Study Chagigah folio 24B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
but an impure hand does not render impure the hand of another. And R' Yoḥanan said: An impure hand renders another hand impure whether it is his own hand or the hand of another, provided the second hand is touched by the same hand that came into contact with the impurity. Moreover, the impure hand
The Talmud elaborates on R' Yoḥanan’s opinion. From where did he learn this? From the fact that it teaches in a latter clause in the Mishnah: For one renders its counterpart, i.e., the other hand, impure with regard to sacrificial food but not with regard to teruma. Why do I need this phrase as wel
The Talmud observes: And Reish Lakish, too, retracted his own opinion in favor of R' Yoḥanan’s opinion. For R' Yona said that R' Ami said that Reish Lakish said: The decree that one hand renders another impure applies whether it is his own hand or the hand of another, provided the second hand is t
The Talmud comments: And this opinion, that an impure hand affects the sacrificial food only to disqualify it but not to render it impure, is a dispute between tanna’im. As we learned in a Mishnah (Yadayim 3:2): Anything that disqualifies teruma by contact with it, i.e., anything that is impure at l
From the Rabbis’ response to R' Yehoshua it is clear that the latter’s opinion is that the second hand is indeed rendered impure to the second degree, imparting third-degree impurity to sacrificial food that it touches. Moreover: What, is it not correct to infer from the Rabbis’ words that it is imp