Keilim 4:3-4

Keilim 4:3

The shard referred to in the previous mishna (called a gistra) is a vessel whose handles have been removed. If it had jagged edges that can hold olives, then the gistra is susceptible to ritual impurity through touching and the part opposite can contract impurity through its interior airspace; if it can’t hold olives, then the gistra is susceptible to ritual impurity through touching but the part opposite doesn’t contract impurity through its interior airspace. If the gistra was split in half so that it could only hold things when laid horizontal like a carriage, then if it can hold olives, it is susceptible to ritual impurity through touching and the part opposite can contract impurity through its interior airspace; if it can’t hold olives, it is susceptible to ritual impurity through touching but the part opposite doesn’t contract impurity through its interior airspace. The bottoms of conical cups are susceptible to ritual impurity even tough they can’t stand unsupported because this is the way they were made in the first place.

Keilim 4:4

Let’s say that an earthenware vessel has three concentric rims. If the innermost rim is the highest, then none of it is susceptible to ritual impurity. If the outermost rim is the highest, then the whole thing is susceptible. If the middle rim is the highest, then everything from that rim inward is susceptible to ritual impurity and everything from that rim outward is not. If all three rims are the same height, Rabbi Yehuda says that we divide the middle rim, measuring half of it inward and half of it outward. The Sages, however, say that in such a case, none of it is susceptible to ritual impurity. Earthenware vessels become susceptible to ritual impurity from the time they are baked in the kiln, which is the culmination of their manufacture.