Kohanim sanctify their hands in the Temple until the "joint" (i.e., the wrist, see Hul. 106b:1), and their feet until the [bottom of the] calf. One who pours over his hands shall not say, "Since the first waters were impure, behold, I am pouring from the impure"*, and if he did so, he must dry off his hands [and wash again]. One who immerses his hands does not need to dry them off. One who pours over his hands needs to raise up his hands so that the water does not run beyond the joint (i.e., back toward the hand), for [otherwise] it will return [to the hands] and will defile his hands, but one who immerses his hands does not need to raise up his hands. One who pours over his hands -- if he intended [to purify them], his hands are pure. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, [if] he poured the first [waters] and afterwards found a fly on his hands, or any other [creature] whose creation was from the water (see Gen. 1:20), his hands are pure. One who pours over his hands -- if the water flowed until the joint, his hands are pure, and if not, his hands are impure. [If] there is a doubt [as to whether the water] flowed [to the wrist], his hands are pure, and Rabbi Yosei says, his hands are impure.

[If] he poured the first [water on his hands] -- this one by itself and that one by itself -- and then changed his mind and poured the second [water] on both hands as one, both are defiled. [If] he poured the first [water]* the first water (see GR"A) on both hands as one, and then changed his mind and poured the second [water] this one by itself and that one by itself -- if he intended it, his hands are pure, and if not, they are impure. [If] he poured over the first [water] beyond the [wrist] joint, and poured the second [water] on top of it (i.e., on top of the first water), and a loaf of Terumah fell from the wrist and inward (i.e., toward the hand), it is impure, [but] from the wrist and outward, it is pure. [If] he poured the first and the second [waters] above the joint and a loaf of impure Terumah fell, it follows that it should be pure -- for if the first [water] does not purify water that is on the hand purifies the water on the ground, [it follows that as to] the second [water], which purifies the water on the hand, it is logical that it will [also] purify the water that is on the ground.

Those who wash [their hands] four or five times on each side need not be concerned on account of four things: On account of their perhaps becoming impure [in the process of washing]; and on account of perhaps having performed [forbidden] work [on the Sabbath or festivals]; and on account of perhaps not having washed their hands from a vessel; and on account of perhaps not having washed their hands with a quarter-log. But one who washes and and pours the water for his friend with the hollow of his hand -- they are [both deemed] impure with the first degree of uncleanliness since he did not wash from a vessel. One who washes both of his hands -- this one from [a vessel containing] an eighth of a log and that one from [a different vessel containing] an eighth of a log, even though [the waters] were mixed together in a continuous flow, his hands are impure, since from the start he did not wash from a [vessel containing] a quarter-log.

These render the hands unfit: Food of first degree impurity, and madaf (i.e., objects rendered impure through indirect contact with an impure person), and liquids. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Shimon, one who touches the straps [of the tefillin] is pure until he touches the box [of the tefillin]. A worn out [Torah] scroll -- if there was enough [parchment] in it to compile eighty-five letters, like the section "And when the Ark traveled" (Num. 10:35), it defiles the hands. A scroll on which eighty-five letters are written, it is [considered to be] like the section, "And when the Ark traveled," [and] it defiles the hands. [If] sheets [containing] other [writings] were connected to it, it defiles the hands and the remainder do not defile the hands. Rabbi Yehuda says, the blank margin (הגליון) that is at the beginning of a scroll, and the [empty parchment] that is sufficient to encircle it* -- all of these defile the hands. One who writes Hallel and the Shema* for a child in order to teach with it -- even though he has no right to do it* -- [the writing] defiles the hands.

The threads and the straps [used] to bind together [sections of a] scroll -- even though he has no right to make [these bindings] permanent, they defile the hands. The containers [designated for storing] scrolls and the bands [used to tie scrolls], and the ark of the scroll -- whenever they are pure, they defile the hands. The blessings -- even though they contain contain the letters [of God's name] and many matters of Torah, they do not defile the hands. The margins (gilyonim) and the scrolls of the heretics* do not defile the hands. The scrolls of Ben Sira and all scrolls that are written from that point forward -- they do not defile the hands.

Rabbi Shimon ben Mensya says: "Song of Songs defiles the hands, because it is written with divine spirit. And Qoheleth does not defile the hadns for it is only written through the wisdom of Solomon." They said to him, "But did he write that by himself? Look, it says (I Kings 5:12) 'And he said three thousand proverbs,' and it say (Proverbs 30:6) 'Do not add to His words!'"

Amon and Moab—they tithe poor tithe in the seventh year. And in all lands on other years of the seven-year cycle: if [they do] poor tithe, poor tithe; if second tithe, second tithe. Said Rabbi Yose ben Durmaskit: I was with the early elders when they came from Yavneh to Lod and I found Rabbi Eliezer sitting in the baker's shop in Lod. He said to me: What new learning do you have in the study house today? I said to him: We are your students and we drink from your waters! He said to me: It is impossible there was no new learning! I told him the laws, the answers and everything. But when I came to this, his eyes flowed with tears. He said, "God's secret is for those who fear Him and He makes known His covenant to them" (Psalms 25:14); and it says, "Does the Lord God do anything without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets?" (Amos 3:7). Go and say to them: Do not pay attention to your number [i.e. the court]! Thus I received from Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, he received it from the Pairs, and the Pairs from the prophets, from Moses, a law from Sinai, that Amon and Moab they tithe the poor tithe in the seventh year!

On that very day stood Judah, an Ammonite convert, before them in the study hall. He said to them, "May I come into the community?" Rabban Gamaliel said to him, "You are forbidden!" Rabbi Yehoshua said to him, "But are the Ammonites and Moabites still in their place? Look, Sennacherib already arose and mingled all the nations, as written (Isaiah 10:13) 'I have erased the borders of peoples, and plundered their treasures!'" Rabban Gamaliel said to him, "But wasn't it already said, (Jeremiah 49:6) 'And after that I will return the exile of the Ammonites, declares the LORD!'? First in Judah He said, have they still not returned?" He said to him, "The verse says, (Amos 9:14) 'And I will return the exile of My people Israel.' In the same way that they [the northern tribes[ have not already returned, so too they [the Ammonites] have not returned." Judah the Ammonite convert said to them, "What am I to do?" They said to him, "You have already heard from the mouth of the elders: behold, you are permitted to come into the community!" Rabban Gamaliel said to him, "Even an Egyptian! Similarly the verse said that God would give to Egypt an allotment, as written, (Ezekiel 29:13) 'After forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples to which they were scattered, and they will return to their land.'"

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai said to them, they had to (חיבתם) deem holy writings as being capable of imparting impurity, for otherwise [the people] would use them as floor-coverings for their livestock. (See Yad. 4:6.) The Boethusians said, "We complain against you, Pharisees. Just as the [inheritance rights of the] daughter of my son are derived from the rights of my son which are derived from his rights, behold, [with respect to] the inheritance of my daughter which are derived from my own rights, is it not logical that she should inherit me?" He said to them, "No. If you say that with respect to the daughter of the son, that she shares [the inheritance] with her brothers, what would you say regarding a daughter who does not share [the inheritance] with her brothers?" Says the one who immerses himself in the morning, "I complain against you, Pharisees, that you mention the name [of God] without [first] immersing yourselves." Say the Pharisees, "I complain against you who immerse in the morning, for you mention the name [of God] from a body that is impure."*