Zevachim 21

והא פרה דטמויי מטמינן ליה דתנן מטמאין היו הכהן השורף את הפרה ומטבילין אותו להוציא מלבן של צדוקין שהיו אומרים במעורבי שמש היתה נעשית שמע מינה לא פסלה בה (מחשבת) טומאה

And in preparation for the rite of the red heifer, we intentionally impart impurity to the priest after he has already sanctified his hands and feet, as we learned in a mishna (Para 3:7): They would render the priest who burns the heifer ritually impure and immerse him immediately, to remove a misconception from the hearts of the Sadducees by means of a public display of disregard for their ruling. As the Sadducees would say: Only by those for whom the sun set was the heifer ritual performed. The Sadducees believed that it is prohibited for an impure priest who immersed that day to burn the red heifer until sunset, when the purification process is completed. The Gemara concludes: Since this impurity does not disqualify the sanctification of his hands and feet, learn from it that impurity does not disqualify sanctification of the hands and feet in general.

שאני פרה הואיל דטבול יום לא פסיל בה אי הכי למה לי דמקדש כעין עבודה [בעינן]

The Gemara responds: The service of the heifer is different, as one who immersed that day is not unfit for performing it, unlike any other rite. Likewise, impurity does not disqualify the sanctification of hands and feet preceding the service of the heifer. The Gemara asks: If so, why do I require that the priest sanctify his hands and feet at all for the service of the red heifer? The Gemara responds: We require that the service of the red heifer be similar to the service of offerings performed inside the Temple.

איבעיא להו מהו לקדש ידיו [ורגליו] בכיור ממנו אמר רחמנא ולא בתוכו או דלמא אפילו בתוכו

§ A dilemma was raised before the Sages: What is the halakha with regard to a priest who wishes to sanctify his hands and feet by dipping them in the Basin rather than letting the water run from it onto them? Must one say that the priest may not do so, since the Merciful One states: “And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it” (Exodus 30:19), and not inside it? Or perhaps the priest may even use water still inside it.

אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק תא שמע או שטבל במי מערה ועבד עבודתו פסולה הא מי כיור דומיא דמי מערה ועבד עבודתו כשרה

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: Come and hear a proof from a baraita: Or if a priest immersed in cave water and performed the service, his service is disqualified, since this is not adequate sanctification of the hands and feet. From the baraita one infers: But if he used water from the Basin in a manner similar to cave water, i.e., by immersing his hands, and performed the service, his service is valid.

לא מי מערה איצטריכא ליה שלא תאמר כל גופו טובל בהן ידיו ורגליו לא כל שכן

The Gemara responds: No, it is possible that immersing one’s hands in the Basin is insufficient as well. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the baraita to mention cave water so that you shall not say: If one may immerse his entire body in cave water to purify himself, all the more so is it not clear that he may sanctify his hands and feet by immersing them in cave water? The baraita therefore teaches that despite being fit for immersion of the entire body, cave water is unfit for sanctification of the hands and feet.

אמר רבי חייא בר יוסף מי כיור נפסלין למתירין כמתירין לאברים כאברים

§ Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef says: The water in the Basin is disqualified by being left out, at different times of day for different rites. For rites that are permitting factors for an offering, i.e., that must be performed before the meat of the offering may be eaten, the water is disqualified at sunset, like the permitting factors themselves, which may be performed only during the day. For example, if a priest wishes to sprinkle an offering’s blood on the altar, he may not sanctify his hands and feet from the Basin unless it was sunk into its pit at sunset on the previous day, preventing the water from being disqualified. Similarly, for the burning of the offering’s limbs on the altar, which may be performed all night, the water in the Basin is disqualified at dawn, like the limbs themselves.

רב חסדא אמר אף למתירין אין נפסלין אלא בעמוד השחר כאברין ורבי יוחנן אמר כיור כיון ששקעו שוב אין מעלהו

Rav Ḥisda says: Even for the performance of permitting factors, the water is disqualified only at dawn, as it is for the burning of the limbs. And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Once one has sunk the Basin into its pit at the end of the day’s service, reconnecting the water in the Basin to flowing water to prevent it from being disqualified, he may not raise it up again the entire night.

למימרא דלעבודת לילה נמי לא חזי והאמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן משמיה דאילפא כיור שלא שקעו מבערב מקדש ממנו לעבודת לילה ולמחר אינו מקדש

The Gemara asks: Is this to say that if the Basin was not sunk before sunset the water inside is unfit for the night’s service as well? But doesn’t Rabbi Asi say that Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Ilfa: With regard to a Basin that the priests did not sink into its pit at night, a priest sanctifies his hands and feet from it for the service of that night, and the next day he does not sanctify from it? Apparently, for purposes of the night’s service, the water in the Basin is not disqualified at sunset.

מאי אינו מעלהו נמי דקאמר לעבודת יום אבל לעבודת לילה חזי

The Gemara responds: What does it mean when it says: He may not raise it up again? It means that he may not raise it to sanctify his hands and feet in preparation for the day’s service; but the water is fit for sanctification for the night’s service.

[אי הכי] היינו דרבי חייא בר יוסף

The Gemara asks: If so, this is the same as the opinion of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef, i.e., that for purposes of the day’s service the water in the Basin is disqualified at sunset, and for purposes of the night’s service it is disqualified at dawn.

