[Avodah] Shiur for Kesem today

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger asked:

> I am wondering, how can we today be toleh bema'akholes? BH we live
> in a place and time where healthy people are not plagued with lice
> and whatnot, that this is a likely alternative explanation.
>
> Or do we say that when they were gozerin on kesamim, the gerzeirah
> didn't include a kesem equal to or smaller than a kegeris, and
> therefore we make no assumptions at all about where the kesem came
> from?

I've always figured on the second of these two. My reasoning is based on
the halachos of where the kesem was found.

If we are going to make logical estimates "about where the kesem came
from", then we shouldn't care about whether or not the cloth can be mekabel
tumah. Who cares about the size of the cloth, or the color of the cloth, or
the material of the cloth? But the system was set up such that if the cloth
is not m'kabel tumah, then the kesem can't be tamay either. And so too for
the size of the kesem.

I had a lot of trouble understanding - and even accepting - the above, but
when I realized that without hargasha everything becomes d'rabanan, it
began to make sense. (For comparison, I suppose one might compare it to
certain concepts in Eruvin, which might stretch credulity if hotzaah were a
melacha d'Oraisa. [Tzuras Hapesach: An area is called "enclosed" because it
is surrounded by doorless doorways. Puhleeze!] But since Eruvin only works
where hotzaah is d'rabanan, they pretty much had carte blanche to set it up
however they wanted.)

Akiva Miller
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