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Text Excerpt
ונימא: שאין טומאת ידים וכלים במקדש! אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, ואיתימא רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא: ידים קודם גזירת כלים נשנו.
The Talmud asks: And let us say that R' Akiva says that we learn from here that there is no ritual impurity of hands and vessels in the Temple, as the Mishnah says that the knife which touched the needle is also pure. Rav Yehuda said that Rav said, and some say that it was R' Yosei, son of R' Ḥanina: The testimony that there is no ritual impurity for hands was taught prior to the decree of impurity for vessels that came in contact with impure liquids outside the Temple. Therefore, there was no novelty in the fact that there is no ritual impurity of vessels in the Temple.
אמר רבא: והא תרוייהו בו ביום גזרו, דתנן: הספר והידים והטבול יום והאוכלין והכלים שנטמאו במשקין!
Rava said: But weren’t both decrees issued on the same day? As we learned in a Mishnah: The impurity of a Torah scroll and other sacred scrolls, and the impurity of hands that were not washed or immersed, and the impurity of one who immersed himself during that day, and the impurity of foods and vessels that became impure by contact with impure liquids, all these are included in the 18 matters with regard to which decrees were issued on the same day.
אלא אמר רבא: הנח לטומאת סכין, דאפילו בחולין נמי לא מטמא. האי סכין דנגע במאי? אילימא דנגע בבשר — הא אין אוכל מטמא כלי, ואלא דנגע במחט — והא אין כלי מטמא כלי!
Rather, Rava said: Leave the impurity of the knife, as even outside the Temple in non-sacred circumstances it does not become impure. As in the case of this knife, what did it touch that could transmit impurity? If you say that it touched the meat, food does not transmit impurity to a vessel. If you say, rather, that it touched the needle, a vessel does not transmit impurity to another vessel.