✦ ❖ ✦ D A A T · L E V E L 3 — S U M M A R Y / R E V I S I O N ✦ ❖ ✦

Siman 138 — Kashering the wine vessels

דיני הכשר כלי היין

The winepress has served, the vat has drunk, the funnel has run. The siman does not ask whether the wine is forbidden — the preceding simanim settled that — but what must be done to the vessel so that it may serve again. The answer is a ladder of seven degrees, and only three variables fix the degree: the material, the pitch, and what the non-Jew did in it
Structured revision, ruling tables, rapid memorisation

Source: Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah קל״ח — 11 seifim
Nosei kelim: ש״ך (Shakh, י׳ ס״ק) · ט״ז (Taz, י״ד ס״ק) · באר היטב (י״ג ס״ק) · בית יוסף · טור
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
daattorah.com

📑 Plan of the summary

The axiom: it is not dirt one removes, it is a taste one draws out
The 3 reflex questions: the material · the pitch · who used it
Master table A — the grid of seif 1
Master table B — the nine implements, seifim 2 to 8
The ladder of the seven hekhsherim, from lightest to heaviest
The ניגוב in detail — seif 10
The knots — seif 9, and the Shakh’s disagreement
The pitch: what it changes, and why it is peeled
הגעלה or עירוי — which is the stronger?
תחילת תשמישה — the closing clause of seif 1
What the Taz adds and the Mehaber does not say
לכתחילה ובדיעבד — the sixty of the pips and the skins
The 6 golden rules, and the mnemonic
The 5 classic pitfalls, and the recap of the 11 seifim

1. The axiom: it is not dirt one removes, it is a taste one draws out

The starting point:

Simanim 123 to 137 asked when wine becomes forbidden and what it draws in around it. Siman 138 changes the object: the wine has gone, the vessel has stayed, and it has drunk. What one wants to take back from it is not a soiling of the surface — it is a taste that has entered the material.

Hence the whole architecture. A rinsing carries away what lies on it; rubbed ashes attack what lies in the wall; standing water draws out what lies deep; fire and time treat what none of the three can reach. The degree required does not measure the gravity of the prohibition: it measures the depth of the absorption.

The Taz sets this principle down in his very first word, and draws from it the exact place of the winepress:

« אע״ג דאין מכניסין לקיום בגת מ״מ הואיל ומשהין בו יין כל ימי הגיתות ותדיר בו יין דומה לכלי שמכניסין בו לקיום בזה דאסור אפילו לפי שעה אבל מ״מ לא לגמרי כמכניסו לקיום להצריכו עירוי ג׳ ימים » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק א)

The Rambam gave the upper limit, and the Shakh gives the lower one:

« לֹא תִּהְיֶה הַגַּת חֲמוּרָה יֶתֶר מִן הַקַּנְקַנִּים. לֹא נֶאֱמַר יִקְלֹף אֶלָּא לְהַתִּירָהּ מִיָּד » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה כ״א)

« ע״ל סימן קל״ה סט״ו שההכשר שכתב הרב שם מועיל גם כאן כדאיתא ברשב״א ופוסקים דכלים שמכניסים לקיום צריכין הכשר יותר מגת וכליה » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ו)

💡 The marker: whenever the siman seems strict, ask yourself how long the wine was in contact; whenever it seems lenient, ask whether the material could drink. There is no other variable in the whole siman.

2. The 3 reflex questions: the material · the pitch · who used it

1. What is the vessel made of? Stone — drinks little. Wood — drinks. Earthenware, and everything masonry (seif 2) — drinks most. The order of seif 1 is the order of absorption, and nothing else.

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2. Is it coated with pitch? If so, the pitch is the first reservoir: it is peeled, and the scouring treats what lies beneath. If not, the question becomes that of the first use, at the end of seif 1.

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3. What did the non-Jew do? He put wine in after the coating · he touched wine still moist · he trod. Treading always raises the rung by one, because the weight cracks the pitch.

