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A new Mishna shares what should be done when the kometz, the handful of meal-offering taken by a priest, becomes tamei, ritually impure. The Mishna teaches that the offering is valid even if it is sacrificed in a state of ritual impurity. This is because the tzitz, the frontplate worn by the high priest, provides atonement for ritual defilement in the Temple. If, however, the meal-offering was removed from the Temple grounds and thus became tamei, the tzitz will not atone for the ritual impurity.
The fact that the Mishna presented the rule in the past tense – that a ritually defiled kometz that was sacrificed – rather than stating that the kometz could be brought even under these circumstances, would seem to indicate that in this case it really should not be brought; only after-the-fact, if it was sacrificed, would it be accepted as valid. Rashi in Massekhet Gittin (54a) suggests that on a biblical level sacrificial blood that had become tameh could be sprinkled, and similarly, the kometz could be sacrificed, even le-ḥatekhila – ab initio – and it is only a rabbinic ordinance that limits this and permits it only after-the-fact. At the same time, from Rashi in Massekhet Pesaḥim 34b it appears that the tzitz only offers atonement for ritual defilement in the Temple after-the-fact, but it cannot permit sacrifices to be brought le-ḥatekhila.
We explore the role of the Tzitz and its use in our daf.