Shabbat 16
Today's daf is sponsored in memory of the soldier, Yaakov Proyev ben Rachel Victoria z"l by Yael Asher and by Valerie Adler in memory of her baby Simona Michaela chasya Bluma bat Zahava z"l.
The rabbis determined that glass utensils would be susceptible to impurities because of their similarity to earthenware vessels since they are made from sand. However, if that is the case, why are all the laws not the same? Is it because they are also similar to metal utensils that if broken, they can be melted down and welded back together? If so, why are certain laws of metal utensils not true for glass utensils? A story is brought regarding Shlomtzion the queen at her son's wedding when all the utensils became inpure due to impurity of a dead body and she broke them all and had them fixed but the rabbis forbade their use lest people come to forget laws of purification of vessels. Another of the 18 ordinances was that water collected in a utensils left by a gutter, even if unintentionally left there is considered water that is collected in a utensil that can disqualify a mikveh that doesn't yet have 40 seah of water. Rabbi Yossi doesn't think this is one of the ordinances and instead adds that even from birth, Kutim (Shomronim) are considered to be in nidda.