Parah Chapter 6

(1) One who is sanctifying [water for the chatat ritual by adding the ashes of the heifer], if the sanctified[ashes] fell on his hand or on the [vessel's] side and afterwards fell onto the trough [and into the water], it is invalid. If it [the ashes] fell from the tube into the trough [on their own], it is invalid. If he took [ashes] from the tube and covered it [the tube] or closed the door [before putting the ashes in the water], the sanctified[ashes he is holding] are valid, and the water is invalid [since he has done other work during the process of sanctifying the water]. If he set it [the tube] upright into the ground [before mixing in the ashes], [the sanctification] is invalid [since he has done other work in between]; If [he set it upright] in his hand it is valid, because it is (im)possible [otherwise].

(2) If the sanctified [ashes] were floating on the water, Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon say: he may take [from the ashes] and sanctify [with them]; and the Sages say: anything which has touched the water, we do not sanctify with it. If the water was emptied and sanctified [ashes] were found at the bottom, Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon say: he may dry and sanctify; and the Sages say: anything which has touched the water, we do not sanctify with it.

(3) One who sanctifies in a trough, and a tefi [a vessel with a very narrow opening] is inside it, even if the opening [of the tefi] is a [very small] width, the water inside it is sanctified. If there was a sponge [in the trough when the ashes were added], the water inside it is invalid [since the water is not contained in a vessel]. What should he do? He empties [the vessel] until he reaches the sponge [and the collected water is valid]. [But] if he touches the sponge, even if the water is floating above it in any amount, it [the water] is invalid [since invalid water left the sponge and mixed with the valid water].

(4) If one places his hand, or his foot, or the leaves of vegetables [under a stream of water], in order that the water should flow into a barrel, it is invalid [since it entered via something capable of contracting impurity]; [if one does so using] the leaves of reeds or the leaves of nuts, it is valid [since these items cannot contract impurity]. This is the rule: something capable of contracting impurity, it is invalid; something incapable of contracting impurity, it is valid.

(5) One who redirects a spring into a pit or into small pits, [the collected water] is invalid for a zav and a metzorah, and to sanctify the waters of a chatat, since they were not filled in a vessel. [A zav is one who has a seminal emission which makes him ritually impure. One stage of his purification process is to immerse himself in naturally flowing water. Once the water is collected in a pit, it is no longer considered flowing and thus can not be used for his purification process. A metzorah is one afflicted with a particular skin disease and he is ritually impure. One stage of his purification process is that a vessel be filled with water from naturally flowing water and that a bird be killed over this vessel. Once the water is collected in a pit, it is no longer considered flowing and thus can not be used for that ritual. Similarly, the water for sanctifying the ashes of a red heifer for the chatat ritual must be drawn from naturally flowing water.]