Zevachim 96a

זבחים צ״ו ע״א

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Open Zevachim 96a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Can heating (היסק) clean what an earthenware vessel absorbed? Questions from the Temple's pots and the Temple's oven

Overview

The גמרא is testing the view that heating (היסק) an earthenware vessel cleans out what it absorbed. First it asks: if heating works, why does the תורה say the earthenware pots of the מקדש must be broken? Why not just re-fire them in a kiln? רבי זירא answers that kilns are not built in ירושלים. אביי objects that scrap heaps are not allowed in the עזרה either, so where would the broken pieces go? The גמרא answers that אביי forgot שמעיה's teaching: broken pottery in the מקדש was miraculously swallowed up where it lay. Then the גמרא asks a second question: why was the oven of the מקדש made of metal, when an earthenware oven heated from inside would clean itself? The answer is that the oven bakes the שתי הלחם and the לחם הפנים and makes them holy, so it is a כלי שרת. A כלי שרת is never made of earthenware.

Opening lines

The steps (6)

1. ChallengeWhy break the Temple pots instead of re-firing them?
2. ResolutionNo kilns are allowed in Jerusalem
3. Challengeאביי: then where do the broken pieces go?
4. ResolutionThe broken pieces were swallowed up by a miracle
5. ChallengeWhy was the Temple oven made of metal?
6. ResolutionThe oven is a service vessel, and those are never earthenware