💡 To remember: these three questions come in this order and no other. The material fixes the family of hekhsher, the pitch fixes whether peeling is needed, the treading fixes the rung. To reverse the order is to read the wrong column of the table.

3. Master table A — the grid of seif 1

Material	Unpitched — first use by a Jew	Unpitched — first use by a non-Jew	Pitched + wine at the coating, or touched in משקה טופח	Pitched + treading
Stone — אבן	הדחה	ניגוב	ניגוב	קליפה then ניגוב · or עירוי without קליפה · or יישון י״ב חדש
Wood — עץ	הדחה	ניגוב	קליפה and ניגוב · or עירוי without קליפה	דין אחד להם — the same as the previous column
Wood with flax tow or rags between the boards	—	—	מילוי ועירוי · or הגעלה	מילוי ועירוי · or הגעלה
Earthenware — חרס	ניגוב	ניגוב — and per the Rama: עירוי if he trod in it	מילוי ועירוי without קליפה — neither peeling nor scouring suffices	קליפה + מילוי ועירוי · or הגעלה without קליפה · or יישון י״ב חדש · or firing in a kiln

💡 To remember: the only cell of the table where the Mehaber is content with a rinsing is that of an unpitched vessel a Jew used first — and the only one where he sends it to the kiln is that of pitched earthenware that was trodden in. The two extremes of the siman are two observations about the material, not about the gravity of the prohibition.

The wood column carries a sub-row that is easily forgotten: the tow between the boards. The Taz widens it to any open fissure:

« נראה דלאו דוקא נעורת אלא אם יש בקעים ואין דבר סותם כלל דאסור » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ה)

4. Master table B — the nine implements, seifim 2 to 8

Vessel	Seif	Hekhsher required
Masonry winepress — bricks, lime, gypsum	ב׳	As earthenware — דינה כשל חרס
Large tub, funnel, measuring vessel, dipper (מחץ)	ד׳	As the winepress — כולם דינם כגת
Press beam, boards laid on the עביט	ה׳	הדחה
עקלים of palm frond or of hemp	ו׳	ניגוב
עקלים of שיפה, of גמי — and, per the Rama, of reeds	ו׳	יישון י״ב חדש — or, at once: הגעלה, olive water, or running water for 12 hours
Wine strainer of hair	ז׳	הדחה
Wine strainer of wool	ז׳	ניגוב
Wine strainer of flax	ז׳	יישון י״ב חדש
Baskets of חלף and palm leaves, sewn with ropes	ח׳	הדחה
The same, in a tight weave (חיבור קשה)	ח׳	ניגוב
The same, sewn with flax	ח׳	יישון
Tablecloths on which their wine has fallen (Rama)	ח׳	הדחה — even for boiling wine

💡 The logic of the right-hand column: what holds wine follows the winepress; what merely touches it in passing makes do with a rinsing; what is woven or plaited is classed by its absorbing power — hair, wool, flax, from the driest to the most blotting.

⚖ The one implement the Mehaber does not name, and the Taz adds

The measuring vessel of seif 4 brings with it, according to the Taz, the decanting tube — and this is the one place in the siman where the formula ויש למחות ביד המקילים is found. See the table at level 4.

« נראה לי שבכלל זה גם המינקת שקורין היב״ר של עובד כוכבים שצריך הכשר גדול וק״ו הוא מכלי המדה כיון שהיין מתאסף בעקמומיתו לא תועיל לו הדחה ויש למחות ביד המקילים » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק י״א)

