, his bedding

does not become impure unless

it can become pure through immersion in a ritual bath,

excluding an earthenware vessel, as will be explained later.

The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught:

It is written concerning a woman with a flux,

“Like the bedding of her menstruation shall it be for her.”

The verse equates her bedding with her:

Just as she can become pure through immersion in a ritual bath, so too, her bedding can become pure through immersion in a ritual bath.

This excludes an earthenware vessel, which cannot become pure through immersion in a ritual bath,

as it is written concerning it, “it shall be broken”; it has no purification other than by breaking it.

Rabbi Ila'a raises an objection:

Is it an absolute rule that only something that can become pure through immersion in a ritual bath can become susceptible to impurity through sitting or lying?

But it was taught in a

matz,

a woven mat of reeds, which is fit to be used for sitting or lying and contracts impurity through sitting or lying,

from a corpse—

from where

do we know that it can contract impurity through contact with a corpse, and that it is not like the other simple wooden vessels [which have no receptacle] that do not contract ritual impurity?