Shabbos 16
“The decree that the daughters of the Samaritans [kutim] are considered to already have the status of menstruating women from their cradle, their birth, they issued on that day.”
Is there some sort of message in the discussion about whether a glass vessel remains impure if it is broken and then reconstituted? The Talmud tells us that there is no ‘retroactive impurity” and the vessel becomes impure merely from the point when it is recast. Is there a lesson here about letting go of past transgressions and moving forward with one’s life? Perhaps to be free to enter into new transgressions, since the broken vessels could be considered newly impure once they are reassembled. I admit I am digging very deeply for some meaning in all this analysis of broken vessels. It does seem as though a lot of glasses, plates, utensils and vessels must have been broken in pieces in those days in a sacrifice to purity. I imagine lots of shards of broken glass that could be repurposed for the creation of beautiful mosaics.
As the Rabbis are counting down the eighteen decrees, they add one deeming all “the daughters of Samaritans” impure and “considered to already have the status of menstruating women” from the time they are born. The notes in the Koren Talmud indicate that this was not a statement on the impurity of all women at birth, but rather emanating from tribal disagreements the Rabbis had with the Samaritans who had many of their own unique customs.
I conducted research when the Samaritans appeared earlier in Berakhot 47 because I was not familiar with their background, except for the saying of a “good Samaritan” which I have discovered is referred to in the Talmud somewhat ironically; in actuality, the Rabbis did not consider the Samaritans very “good.” The religion is recognized today in Israel, although the number of its followers is very small. Samaritans appear to be closely related to Jews, but the Talmud appears to not consider them completely Jewish. Here is an article on Samaritans from the BCC travel section that I found when I originally researched them:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180828-the-last-of-the-good-samaritans