5. The ladder of the seven hekhsherim, from lightest to heaviest

Degree	Name	What it does
1	הדחה	A plain rinsing in cold water. This is the lightest degree: it removes nothing of what is absorbed, it only carries away what remains on the surface. The Mehaber is satisfied with it for the beam and the boards (seif 5), for the strainer of hair (seif 7), for the baskets sewn with ropes (seif 8), and for an unpitched winepress whose first use was by a Jew (seif 1).
2	ניגוב	Scouring with ashes and water in turn, described in detail in seif 10. The ashes scour the wall, the water carries away what they have loosened, and one begins again. Four rounds if the vessel is still wet, five if it is dry. This is the reference degree of the siman: most of the other rules are defined in relation to it.
3	קליפה	The peeling of the pitch. One does not kasher pitch: one removes it. It is the chief reservoir of the absorbed wine, and that is why peeling must always be followed by a ניגוב — the peeling takes off the layer, the scouring treats the wall that lay beneath it.
4	מילוי ועירוי	One fills the vessel with water, lets it stand, pours it off, and repeats — three times, over three full days, as the Shakh recalls in referring to siman 135. Standing water draws out what friction cannot reach. This is the hekhsher proper to earthenware.
5	הגעלה	Scalding. A movable vessel is plunged into boiling water; a masonry winepress cannot be — and that is where seif 3 comes in, permitting scalding by pouring, boiling water being poured from a primary vessel over the wall.
6	יישון י״ב חדש	Leaving the vessel unused for twelve months. Time does what neither ashes nor boiling water can do: the absorbed taste goes stale and becomes inert. It is the recourse for materials that can be neither rubbed nor scalded — the cords of שיפה and גמי, the flax strainer, the baskets sewn with flax.
7	הסקה בכבשן	Heating the vessel in a kiln “until the pitch loosens”. The heaviest degree of the siman, reserved for a pitched earthenware winepress in which a non-Jew trod. The Shakh refers here to siman 134.

Two further paths are added to the table and do not appear in it as degrees, because they are shortcuts: steeping in olive water, and running water for twelve hours — both in seif 6, both taken from the Rambam.

« וְאִם רָצָה לְטַהֲרָן מִיָּד מַגְעִילָן בְּרוֹתְחִין אוֹ חוֹלְטָן בְּמֵי זֵיתִים אוֹ מַנִּיחָן תַּחַת צִנּוֹר שֶׁמֵּימָיו מְקֻלָּחִין אוֹ בְּמַעְיָן שֶׁמֵּימָיו רוֹדְפִין שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁעוֹת וְאַחַר כָּךְ יֻתְּרוּ » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה כ״ד)

⚖ The Shakh extends the shortcut to the winepress itself

Running water does not serve the cords alone; it serves the winepress and all its vessels, on one physical condition that the Shakh lays down expressly.

« וה״ה לגת וכל כליה מהני הכשר זה ודוקא שסלק השולים שאז המים מקלחים ורודפים מעבר לעבר » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ז)

6. The ניגוב in detail — seif 10

Wet vessel — wine still remains: אפר → מים → אפר → מים. Four rounds. One begins by scouring.

▼

Dry vessel: מים → אפר → מים → אפר → מים. Five rounds. One begins by wetting, otherwise the ashes do not take.

The source is a single discussion in the gemara, where two amoraim appeared to contradict each other:

« רַב אָמַר: בְּמַיִם, וְהוּא הַדִּין לְאֵפֶר. רַבָּה בַּר בַּר חָנָה אָמַר: לְאֵפֶר, וְהוּא הַדִּין לְמַיִם, וְלָא פְּלִיגִי — הָא בְּרַטִּיבְתָּא, הָא בְּיַבִּשְׁתָּא » (עבודה זרה ע״ה ע״א)

« בֵּי רַב אָמְרִי מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב: תְּלָת אַרְבַּע, וּשְׁמוּאֵל אָמַר: אַרְבַּע חָמֵשׁ » (עבודה זרה ע״ה ע״א)

⚠ The printed text of seif 10 was emended by the Taz. He gives the exact reading and ties it to the Ramah, reported by the Tur:

« ואם הם יבשים מקדים מים ואח״כ אפר כו׳ כצ״ל וכן הוא דעת הרמ״ה בטור שכתב ביבשים מקנחו במים ואח״כ מדיחו יפה כו׳ » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק י״ג)

💡 To remember: the difference between the two recipes is not one of severity — it is one of mechanics. On a dry wall the ashes slide; one must wet it first. The Rambam, for his part, holds four rounds in both cases and varies only the order.

