Reading Shabath tet zain (16), it is not clear to me what the halacha of clay that breaks, and then fixed. I know that the old tu-ma-ah no longer exist. However, it is not clear to me if it can ever get new tum-ah. I looked also in the rambam, but could not understand. If I fix a clay (cheres) keli, is it become new type of keli, and this new type cannot get new tum-ah?
Thanks,
Aaron Gal, Fair Lawn, NJ, USA
Once Klei Cheres have been broken they can never be fixed so that they can be used again. (This is what the Gemara means when it says in our Sugya that glass is compared to metal, and not just to Cheres, "since it can be fixed when broken." Since they cannot be fixed, they will not be Mekabel Tum'ah if one tries to fix them unsuccessfully.
If one does make a working utensil from pieces of Cheres, then it is Mekabel Tum'ah afresh, as is evident from Kelim 5:10 (Tanur of Achna'i).
Best wishes,
Mordecai Kornfeld