She'ar Avot haTum'ah - Chapter 9

When a person immerses his head and the majority of his body in drawn water or three lugim of drawn water fall on his head and the majority of his body, he is a secondary derivative of impurity until he immerses himself in a mikveh. If he touches foods, he causes them to be considered as a tertiary derivative. If he touches liquids, he imparts impurity to them, causing them to be considered as a primary derivative and they impart impurity to other foods and liquids. They do not, however, impart impurity to keilim.

Why did the Sages decree that such a person should be impure? Because people would immerse in caves where the water was foul and then they would wash with fresh drawn water for the sake of cleanliness. This became such a widespread practice that the majority of people got the impression that the drawn water in which the people would ultimately wash was the agent that conveyed ritual purity and not the immersion in the waters of the mikveh. Therefore, they would immerse themselves carelessly, without attention to details. Accordingly, our Sages decreed that when a person immerses his head and the majority of his body in drawn water or three lugim of drawn water fall on his head and the majority of his body, he becomes a secondary derivative of impurity. Even when three lugim of drawn water falls on the head and the majority of the body of a person who was pure or he immerses his head and the majority of his body in drawn water, he becomes a secondary derivative of impurity until he immerses himself.

After a person who contracted impurity in such a manner immerses himself, he need not wait until nightfall to regain purity, for the impurity contracted by this person is fundamentally a Rabbinic decree. Similarly, a person who contracted impurity because he ate impure foods or drank impure liquids and then immersed himself need not wait until nightfall to regain purity. Similarly, when keilim become impure due to contact with impure liquids, once they were immersed, they become pure. There is no need to wait until nightfall, because these impurities are fundamentally Rabbinic decrees.

The following laws apply when three lugim of drawn water fall on a person from two or three different containers. If water began to flow from the second before it concluded flowing from the first, they can be combined to reach the sum of three lugim. If water falls from four containers, it is not combined. Even if one began to flow before the other ceased flowing, the person is pure.

If the water fell on his head, but not on the majority of his body or fell on the majority of his body, but not on his head, or fell on his head from above and on the majority of his body from the side or from below, he is pure. To impart impurity, the water must fall on his head and the majority of his body that is close to his head in an ordinary manner. Similarly, if his head entered drawn water, but not his body or his body entered, but not his head, or his head was inserted in drawn water and then other drawn water engulfed his body from the side or from below, he is pure. To contract impurity, his head and the majority of his body close to his head must enter the water in an ordinary manner.

When a portion of a person's head and half the majority of his body were inserted in drawn water and drawn water falls on the other half of his head and the majority of his body, since water fell on half and half was inserted in water, he is pure.

When the three lugim of water which fell upon a person or into which he inserted his head and body were a combination of drawn water and natural water or they were mixed with wine, honey, or milk, he is pure. The three lugim must be entirely drawn water.

The status of these three lugim of water which fell on a pure person or in which he inserted his head and body and from which he contracted impurity also changes. Since the person became a secondary derivative of impurity, the water is also impure for it touched a secondary derivative. It is as if the water tells the pure person: "I made you impure and you made me impure."

Initially, they would place loaves of terumah next to sacred scrolls, saying: "These are holy and these are holy." Mice would come and tear the sacred scrolls. Therefore, the Sages decreed that any terumah that touches the Holy Scriptures would become impure. It is considered as a tertiary derivative of impurity, as if it touched a secondary derivative. Thus all the Holy Scriptures disqualify terumah like a secondary derivative.

Moreover, when anyone whose hands were pure touched one of the Holy Scriptures, his hands become secondary derivatives of impurity and impart impurity to terumah and to liquids. Although generally, hands only contract impurity from a primary derivative of impurity, as we explained, they contract impurity from a scroll.

Tefillin straps when connected to the tefillin, the blank parchment of the margins above or below the scroll and at its beginning or end when connected to the scroll, a scroll that was erased, but at least 85 letters remained, and a scroll on which at least 85 letters from the Torah are written, as in the passage Numbers 10:35-36: "And when the ark set forth...," all impart impurity to hands. Not only the words of the Torah, but the words of all the Holy Scriptures, including the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes which are words of wisdom, impart impurity to hands.

The Aramaic portions in the Books of Ezra and Daniel are considered as part of the Holy Scriptures. If, by contrast, one translated an Aramaic portion into Hebrew or a Hebrew portion into Aramaic, or wrote the Holy Scriptures in the Ivri script, they do not impart impurity to hands. That applies only when Scripture is written in the Ashuri script, on parchment, with ink.

Although it is forbidden to do so, if one writes Hallel or the Shema for a child to study, they impart impurity to hands.

Although it is forbidden to maintain them, as long as the strings and the straps sewed within a Torah scroll are attached to the scroll, they impart impurity to hands.

When the case of a scroll, an ark, or the mantle of a scroll are sewn to the scroll itself, they impart impurity to hands. By contrast, although passages of blessings, contain the letters of God's name and many Torah concepts, they do not impart impurity to hands.

Scrolls written by heretics do not impart impurity to hands. Since the passage of a sotah is intended to be blotted out, it does not impart impurity to hands.