Mishnayos Parah Perek 4 Mishnah 4

כל העסוקין בפרה – the red [cow] in one of its acts of Divine Service, whether at the beginning, whether at the middle whether at the end.

מטמאין בגדים – as it is written (Numbers 19:6): “[And the priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop and crimson stuff, [and throw them into the fire consuming the cow,” and near/adjacent to it (Numbers 19:7): “The priest shall wash his garments,” but in its burning, it is written (Numbers 19:8): “He who performed the burning shall also wash his garments,” but the person who person who throws the hyssop defiles clothing, doesn’t the person who does all the more so [defiles his clothing]? But rather, the verse comes and teaches us on all who engage with the cow/heifer from the beginning to the end require the washing of clothing.

ופוסלין אותה במלאכה – as it is written (Numbers 19:3): “[It shall be taken outside the camp] and slaughtered [in his presence,” but not that another labor should be done with it at the time of is slaughtered. And similarly with regard to its slaughter it is written (Numbers 19:5): “[The cow shall be burned – in his sight], but not that another labor should be done with its burning, we learned that the labor invalidates it from the time of its slaughter until it becomes ashes.

אירע בה פסול בשחיטתה – not that it became ritually forbidden by unskillful slaughtering, for if so, it defiles clothing because of being an animal not slaughtered according to the ritual rules, but rather it is invalid on account of the labor, similar that if an invalidation occurred to it through its sprinkling.

אינה מטמאה בגדים – for since that its slaughter was with an invalidation, if so, nothing was yet done to it for the sake of the heifer’s fitness, but if an invalidation happened to it while sprinkling, the slaughtered had already taken place in fitness/being kosher.

לעולם מועלין בה – a person who benefits from it whether prior to its burning whether after its burning, is liable for the sacrifice of unlawful use of sacred property, until the ashes are made, but after the ashes are made, there is nothing in the ashes coming as a result of unlawful use of sacred property, as it is written (Numbers 19:9): “it is for purification”/"חטאת היא".

ומרבין לה עצים- also especially until the ashes are made.

ומעשיה ביום – In the Tosefta (Tractate Parah, Chapter 4, Halakha 11) it explains, except for the gathering of its ashes and drawing [of water] and the mixing [of the ashes and the water], that they are able to gather the ashes of the cow/heifer at night, and to draw the water from the well and this is called the drawing of water/מילוי, and the putting into the ashes and this is called קידוש/mixing of the ashes in the waters of lustration, and all of this is permitted to be done at night. And all the actions concerning the cow/heifer are with a Kohen [only], except for the gathering of the ashes, and the drawing of the water and the mixing of the ashes in the waters of lustration and the sprinkling, which are appropriate for a non-Kohen/foreigner. The gathering of the ashes, as it is written (Numbers 19:9): “A man who is pure [shall gather up the ashes of the cow],” teaches that the gathering of the ashes is appropriate for any man. And [regarding] sprinkling, it states (Numbers 19:19): “The pure person shall sprinkle it upon the impure person [on the third day and on the seventh day],” whether he is a Kohen or whether he is not a Kohen.

והמלאכה פוסלת במים – as it is written (Numbers 19:9): “to be kept for water of lustration for the Israelite community. [It is for purification],” just as the sin-offering is invalidated with work [done by those involved in the ritual], as we have written above, so also the waters are invalidated through work [done by those involved in the ritual] from the time of the drawing of the water.

עד שיטילו את האפר – that they cast in the water from the ashes of the cow/heifer according to the measure that the ashes will be seen in the water and from them he sprinkles upon the impure individual, but if after they cast the ashes into the water he performed another task at the time of the sprinkling, he did not invalidate it.