Resources for Chagigah daf 21

1.     The משנה says that an אונן ומחוסר כיפּורים require טבילה in order to eat קודש. The גמרא explains on דף כ"ד that the reason for this is that until now they had been אסור to eat קודש so the חכמים required טבילה. The רמב"ם in פּרק י"ב הלכות אבות הטומאה הל' ט"ו explains that the חכמים considered the lack of being allowed to eat קודש a היסח הדעת and we are concerned that the person may have became טמא. The question is that if this were true then the person should not have been able to eat תרומה or touch קודש either (both of which the רמב"ם says explicitly he is allowed to do). Rather, we know this is not a real חשש but just a מעלה בקודש. See the שפת אמת who seems to learn differently than the רמב"ם and says that the purpose of the טבילה is just to be מפרסם to all that an אונן ומחוסר כיפּורים can’t eat קודש but it really has nothing to do with טומאה at all!

2.     See the טורי אבן on our משנה who is מדייק that if it says that an אונן ומחוסר כיפּורים require טבילה in order to eat קודש, it is clear that a regular person does not need טבילה in order to eat קודש. Why is that? After all, anyone who wants to enter the בית המקדש must have טבילה prior to entering. The purpose of this is so that they will be mindful if they had come into contact with any טומאה prior to entering. If so, why should we not say the same thing for eating קודש? See the מרומי שדה who answers that a person only comes into the מקדש at specific times, like by day to bring his קרבן. Therefore, we need to remind him to think if he encountered טומאה at any point. However, people can eat קודש at all times, so a reminder is not necessary. See also the שפת אמת who says that חז"ל were מתקן many תקנות just for the מקדש, whereas we don’t find that for קודש. An אונן ומחוסר כיפּורים are an exception since we were afraid people would not even know that they couldn’t eat קודש while they were מחוסר כיפּורים.

3.     The גמרא says that you can’t be טובל קודש vessels if they have a knot. See רש"י who explains that the issue is that the knot will be a חציצה. See the שיח יצחק who says that רש"י must mean that it is a slightly loose knot because if it was really tight it would be a חציצה for תרומה too. Alternatively, you can suggest that it was a knot that was very tight but never intended to be undone, in which case it is not חוצץ for regular items but is חוצץ for קודש as a special מעלה.

4.     רבי אילא said that you can’t be טובל a כלי within a כלי for קודש because it’s weight will be a חציצה. רבא  says you can’t do it because of a גזרה  that you might come to be טובל  in a כלי  without a שפופרת הנאד. The way it sounds from רבי אילא, if you are dealing with something very light like a needle it should be able to be נטבל in another כלי. However, see the טורי אבן who says that even רבי אילא agrees to רבא and is concerned both with weight and with the issue of שפופרת הנאד. See the שפת אמת who disagrees and says that רבי אילא does not hold of רבא but says it a needle would still be אסור because of a לא פּלוג. He also says that it should be true according to ר' אילא that if you put the water in the bucket before you put the כלי in that it should be allowed according to ר' אילא since the water is already under the כלי. However, he says the גמרא does not seem that way since it does not list this as a נפקא מינה between ר' אילא ורבא.