Pesachim, Chapter Ten, Mishnah 9 - the final mishnah of Maseches Pesachim. It is worth noting that this mishnah is being studied on Motza'ei Pesach, the night following the last day of the festival, in the year 5783.
Tumah of the Hands from Nosar and Piggul:
The mishnah opens with the law of nosar - sacrificial meat that remained past the time allotted for eating it. By rabbinic enactment, nosar imparts tumah to the hands, meaning that whoever touches it renders his hands tamei. This enactment was instituted so that the kohanim and the others eating the offering would not be lax about eating it within its proper time.
"HaPesach achar chatzos metamei es hayadayim" - according to the tanna of our mishnah, the time for eating the korban Pesach is until midnight, and from that hour onward it becomes nosar. This is the view of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, that the time for eating the Pesach is until midnight. The Chachamim disagree with him: although they too agree that it may not be eaten after midnight, that prohibition is rabbinic, whereas by Torah law the Pesach does not become nosar until morning.
The mishnah continues and teaches that both piggul and nosar impart tumah to the hands. Piggul is an offering in which, during one of its services, there was an intention to eat it after its proper time. Both of these enactments were instituted for a single purpose: to prevent the kohanim from having improper thoughts during the service, and to ensure that they would not be negligent about eating the offering within its time.
The Berachah on the Pesach and the Berachah on the Zevach:
From here the mishnah moves to a different topic - the berachos recited before eating. Over the eating of the korban Pesach one recites "asher kideshanu bemitzvosav vetzivanu le'echol haPesach," and over the eating of the korban chagigah one recites "asher kideshanu bemitzvosav vetzivanu le'echol hazevach." The tannaim disagree about the relationship between the two berachos:
Rabbi Yishmael: "Beirach birkas haPesach - patar es shel zevach" - one who recites the berachah over the Pesach has thereby exempted the berachah over the korban chagigah eaten with it. But "beirach es shel zevach - lo patar es shel Pesach" - and he must recite a separate berachah over the Pesach.
Rabbi Akiva: Neither berachah exempts the other, and each one requires its own independent berachah.
The Root of the Dispute - the Application of the Blood:
The Gemara explains that the dispute stems from the manner in which the blood of the two offerings is applied: the Pesach requires shefichah - its blood is poured against the wall of the mizbe'ach next to the base; while the chagigah requires zerikah - its blood is thrown onto the wall of the mizbe'ach. The question is what the law is when the blood of the chagigah is poured by way of shefichah instead of being thrown.
According to Rabbi Yishmael, if one performed the chagigah by the method of shefichah, it is valid, since the two methods are not mutually exclusive. For this reason the berachah over the Pesach also exempts the chagigah, but not the reverse.
According to Rabbi Akiva, the two methods do not function in place of one another at all: the Pesach requires shefichah and the chagigah requires zerikah, and neither is effective in place of the other. Therefore the berachos too do not exempt one another.
With this we have completed our study of Maseches Pesachim. We hope you will join us for Maseches Shalom.