« מְדִיחָן בְּמַיִם וּבְאֵפֶר אַרְבַּע פְּעָמִים וְדוֹרֵךְ בָּהֶן. וְאִם הָיְתָה בָּהֶם לַחְלוּחִית מַקְדִּים הָאֵפֶר לַמַּיִם. וְאִם לָאו מַקְדִּים הַמַּיִם » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה כ׳)

7. The knots — seif 9, and the Shakh’s disagreement

The Mehaber rules in two halves: one must untie for the ניגוב, one need not untie for the עירוי nor for the ageing. The Shakh accepts the first half and rejects the second.

Hekhsher	Mehaber, seif 9	Shakh ס״ק ח and ס״ק ט
ניגוב	Untie	Untie — agreed
מילוי ועירוי	No need to untie	No need to untie — agreed
יישון י״ב חדש	No need to untie	One must untie — against the Mehaber

The Shakh names the source of the Mehaber’s position, then refutes it in three words:

« ובאמת אינו כן דהרשב״א מפרש ג״כ דקאי איישון ומודה הכא ובסעיף ט׳ דצריך להתיר הקשרים כדכתב בהדיא בת״ה וכן דעת הר״ן והרא״ש והטור וכ״נ דעת הרמב״ם ספי״א וכן דעת הראב״ד » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ח)

His two most direct witnesses:

« וְאִם הָיְתָה שֶׁל שֵׁשׁ מְיַשְּׁנָהּ י״ב חֹדֶשׁ. וְאִם יֵשׁ בָּהֶן קְשָׁרִים מַתִּירָן » (רמב״ם הלכות מאכלות אסורות פרק י״א הלכה כ״ג)

« ואם יש בה קשרים צריך להתירן קודם היישון » (טור יו״ד קל״ח)

⚖ What the Baer Hetev sets before the practitioner

He reports both positions in the same breath, and that is what makes the divergence impossible to ignore.

« כתב הש״ך משמע דביישון א״צ להתיר הקשרים דהיתר הקשרים דבש״ס לא קאי אלא להכשר ניגוב בלבד מיהו דעת הש״ך דאף ביישון צריך להתיר הקשרים » (באר היטב יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק י״א)

⚠ What is practically at stake is a year. If one stores a net or a flax strainer without untying it, and follows the Shakh, the twelve months will have achieved nothing: one must begin again.

8. The pitch: what it changes, and why it is peeled

The pitch is neither the vessel nor the soiling: it is a third thing, stuck to the wall, which drinks in its stead. Three consequences follow, and they cover the whole of seif 1.

1. It is peeled rather than kashered. It is not made permitted: it is removed. And because it is removed, what lay beneath must still be treated — hence קליפה וניגוב, never the peeling alone.

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2. The moment of the coating decides. Wine poured during the coating does not count as absorbed: it mingles with the still-soft pitch. The wine must come afterwards.

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3. Treading cracks it. The weight opens fissures, and the wine passes behind. That is why treading raises the rung wherever it appears.

« כלומר לאחר זפיתה אבל בזפיתה ה״ל כזורק מים לטיט » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק א)

« פרש״י מפני כובד הדריכה נעשה בקעים בזפת » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ד)

💡 The test: if the pitch were the only reservoir, peeling would suffice everywhere. It does not suffice for earthenware — so the wall drinks too, and it is the wall that the material classes. The pitch explains the peeling; the material explains the rest.

9. הגעלה or עירוי — which is the stronger?

Seif 1 implies that scalding is stronger than עירוי — it dispenses with peeling. Yet in siman 135 the Tur reported the contrary in the name of the Ramban. The Derishah raises the question, the Taz resolves it.

