1) This question is asked by the Nimukei ha'Griv (Rav Yehudah Bachrach zt'l), printed at the back of the standard Gemaras. He answers that it seems that one word must be added to Rashi's words: "veha'Yadayim." The words of Rashi will now read, "One does not burn Terumah because of a Rabbinical Tum'ah, with the exception of the six Sfeikos and Yadayim."

2) The Tzelach (written by the author of Noda bi'Yehudah) on Daf 14b, DH v'Da'as Rashi, gives a different answer and writes that the key lies in the words of Rashi: "Mishum Tum'ah." Rashi explains that we do not burn Terumah because of Tum'ah with the exception of the six Sfeikos, but the opinion of Rashi is that the Gezeirah was not made on hands because of Tum'ah, but rather it was made because of filth. This is Rashi's opinion above on 14a. The Gemara there states that the decree on food touched by the hands was made because hands are "Askaniyos" -- they are "always busy." Rashi explains that they are always touching a person's flesh and dirty places, and it is a disgrace for Terumah to be eaten by these repulsive hands. So, according to the Tzelach's understanding of Rashi, the Din of burning Terumah because it was touched by hands is not a Halachah about Tum'ah but rather it is a Halachah connected with personal hygiene and respect for the holy item.

3) The Nimukei ha'Griv did actually anticipate the answer of the Tzelach. However, he writes that this is a forced answer because Chazal say in many places, "Gazru Tum'ah Al ha'Yadayim," which suggests that the decree about the hands was because of Tum'ah, not because of cleanliness. These are in fact the words of the Gemara on 14b: "Shamai and Hillel made a Gezeirah of Tum'ah on hands."

4) It seems that according to the Tzelach one must say that this does not mean that the Gezeirah was because of Tum'ah, but rather that the Gezeirah gave to hands the Halchos of Tum'ah, even though the original reason for the Gezeirah was the honor of Terumah, that it should be eaten by clean hands.

5) The Pnei Shlomo, by Rav Shlomo Ganzfried zt'l (the author of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch), gives another answer:

(a) He says that the decree about hands was different from the other decrees because it was made earlier, in the time of Shlomo ha'Melech. The Pnei Shlomo also infers from what Ilfa said above (14b), "The beginning of the Gezeirah of Yadayim was that the food touched should be burned," that this suggests that the Gezeirah of Yadayim was different from the other Gezeiros. Right at the beginning, at a very early date, the Gezeirah on hands had been made by Shlomo (see the Gemara on 15a that says that Shlomo started off the Gezeiros on hands by making Tamei any Kodshim that were touched before Netilas Yadayim).

(b) What the Pnei Shlomo seems to mean is that the last Rashi on 16a is referring only to Halachos made in the time of Chazal. On that, Rashi said that only for six of the Halachos may one burn Terumah. However, one does burn Terumah that touched Stam Yadayim but Rashi did not mention this because that Gezeirah was made hundreds of years before, so one would not mention it in the same breath as the many Gezeiros of Chazal concerning Tum'ah.

6) The Sefas Emes gives an answer which is more similar to that of the Nimukei ha'Griv's that I cited earlier:

(a) The Sefas Emes does not write that one has to put an extra word into the text of Rashi, but he does write that Rashi is "Lav Davka." This means that when Rashi writes that one burns Terumah only for six cases, this is not to be taken literally. There are at least seven cases, because we must add the case of Yadayim.

(b) The Sefas Emes adds that anyway one has to say that Rashi does not mention all the cases, as Tosfos above (15b, DH Al Shishah) writes that there are actually more than six Sfeikos for which one burns Terumah, but the Mishnah cited above (15b) mentions only those for which a Takanah was made in Usha.

7) I would like to propose another way to defend the explanation of the Tzelach. The Chidush of the Tzelach is that Rashi, on the last line of 16a, writes that it is only the six Sfeikos which are burned because of Tum'ah mid'Rabanan, while the problem created by hands touching Terumah is not a problem of Tum'ah, but rather of dirty hands, as Rashi writes on 14a, DH Askaniyos. As we saw, the Nimukei ha'Griv challenges this explanation.

(a) I should emphasize that it is very unlikely that the Griv actually saw the Tzelach on Maseches Shabbos. Even though Rav Yechezkel Landau, the author of the Tzelach, died in 1793, and Rav Yehudah Bachrach, the author of the Nimukei ha'Griv, was born in 1775, nevertheless the Tzelach on Maseches Shabbos was published for the first time only in 1871, well after the passing of Rav Bachrach in 1846. When I say that the Griv questions the Pshat of the Tzelach I mean that he asks on the explanation given by the Tzelach, even though it is almost certain that he did not know that the Tzelach himself said this. The question of the Griv is that since Chazal often say that a Gezeirah of Tum'ah was made if hands touched Terumah (see, for example, the Gemara on 14b, "They made a Gezeirah of Tum'ah on the hands"), it does not seem correct to infer from the last line of Rashi on 16a that it is only the six Sfeikos that are "because of Tum'ah" while the Gezeirah of hands is because of filth.

(b) My answer to this challenge is to point out that the question of the Griv is not just a question on the explanation of the Tzelach but is in fact a question on Rashi himself on 14a, DH Askaniyos. Rashi does write there that the Gezeirah was because of the hands touching dirty places. So how does Rashi himself reconcile with the fact that Chazal say that the Gezeirah is because of Tum'ah?

(c) I think we may be able to understand Rashi if we look at the words of a different Rishon, the Ra'avad, cited by the Beis Yosef in Orach Chayim 162:6, DH uM"S Rabeinu sheha'Shofech (the words of the Ra'avad are also cited in Tamim De'im #67). He writes that when Chazal talk about Tum'ah of the hands, this does not actually mean Tum'ah, but it means the Tum'ah of dirt and touching sweat or excrement or killing lice. The Ra'avad writes that Chazal made a Gezeirah of Tum'ah on the hands because of touching the filth just as they made a Gezeirah on someone who actually touched Tum'ah.

(d) So we now have an answer to the question of the Griv. Even though the Gemara states that the Gezeirah of the hands was because of Tum'ah, this means a different type of Tum'ah: it is the Tum'ah of dirt. And Rashi on 16a writes that it is only for the six Sfeikos that one burns Terumah because it touched a Tum'ah d'Rabanan, because Rashi there is referring to proper Tum'ah, not the Tum'ah of Yadayim which is a Tum'ah of dirt.

Besoros Tovos,

Dovid Bloom