Chagiga 21: Teruma, Sacrificial Offerings, Non-Sacred Food and Ritual Purity

Today was one of those days where the text assumes knowledge of a huge amount of information.  I am going to review the pieces that I have picked up:

• Teruma is the donated food that is eaten by the priests
• Sacrificial food is what is offered by groups of people and then eaten on Festivals
• Non-sacred food might travel along with other foods
• Food is carried to Jerusalem in vessels that are pure
• Teruma does not require the same degree of ritual purity as do sacrificial offerings
• To ensure the purity of vessels, they must be immersed
• The rabbis argue about whether or not a smaller vessel can be successfully ritually immersed within a larger vessel
• The rabbis wonder whether there might be an interposition in the immersion due to the vessels touching each other and thus not being fully in contact with the water
• The rabbis note that the size of a vessel's opening must be as large as or larger than a wineskin to allow water to connect from one bath to another
• Ten stringencies regarding sacrificial food will be detailed in Chagiga 22
• The first five of those stringencies are based on Torah law and apply to sacred and non-sacred food

While Talmud scholars would note which rabbis were arguing which details; which lines of argument were augmented, I am satisfied at this point to untangle and distill at least the basic premises from this text.