Pesachim 19b

פסחים י״ט ע״ב

Learn Pesachim 19b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Pesachim 19b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The needle found in sacrificial meat: why the knife and hands stay pure, doubtful impurity in ירושלים, and doubts in the עזרה as a רשות הרבים.

Overview

The גמרא continues with the case of a needle found in sacrificial meat, where the meat is impure but the knife and hands stay pure. It first asks why we don't learn that vessels, like hands, have no impurity in the מקדש. רב answers that the teaching about hands came before the decree on vessels. רבא rejects this, because both decrees were made on the same day. רבא then explains that the knife would be pure even with חולין, since nothing it touched can make it impure. To explain how the needle itself is impure, רב says it was a known טמא מת needle. רבי יוסי ברבי אבין says instead that the cow was muzzled and came from outside ירושלים. The גמרא then examines the dispute about doubtful spittle and vessels in ירושלים, and analyzes the משניות behind each view. Next it returns to רב's needle and asks why it does not make the hands and knife impure. רב אשי answers that the עזרה is a רשות הרבים, where a doubt about impurity is ruled pure. The גמרא challenges this with the rule of דבר שאין בו דעת לישאל and answers that this doubt came about through a person. It then begins quoting רבי יוחנן, whose statement continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. QuestionWhy not derive a broad Temple rule for hands and vessels?
2. ResolutionThe hands teaching came before the decree on vessels
3. ChallengeBoth decrees were made on the same day
4. Resolutionרבא: the knife would be pure even with ordinary food
5. ProofNothing the knife touched can make it impure
6. QuestionHow did the needle become impure?
7. ChallengeA doubtful needle runs into the rule about doubts in Jerusalem
8. Resolutionרב: The needle was definitely impure from a corpse
9. Resolutionרבי יוסי: The cow was muzzled and came from outside Jerusalem
10. StatementThe dispute itself: spittle or vessels in Jerusalem
11. ChallengeBoth rulings are already taught in the משנה
12. ProofThe משנה source for spittle
13. ResolutionThe spittle rule applies even where a זב was known to be present
14. ProofThe משנה source for vessels
15. ChallengeThe second clause of the vessels משנה implies the opposite
16. ResolutionThe first clause is precise; the second only excludes the passageways
17. ChallengeWhy don't the person and knife become impure from the needle?
18. ResolutionThe עזרה counts as a public domain, so the doubt is pure
19. ChallengeWhy the public-domain reason is needed if a needle cannot be asked
20. ResolutionThe doubt came about through a person, so the needle rule does not apply