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Study Guide

Today's daf is sponsored by Joanna Rom in loving memory of her mother, Rose Rom, Sura Razel, on her seventeenth yahrzeit. "She is still with me every day, my inner teacher."

If one becomes impure, must one repeat the washing of hands and feet? A source is brought from Mishna Para 3:7 regarding the para aduma (red heifer) to suggest that re-washing is not required. However, this proof is rejected, as the laws concerning the para aduma are considered more lenient.

Can a kohen immerse his hands and feet directly in the water of the basin, or must the water be poured over them? Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak cites a source to support the permissibility of immersion, but the inference is ultimately rejected.

Regarding the timing for sinking the water into its pit to prevent disqualification for the following day, three opinions are presented:

• Rabbi Chiya bar Yosef distinguishes between rites performed during the day and those at night. For daytime rites, the water must be sunk at sunset; for nighttime rites, at dawn.
• Rav Chisda maintains that for all rites, the water must be sunk at dawn.
• Rabbi Yochanan holds that once the water is sunk at the beginning of the night, it may not be raised again until morning.

Rabbi Yochanan's position is examined in light of other statements he made that appear contradictory. The analysis also ensures his view is clearly differentiated from those of Rav Chisda and Rabbi Chiya bar Yosef, with whom he disagrees.

A challenge is raised against Rav Chisda's opinion, but it is resolved.