What one must have in mind before immersing a vessel
יורה דעה · סימן ר״ב
דיני דברים החוצצים בטבילת כלים
✨ Synthesis level · חזרה
✦ ❖ ✦
This level tells nothing new: it orders. The nine seifim in one table, the two obstructions set apart, the thresholds, the three conditions of a vessel within a vessel, the positions on the wide vessel, and the pitfalls one falls into twice.
Subject:
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן ר״ב
הרב יוסף חיים סממה DAAT · daattorah.com
1. The siman in one sentence
A vessel’s immersion is valid only if the mikveh water touches all of its surface — hence two obstructions: the substance stuck to it, and the air that stays in it.
2. Master table — the nine seifim
Seif
What it says
Key word
א
Pitch and mor on a glass vessel, within and without.
זפת ומור
ב
The rule: what one minds interposes; otherwise only if it covers the greater part. Gloss: soot on the outside does not.
רובו ומקפיד
ג
Handles not meant to remain: badly inserted, half inserted, or broken.
ידות הכלים
ד
A broken handle that still serves its work does not interpose.
מעין מלאכתן
ה
The sickle: inside the rim, a hidden place; outside, according to use. Reed interposes, resin does not.
בית הסתרים
ו
Mouth downward: the immersion is invalid. Gloss: a vessel within a vessel, the mouth, the looseness, the weight.
כלי בתוך כלי
ז
The vessel narrow at both ends: tilt it on its side.
יטהו על צדו
ח
The narrow mouth: fill it first, or hold it until it fills.
שפופרת הנוד
ט
The long handle to be cut: immerse up to the measure.
עד מקום המדה
3. The two obstructions
First obstruction — the substance (seifim 1 to 5). It is measured: by particularity and by the greater part. It is resolved by cleaning, and the cleaning is done before the immersion.
Second obstruction — the air (seifim 6 to 8). It is not measured: a base the water did not touch is not a lesser part, it is a failed immersion. It is resolved by a motion: tilt, fill, wait.
4. The thresholds of interposition
Situation
Status
Degree
Greater part and particularity
Interposes
from the Torah
Greater part without particularity
Interposes
rabbinic
Lesser part with particularity
Interposes
rabbinic
Lesser part without particularity
Does not interpose
—
This scale is that of siman 198, for the immersion of persons; the Taz, at ס״ק א of our siman, carries it over to vessels, and the Arukh HaShulchan restates it at seif 3.
5. The handle — when it is one body with the vessel
The question to ask is not “is the handle wooden?” but “will it have to come off?”. A handle well inserted and meant to stay is as the vessel itself. A handle that will have to be pulled out and refitted is something other than the vessel, and it interposes.
Case
Status
Seif
Well inserted, meant to stay
As the vessel
ג
Inserted not in its proper way
Interposes
ג
Half inserted
Interposes
ג
Broken inside the socket
Interposes
ג
Broken outside, still serves
Does not interpose
ד
Broken inside the rim
A hidden place
ה
Bound with reed or string
Interposes
ה
Glued with resin
Does not interpose
ה
6. A vessel within a vessel — three conditions
The mouth — the outer vessel’s mouth must be as wide as a skin-flask’s spout. Unless that vessel also needs immersion: then a smaller opening suffices (Shach, ס״ק ד).
The looseness — the inner vessel must be loose, never wedged. That is why one does not drive knives into a pail.
The weight — the inner vessel must not press on the outer one’s base. Where it presses, neither is immersed, and the leniency of the mouth changes nothing (Arukh HaShulchan, seif 13).
7. The positions on the wide vessel
Who
A bowl immersed upside down
A deep pot
Beit Yosef / Shulchan Arukh
Valid
Invalid
Bach
Invalid
Invalid
Taz
Valid
Invalid
Nekudot HaKesef
Invalid
Invalid
Arukh HaShulchan
Valid
Invalid
And the practical conclusion runs through all five columns: there is nothing left to debate if one turns the vessel within the water. The Taz’s second answer says it in a word — within the water he turns it somewhat — and that motion makes the dispute moot.
8. The vocabulary
חציצה — interposition — whatever comes between the mikveh water and the surface of the object. Two thresholds: what one minds, even over a little; what one does not mind, if it covers the greater part.
מקפיד — one who minds — the measure is not dirt but attention: what one wants gone. The Arukh HaShulchan specifies that the way of the world decides, and so does the individual’s own particularity, in both directions.
רובו ומקפיד — the greater part and particularity — the Torah measure. The sages added two: the greater part without particularity, and the lesser part with it.
בית הסתרים — hidden place — a recess the water does not reach. In vessels the Rosh and Rabbenu Shimshon derive from the tosefta that we do not worry about interposition there at all; the Tosafot on חולין require that it at least be fit for water to enter.
שפופרת הנוד — the spout of a skin-flask — the measure of opening by which one water joins another. The gloss requires it for the outer vessel; the Shach at ס״ק ז specifies that for the vessel itself a smaller opening suffices.
שחרורית — soot — the black of smoke deposited on a cauldron. The gloss calls it “like the wall of the vessel” on the outside; the Taz at ס״ק ג infers that on the inside it interposes if one minds it.
קתא — socket — according to the Taz at ס״ק ה, the hollow metal part, of a piece with the vessel, into which the wooden handle is driven. The handle broken inside that socket is the Tur’s case.
9. The golden rules
The measure of interposition is particularity, not dirt. What one wants gone interposes; what one leaves does not.
The greater part interposes even without particularity. A pot entirely scaled therefore raises a question, even if one does not mind it.
A handle is one body with the vessel so long as it is meant to stay in it. The question is not the material but the permanence.
A temporary repair — string, tape, wire — interposes; a lasting repair — glue, welding — does not.
Air obstructs as much as a substance. One immerses mouth upward, or turns the vessel under the water.
A narrow neck is filled with water before entering the mikveh, or one waits until it fills.
A vessel within another: a sufficient mouth, looseness, and nothing pressing.
What is going to be cut need not be immersed — but nothing prevents immersing it, and the Arukh HaShulchan invites one to.
10. The classic pitfalls
Thinking “clean” is enough. A price label, a residue of glue, a protective pad are clean and interpose.
Removing the label after the immersion. Cleaning comes first; what was stuck on during the immersion invalidated it.
Confusing seif 6 with seif 8. The first is about the vessel’s position, the second about filling it. A narrow-necked vessel held upright still needs filling.
Trusting the width. The Shach writes it expressly: even a mouth wider than the measure exempts nothing if the water does not enter of itself.
Stacking in the basket. Pieces set one on another are not immersed at the point of contact — and weight is not saved by the size of the mouth.
Taking the gloss about soot for a general leniency. It was said of the outside; within, where one is particular, the Taz holds it an interposition.
11. Revision questions
Which seifim treat the substance, and which the air? Why does the distinction change the way one reasons?
What is the Torah measure, and what are the two rabbinic extensions?
Three ways a handle breaks, three verdicts. Which, and why?
Three conditions for immersing a vessel within another. Name them, with the source of each.
A bowl immersed upside down: what do the Beit Yosef, the Bach, the Taz and the Nekudot HaKesef say? And what is done in practice?
The Shach writes that a mouth wider than the measure does not always exempt. What is he speaking of, and why?
To go further
The other levels of this siman:
📖 Level 1 — Base: the text of the nine seifim, their translation, and the twenty-six entries of the apparatus
📚 Level 2 — Lamdan: the hakira, the disputes and what remains open
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
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