Zevachim 95A

מדרבנן הוא.

The Talmud answers that Rav Huna’s statement means that it is ritually impure by rabbinic law, since the rabbis 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.

כלי חרס שיצא כו׳. ״כלי״ אמר רחמנא, ולא כלי הוא! שניקב בשורש קטן.

§ The Mishnah 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 Talmud asks: Why is there a need to break the earthenware vessel after puncturing it? God states: “The earthenware vessel…should be broken” (Leviticus 6:21), and, once it is punctured, it is not a vessel. The Talmud 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.

כלי נחשת [כו׳]. פוחתו [וכו׳]. והא לאו כלי הוא! דרציף [ליה] מרציף (הוא).

The Mishnah 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 Talmud asks: Why should the copper vessel be scoured and rinsed? After all, once the hole is bored, this is not a vessel anymore. The Talmud explains: When he hammers it and refashions it into a vessel, he must scour and rinse it.