איכא בינייהו גזירת שיקוע

The Gemara responds: The difference between them is that according to Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef, if the water is raised at any point throughout the night, it is disqualified for sanctification prior to the day’s services. According to Rabbi Yoḥanan, the water is not disqualified unless the Basin is raised at the break of dawn, but the Sages issued a rabbinic decree of sinking the Basin into its pit all night ab initio, so that it would not be raised at dawn accidentally.

והאמר רבי יוחנן קידש ידיו לתרומת הדשן למחר אין צריך לקדש שכבר קידש מתחילת עבודה

The Gemara asks: Does Rabbi Yoḥanan really hold that the Basin must be sunk all night? But doesn’t Rabbi Yoḥanan say: If a priest sanctified his hands and feet in preparation for the removal of the ashes before dawn, then the next day he does not need to sanctify them again, as he already sanctified them at the beginning of the day’s service? Evidently, the Basin is raised before dawn.

בשלמא לרבא דמוקים לההיא כרבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון הא כרבי

The Gemara elaborates: Granted, according to Rava, who interprets that statement in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, that sanctification of the hands and feet is not disqualified overnight (see 20a), this statement that the Basin must be sunk all night is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who holds that sanctification of the hands and feet is disqualified at dawn. Accordingly, he holds that the water in the Basin is disqualified as well.

אלא לאביי דמוקים לה כרבי קשיא דרבי אדרבי מאי שנא התם דמשקע ליה ומאי שנא הכא דלא משקע ליה

But according to Abaye, who interprets that statement in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the first statement of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is difficult to reconcile with this other statement of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: What is different there that one must sink the Basin all night, and what is different here, with regard to sanctification prior to removal of the ashes, that one does not need to sink it?

דמסלק ליה והדר משקע ליה

The Gemara responds: There is no contradiction. Prior to removal of the ashes, one raises the Basin and then sinks it again so that it will not remain raised at dawn and render the water disqualified.

אי הכי למחר אינו מקדש [אמאי אין צריך לקדש]

The Gemara asks: If so, why does Rabbi Yoḥanan say that the priest does not sanctify his hands and feet again the next day? If the water has not been disqualified, why would the priest need to avoid sanctifying his hands and feet with it? The Gemara responds: Rabbi Yoḥanan means to say that he does not need to sanctify them again for service on the same day, not that he is prohibited from doing so.

למימרא דלמתירין מיחזא חזי היינו דרב חסדא

The Gemara asks: Is this to say that according to Rabbi Yoḥanan, if one raised the Basin at night and sank it again before dawn, it remains fit for sanctification prior to performing the offering’s permitting factors that day? If so, Rabbi Yoḥanan’s opinion is the same as that of Rav Ḥisda.

איכא בינייהו מצות שיקוע

The Gemara responds: The difference between them is that according to Rav Ḥisda, there is no mitzva of sinking the Basin into its pit throughout the night, whereas Rabbi Yoḥanan holds that there is a mitzva of sinking the Basin into its pit all night ab initio.

מיתיבי לא היו רואין אותו ולא שומעין את קולו עד ששומעים קול של עץ שעשה בן קטין מוכני לכיור והן אומרים הגיע [עת] קידוש ידים ורגלים מן הכיור מאי לאו דמסלק ליה אלמא משקע ליה

The Gemara raises an objection to the opinion of Rav Ḥisda from a mishna (Tamid 28b): The priests would not see the priest performing the removal of the ashes, nor would they hear his voice. Rather, they were unaware of his actions until they would hear the sound of the wood with which ben Katin made a mechanism for sinking the Basin into water during the night. And when they heard the sound of the mechanism, they would say to each other: The time for sanctifying hands and feet from the Basin has come. The Gemara asks: What, is it not that they heard the mechanism raising the Basin? Apparently, the mechanism would sink it during the night, in contradiction to the opinion of Rav Ḥisda, who holds that there was no need to sink it overnight.

לא דמשקע ליה אי דמשקע ליה מי משתמע קליה משקע ליה בגילגלא

The Gemara responds: No, they heard the mechanism sinking the Basin, which had been raised all night. The Gemara asks: If the mechanism were sinking it, would its sound be audible? No mechanism is necessary to lower the Basin; it can simply be lowered with a chain. The Gemara responds: The priest would still sink it by using a wheel, which would make a sound.

לישנא אחרינא דמשקע ליה בחומרתיה כי היכי דלישתמע קליה ולשמעי וליתי והא הוה גביני כרוז בי תרי היכרי הוו עבדי דשמע מהאי אתי ושמע מהאי אתי

The Gemara presents another version of the answer: The priest would deliberately sink it by its wheel so that its sound would be audible, and the other priests would hear and come to begin the service. The Gemara asks: But wasn’t there Gevini the crier, who would notify the priests of the beginning of the service? The Gemara responds: They would make two conspicuous markers for the beginning of the service: The sound of the wheel and the crier. Anyone who heard from this marker would come, and anyone who heard from that marker would come.

גופא אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא כל כיור שאין בו כדי לקדש ארבעה כהנים ממנו אין מקדשין בו שנאמר ורחצו ממנו משה ואהרן ובניו וגו׳

§ Having mentioned a halakha earlier (19b), the Gemara addresses the matter itself: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: With regard to any Basin that does not contain enough water for four priests to sanctify their hands and feet from it, the priests may not sanctify their hands and feet with it, as it is stated: “That Moses and Aaron and his sons might wash their hands and their feet from it” (Exodus 40:31).

מיתיבי כל הכלים מקדשין בין שיש בהן רביעית

The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita: The priests may sanctify their hands and feet from all vessels, whether they can hold a quarter-log of water