Shabbat Parashat Chukat - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Chukat - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  And the one who sprinkles the water of sprinkling shall immerse his clothing,

  and one who touches water of sprinkling shall be impure until evening.

  [Bamidbar 19:21]

We know that someone who touches anything tamei becomes tamei and requires a purification process. Who is it who does that process, and does our verse mean that this man performing the process also become tamei? Why does his impurity require only washing his clothes and waiting until evening?

Our verse certainly seems to clearly state that the one who sprinkles the cleansing water becomes tamei. But the commentators almost universally say that this does not refer to the one (presumably a Kohen) doing the sprinkling. Rather, they cite the Gemora Yoma [14a] that the verse refers to the one who carried the bowl of water to the Kohen who then does the sprinkling.

Rashi there cites verse 19:19, "The pure person shall sprinkle upon the impure person" and says that this reference to "the pure person" is stated to teach that even after the sprinkling, the one who sprinkled remains pure. Thus our verse is not literal, but must be explained by the Oral Torah as the carrier. Torah Temimah then asks, why did the Torah not write "one who carries" instead of "one who sprinkles"? The answer according to both Rashi and Rav Hirsch is that our verse is explaining how much water is required in order to make the carrier tamei, meaning the amount the Kohen needs to do a complete sprinkling. Should the carrier touch that quantity, he will become tamei until evening.

Our verse specifies the halacha that the carrier, should he become tamei for this reason, will only need to wait until sundown to become tahor again. The verse does not give a reason, but we could speculate that perhaps it is because at the point where the carrier comes into contact with the cleansing waters, they have not yet touched the tamei person. If so, no existing impurity is being spread, rather the Torah here is adding a new source of low-grade tumah.

Another way to look at our verse is to split it into two phrases. The first, "the one who sprinkles the water of sprinkling", refers to the Kohen doing the sprinkling, and requires that when he finishes, he must immerse his clothing. The second phrase, "one who touches water of sprinkling" could refer to the carrier, who, as Rashi notes, does not have to immerse his clothing, but does have to wait until evening. This avoids the issue of not taking the verse literally at its plain meaning but constructing some other explanation for the question of Torah Temimah.