This Week's Article

Rov in Metal Keilim

Keilim (11:4) | Yisrael Bankier | an hour ago

In this week's Mishnayot we transitioned from discussing earthenware utensil to discussing metal keilim. One unique law that applies to metal keilim is as follows. If a tameh kli was broken, then the kli become tahor. For all other keilim, even if the kli was repaired, it would still be tahor. For metal keilim however, if the kli is repaired or another kli is fashioned out of the broken material, the kli becomes tameh again. We learnt that this was out of concern that people might misunderstand the laws of tumah. In truth, if the kli was repaired it would be immediately tahor. The concern was that people might see this and think that the same is true if a tameh kli was immersed in a mikveh. The truth however is that one would need to wait until nightfall for the kli to be completely tahor.

The Mishnah (11:4) however discusses the case where a kli was made from pieces of metal that were originally from both tameh and tahor keilim. The Mishnah teaches that if most of the material came from the tameh vessel then this new kli would be tameh. If however, a majority was from the tahor kli then it would be tahor. Half-half? The Mishnah rules that it would be tameh. We shall try to understand this Mishnah.

It would seem that the principle underlying this Mishnah is bitul. In other words, once the tumah is in the minority it is annulled. That is indeed how the Mishnah Achrona understands the Mishnah.

The first point he makes is that bitul only works if we are discussing a mixture of raw material. If however one has multiple different keilim, some that are tahor and some that were made from broken tameh keilim, then one cannot rely on bitul to treat the entire mixture as tahor. The reason is that since the matter can be resolved simply,¹ by immersing all the keilim in a mikveh, it would mean that this is a case of davar she'yesh lo matirin. In other words, one has an alternative to resolving the issue, therefore bitul will not work.

That being the case, why is our case also not considered a davar she'yesh lo matirin, considering that the new kli can simply be immersed in a mikveh. The Mishnah Achrona stresses that if the issur is not yet "known" at the time of bitul, it is annulled even in a case that is ultimately a davar she'yesh lo matirin. In our case too, it is only once the new kli is completed that the tumah returns. That point is long after the metals have been mixed together.

The Sidrei Tahorot however finds this understanding of the Mishnah difficult. One reason is that if the law relied on bitul one would have expected R' Yehuda to argue with the ruling. That is because he maintains min be'mino (when the mixture is the same material it) is not batel. Even though that position is only in the case of liquids and not solids, he maintains that position with solids that mix well like liquids and our case would certainly qualify.

Consequently, he understands that Mishnah is not based on bitul. Bitul is needed when it is necessary for the mixed in forbidden component to become permitted so that the entire mixture can be consumed. That is why R' Yehuda argues that when it is min be'mino that outcome cannot be achieved. Our case however is different. Much like the Mishnah Achrona noted above, the issue is only once the kli has been made from tameh material. Prior to that point all the material is tahor. In our case, for the new kli to become tameh, the question is what was the material that gave it its form. This is not based on bitul. Rather if most of the form of the kli that was from tameh material, then the law that the tumah returns applies. If however, most of the form was from tahor material, then the kli is tahor.

¹ The operative term is the resolution is "simple". When it comes to issues of kashrut, even though the matter can also be resolved with kashering, since there is an expense involved it is not considered a davar she'yesh lo matirin.

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