« בדרישה הקשה דכאן משמע דהגעלה עדיפא מעירוי ובסימן קל״ה בסופו כתב הטור בכלי חרס בשם הרמב״ן דאם מכניסו לקיום דלא סגי בהגעלה רק בעירוי » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ז)

« ודאי במקום ששייך הגעלה אז היא עדיפא מעירוי » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ז)

« דקיימא לן דמהני הגעלה לכלי חרס בסימן קל״ה סעיף ט״ו באיסור זה הוה חרס כשאר כלים והגעלה עדיפא בהו ג״כ » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ז)

Case	The stronger	Reason
A vessel on which scalding acts	הגעלה	Boiling water works hot, pouring works cold
Earthenware kept for storage, per the Ramban in siman 135	עירוי	Scalding has no purchase on it at all
For us, per the Shulchan Arukh 135:15	הגעלה	Earthenware is here like other vessels

⚖ And for the winepress: scalding by pouring

A vat cannot be immersed anywhere. Seif 3 therefore permits pouring boiling water from a primary vessel over the wall, and gives the reason: the winepress absorbed cold, and what entered cold comes out easily.

« לפי שפליטתן קלה שנבלעו בצונן. רשב״א » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ט)

10. תחילת תשמישה — the closing clause of seif 1

Three lines close seif 1, and they carry an entire sugya. When the vessel is not pitched, everything turns on who used it first.

Material	First use by a Jew	First use by a non-Jew
Stone	הדחה	ניגוב
Wood	הדחה	ניגוב
Earthenware	ניגוב	ניגוב — and per the Rama, עירוי if he trod in it

The Tur reports the Raavad, who is the source of the distinction:

« וכ״כ הראב״ד דאף של חרס וכליה אם תחילת תשמישם ע״י ישראל סגי להו בניגוב ושל אבן סגי ליה בשכשוך ומסקנת א״א הרא״ש ז״ל כדברי ר״ת » (טור יו״ד קל״ח)

⚖ The Bach objects, the Taz upholds the Shulchan Arukh

The Bach requires ניגוב even for wood. The Taz explicitly upholds the wording of the Shulchan Arukh, and the Baer Hetev records the outcome.

« והב״ח חולק על המחבר וס״ל דבשל עץ נמי בעי ניגוב אבל הט״ז כתב דדברי המחבר הם עיקר ונכונים ע״ש » (באר היטב יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ו)

11. What the Taz adds and the Mehaber does not say

Five refinements of the Taz appear nowhere in the Mehaber’s text, and yet they change the practice. Here they are gathered.

ס״ק	What he adds	Effect
ה	The tow is not the condition: an open fissure is already forbidden	Widens the heaviest case of wood
ט	Pouring suffices because the absorption was cold	Supplies the reason of seif 3
י	The large tub is meant only if it has a tap; otherwise even rinsing is superfluous	Narrows seif 4
י״א	The decanting tube is included in the measuring vessel, and all the more so	Adds an implement, with the sharpest formula in the siman
י״ב	The beam needs rinsing only where it touches the grapes	Narrows seif 5

« נראה לי שבכלל זה גם המינקת שקורין היב״ר של עובד כוכבים שצריך הכשר גדול וק״ו הוא מכלי המדה כיון שהיין מתאסף בעקמומיתו לא תועיל לו הדחה ויש למחות ביד המקילים » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק י״א)

12. לכתחילה ובדיעבד — the sixty of the pips and the skins

All the foregoing is a לכתחילה. The question of what happens when it was not done is treated in one place only — and it is the Shakh, not the Mehaber, who treats it.

« ודע שכל הכשר שבסעיף זה היינו לכתחלה אבל אם עבר ודרך בגת או בכלי הגת שלא הוכשר מותר בדיעבד דיש ס׳ וכדלעיל סימן קל״ז סעיף ב׳ » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ד)

« ואני תמה דבדיעבד פשיטא דשרי ואפילו בלא הדחה שהרי יש ס׳ בחרצנים ובזגים וכדכתבו הט״ו בסימן קל״ז ס״ב » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ד)

⚠ And the reservation the Shakh raises against himself. The sixty come from the volume of pips and skins against the absorbed thickness. A particular geometry may fail to reach them:

