Mishnah Shekalim 8

¹Any spit found in Jerusalem is clean except that which is [found] in the upper market, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yose says: at other times of the year [spit found] in the middle [of the road] is unclean but [spit found] at the sides [of the road] is clean; but at festivals time [spit found] in the middle [of the road] is clean, while [that which is found] at the sides [of the road] is unclean, since they are few in number, they remove themselves to the sides of the road. ²All vessels found in Jerusalem on the way going down to the place of immersion are unclean, [but those found] on the way going up [from the place of immersion] are clean; for the way down is not the same as the way up, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yose says: they are all clean, except the basket and the shovel or pick which are specially connected with [work in] cemeteries. ³A [slaughtering] knife which was found on the fourteenth [of Nisan] he may slaughter with it immediately. [If it was found] on the thirteenth [of Nisan] he must immerse it again. But a chopping knife whether [found] on the fourteenth or on the thirteenth, he must immerse it again. If the fourteenth fell on Shabbat, he may slaughter with it immediately. [If found] on the fifteenth, he may slaughter with it immediately. If [the chopping knife] was found tied to a [slaughtering] knife it may be treated as the knife. ⁴If the curtain [separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple] was defiled by a derived uncleanness, they immerse it within [the precincts of the Temple] and they bring it back in again. But if it was defiled by a principal uncleanness, they immerse it outside and spread out in the Hel. If it was new it was spread out on the roof of the colonnade, so that the people might behold its workmanship which is beautiful. ⁵Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says in the name of Rabbi Shimon the son of the chief [of the priests]: the curtain was a handbreadth in thickness and was woven on seventy-two cords, and on each cord there were twenty-four threads. It was forty cubits long and twenty cubits broad, and was made by eighty-two young girls. Two curtains were made every year, and three hundred priests were needed to immerse it. ⁶Meat of most holy things which was defiled, whether by a principal uncleanness or by a derived uncleanness, whether inside or outside [the precincts of the temple]:Bet Shammai say: it must all be burnt within, except when defiled outside by a principal uncleanness. But Bet Hillel say: it must all be burnt outside, except that which was defiled by a derived uncleanness within. ⁷Rabbi Eliezer says: [Sacrificial meat] which was defiled by a principal uncleanness, whether inside or outside [the Temple precincts], must be burned outside [the Temple]. [Sacrificial meat] which was defiled with a derived uncleanness whether inside or outside the Temple, is burned inside the Temple. Rabbi Akiva says: where it was defiled there it is burned. ⁸The limbs of the daily burnt-offering were placed on the half of the ramp [to the altar] downwards on the west side. Those of the additional offering (musaf) were placed on the half of the ramp downwards on the east side. While those of the new moon offerings were placed on top of the rim of the altar. [The laws of] the shekels and of the first-fruit are in force only when the Temple stands, but [the laws of] the tithe of grain and of the tithe of cattle and of the firstborn are in force both when the Temple exists and when the Temple does not exist. One who dedicates shekels or first-fruits [when the Temple does not exist], they are holy. Rabbi Shimon says: one who says “the first-fruit be holy,” they are not holy.