Zevachim 95a

מִדְּרַבָּנַן הוּא.

The Gemara answers that Rav Huna’s statement means that it is ritually impure by rabbinic law, since the Sages decreed the small cloth impure lest one fail to tear a garment enough to render it truly pure. By Torah law, this small cloth is torn enough to be ritually pure, so that one may bring it back into the Temple courtyard to launder it.

כְּלִי חֶרֶס שֶׁיָּצָא כּוּ׳. ״כְּלִי״ אָמַר רַחֲמָנָא, וְלֹא כְּלִי הוּא! שֶׁנִּיקַּב בְּשׁוֹרֶשׁ קָטָן.

§ The mishna teaches: With regard to an earthenware vessel in which a sin offering was cooked that went outside the curtains and became ritually impure outside the curtains, one punctures the vessel to render it ritually pure, brings the vessel back into the courtyard, and breaks it there. The Gemara asks: Why is there a need to break the earthenware vessel after puncturing it? The Merciful One states: “The earthenware vessel… shall be broken” (Leviticus 6:21), and, once it is punctured, it is not a vessel. The Gemara explains: When it is punctured with a hole only the size of a small root, the earthenware vessel is purified from the ritual impurity it contracted, but it remains a vessel for other purposes, such as holding fruit.

כְּלִי נְחֹשֶׁת [כּוּ׳]. פּוֹחֲתוֹ [וְכוּ׳]. וְהָא לָאו כְּלִי הוּא! דְּרָצֵיף [לֵיהּ] מִרְצָיף (הוּא).

The mishna teaches: With regard to a copper vessel in which a sin offering was cooked that went outside the curtains and became ritually impure outside the curtains, one breaks the vessel by boring a large hole in it to render it ritually pure, brings the vessel back into the courtyard, and scours and rinses it there. The Gemara asks: Why should the copper vessel be scoured and rinsed? After all, once the hole is bored, this is not a vessel anymore. The Gemara explains: When he hammers it and refashions it into a vessel, he must scour and rinse it.

אָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ: מְעִיל שֶׁנִּיטְמָא – מַכְנִיסוֹ בְּפָחוֹת מִשָּׁלֹשׁ עַל שָׁלֹשׁ וּמְכַבְּסוֹ, מִשּׁוּם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״לֹא יִקָּרֵעַ״.

§ Earlier (94b–95a), the Gemara discusses a garment upon which the blood of a sin offering has sprayed; if it has contracted ritual impurity outside of the Temple courtyard, it must be torn before it is brought back into the courtyard to be laundered. Reish Lakish says: If the robe of the High Priest upon which the blood of a sin offering has sprayed has contracted ritual impurity outside of the Temple courtyard, one does not tear it; rather, he brings it in to the courtyard gradually, in portions less than the measure of a garment susceptible to impurity, which is three by three fingerbreadths, and he launders it section by section as the robe crosses the threshold. The ritually impure robe must be brought into the courtyard in this manner because it is stated with regard to the High Priest’s robe: “It shall not be torn” (Exodus 28:32).

מוֹתֵיב רַב אַדָּא בַּר אַהֲבָה: הֶעָבִין וְהָרַכִּים, אֵין בָּהֶן מִשּׁוּם שָׁלֹשׁ עַל שָׁלֹשׁ!

Rav Adda bar Ahava raises an objection based upon a mishna ( Kelim 28:8): The particularly thick garments and the soft garments are not subject to the standard measure of three by three fingerbreadths, with regard to determining their susceptibility to becoming ritually impure. Because of their particular qualities, such garments are useful only when they are larger and are not considered significant items when they measure three by three. Since the High Priest’s robe is a thick garment, why must one bring it into the courtyard only in portions of less than three by three?

אַגַּב אֲבִיהֶן חֲשִׁיבִי.

The Gemara answers: With regard to the whole robe of the High Priest, which is a garment of particular significance, even the small portions of the robe are significant due to their source garment, and are susceptible to impurity in portions measuring three by three fingerbreadths.

וְהָא בָּעֵי שִׁבְעַת סַמְמָנִין, דְּאָמַר רַב נַחְמָן אָמַר רַבָּה בַּר אֲבוּהּ: דַּם חַטָּאת וּמַרְאוֹת נְגָעִים, צְרִיכִין שִׁבְעַת סַמְמָנִין; וְתַנְיָא: אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵין מַכְנִיסִין מֵי רַגְלַיִם לַמִּקְדָּשׁ!

§ The Gemara asks a fundamental question with regard to the procedure for laundering a garment upon which the blood of a sin offering has sprayed: But isn’t it so that laundering requires seven abrasive substances? As Rav Naḥman says that Rabba bar Avuh says: Blood of a sin offering that has sprayed on a garment, and shades of leprous marks on garments, which are subject to laundering (see Leviticus 13:54), require the seven abrasive substances used as laundering agents; and these substances include urine ( Nidda 61b). And it is taught in a baraita : But urine is not brought into the Temple, because it is inappropriate for the Temple, although urine is theoretically suitable for use in the preparation of the incense spices. Accordingly, how is a garment laundered in the Temple?