« ואולי מיירי בגת רחבה מאד ואינה גבוה בענין שאין ס׳ במה שבתוכה נגד קליפתה » (ש״ך יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ד)

The Baer Hetev sums up the whole passage in a single line, and joins to it a clause that comes from the Bach’s position — the prior rinsing:

« אם לא בגת רחבה מאד ואינה גבוה בענין שאין ס׳ במה שבתוכה נגד קליפתה אז אסור בדיעבד אם לא שהודח תחלה » (באר היטב יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק ג)

And the siman closes in the same spirit: one sweeps the winepress as usual, without hunting for the pips. The Taz explains that this is no deliberate nullification of a prohibition:

« בב״י בשם רבינו שמשון מסיים בזה דאין זה מבטל איסור לכתחלה שלא נתכוין לבטל » (ט״ז יו״ד קל״ח ס״ק י״ד)

13. The 6 golden rules, and the mnemonic

The degree required measures the depth of the absorption, never the gravity of the prohibition.
Stone, wood, earthenware: the order of seif 1 is the order from least to most absorbent.
Treading always raises the rung by one, because the weight cracks the pitch.
Peeling never goes alone: a ניגוב follows it, except where the Mehaber expressly writes בלא קליפה.
What holds wine follows the winepress; what merely touches it makes do with a rinsing.
The whole siman is a לכתחילה: after the fact the wine is permitted by the sixty, except in a very wide and shallow press.

Mnemonic — הנקמה״י

The seven degrees in order, by their initials:
הדחה · ניגוב · קליפה · מילוי ועירוי · הגעלה · יישון · and, at the very end, the kiln.

And the three questions, in the order in which they must be asked: MPT — Material, Pitch, Treading.

14. The 5 classic pitfalls, and the recap of the 11 seifim

To think that peeling suffices for earthenware. The mishnah says the opposite expressly: even after the peeling it remains forbidden.
To confuse בשעת זפיתה with “during the coating”. The Shakh reads after: wine poured during the coating mingles with the soft pitch and is not absorbed.
To apply seif 1 to a barrel. The winepress is not a storage vessel; a barrel is one, and falls under siman 135.
To store a knotted net or strainer for twelve months without untying it. The Mehaber permits it, the Shakh refuses — and if one follows the Shakh, the year is lost.
To reverse the order of the ניגוב. On a dry wall the water comes first, on a wet wall the ashes; this is not a preference, it is what makes the ashes hold.

Recap of the 11 seifim — one line each

Seif	What it says
א	The winepress, material by material: what the pitch, the treading and the first use change.
ב	A masonry winepress — bricks, lime, gypsum — has the law of earthenware.
ג	Scalding by pouring replaces the scouring, and is not inferior to it.
ד	Tub, funnel, measuring vessel and dipper follow the law of the winepress.
ה	The beam and the boards: a rinsing, for wine does not linger in them.
ו	The cords: scouring, or twelve months — or four ways of immediate purification.
ז	The wine strainer: hair → rinsing, wool → scouring, flax → twelve months.
ח	The filtering baskets according to their assembly — and the Rama’s tablecloths.
ט	The knots: untied for the scouring, not for the עירוי nor for the ageing.
י	The scouring in detail: wet → ashes first; dry → water first.
י״א	One sweeps the winepress as usual; one is not obliged to gather the pips.

🎓 Final flash card. Three questions, seven degrees, eleven seifim. Always ask in this order: what is it made of · is there pitch · what did he do in it. The answer is a rung of the ladder, and the rest of the siman merely attaches the other implements to it.

The sources of this level may be consulted on Sefaria:

The Pit’hei Teshuva does not comment on this siman; the Arukh HaShulchan is not accessible to us here.

15. 🎓 Recap of the study path

Level 1 — Base: the Hebrew text of the 11 seifim and its rendering. · Level 2 — Lamdan: the pilpul — the intermediate standing of the winepress, the scribal error in the Tur, scalding against pouring, the first use, the knots. · Level 4 — Halakha lema‘asse: the practical ruling and contemporary cases.