[Mesorah] All that glitters may not be...

[Mandel, Seth via Mesorah]

You are correct that gold ore or nuggets cannot become tame'; they are considered stones and earth.

But once the gold is smelted and refined and cooled and in a shape it can be considered a keli; unless one has specific intent to bang it into a specific shape, and then it cannot become tame' until the makkeh b'pattish.

So if they were refining gold to make the kelim, it would all be tahor.  And since one cannot make the kelim out of "gruta'ot," i.e. pieces of metal, the case is close, and "tahor" cannot mean "not tame'".


Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org


________________________________
From: Mesorah <mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of Akiva Miller via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2017 7:20 PM
To: mesorah at aishdas.org
Subject: Re: [Mesorah] All that glitters may not be...

Sure, they *could* bring the gold to the mikva, but that doesn't answer the question of if they *have* to.

OTOH, I wonder if it is even possible for the raw gold to be tamei. It isn't a keli yet! How can it possibly be tamei?

I suppose there could still be a requirement to use non-tamei gold in a case where they used a piece of gold that *was* a keli. In other words, if they had a proper-size chair that was made of 100% gold but was tamei, *that* would have to be toveled before it could be hammered into the Menorah.

Akiva Miller
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