We a pasken that a כלי doesn't become טמא if it carries a מת. What is the din if a כלי comes into contact with a person who is in carrying a מת [i.e. טומאת משא]? Does it become an אב הטומאה? Apparently it would depend on our chakirah. According to the first possibility that the טומאה is because of the טומאה of the connector who at that time is an אבי אבות, then the כלי will become an אב הטומאה for touching an אבי אבות. According to the second possibility that the טמאה is because the connector connects to the מת and the טומאה is from the מת, the כלי wouldn't become טמא! Why? Because the connector is only טמא בטומאת משא and that טומאה doesn't impact a כלי. The כלי is no different than the connector and thus we view it as carrying the מת. So no טומאה!
With that in mind let us take a look at a Tosfos in Nazir 54b [their view is echoed by the ר"ש and the רא"ש in the first perek of Ohalos]:
וה"ר יצחק הביא ראיה מתוספתא דכלים (פ"ו מב"ק) החמת שהיא נתונה בתנור ופיה למעלה מן התנור ועצם כשעורה כרוך בסיב או בנייר ונתון לתוכה הוא טהור והתנור טהור
Rav Yitzchak proves from Tosefta Kelim 6:13: A pouch that was put in an oven, and its mouth is above the oven, and a bone the size of a barley seed is wrapped in a shoot or paper and put inside [the pouch], it (the pouch) is Tahor and the oven is Tahor;
הוא טהור משום דכרוך בסיב והתנור טהור דתוכו ולא תוך תוכו
It is Tahor, because [the bone] is wrapped in a shoot. The oven is Tahor, because [the Torah said that an oven becomes Tamei through Tum'ah] Tocho (in it), and not Toch Tocho (in a Kli in it).
בא הטהור ואחז בו והעלהו טמא לפי שהסיט עצם כשעורה וטמא את החמת, חזרה החמת וטמאה את התנור
If a Tahor person came and held it and raised it, he is Tamei, for he moved a bone the size of a barley seed. He was Metamei the pouch, and the pouch was Metamei the oven.
אלמא דחמת כאדם ונעשית אב הטומאה לטמא את התנור ואע"ג דלאו כלי מתכות הוא משוינן ליה כאדם להיות אב הטומאה כמוהו שניטמא בעצם דהוי אבי אבות
Inference: The pouch is like a person. It becomes an Av ha'Tum'ah to be Metamei the oven. Even though it (the pouch) is not a metal Kli, we equate it to a person to be an Av ha'Tum'ah like him, that he became Tamei through the bone, which is Avi Avos [ha'Tum'ah].
So here you have it fans!! A כלי that becomes טמא via a person who is טמא בטומאת משא becomes טמא. That indicates that our FIRST approach is the one adopted here by Tosfos, that the טומאה is a result of the connector and not the מת.
Or maybe - no. Maybe through the connection of the כלי to the connector, it becomes like the connector in this case and becomes טמא משא because of the מת - even though independently it wouldn't become טמא משא. So the טומאה is from the מת [like the second approach] and משא will be מטמא the כלי [in this case only but not when it alone bears a מת] because it is connected to the person who is טמא משא. Maybe.
This would assume that the reason a כלי is not טמא משא is not a גזירת הכתוב but a סברא that only a person who goes ahead and willingly carries a מת is טמא unlike a כלי which has no volition. To be considered carrying you have to intend to carry. If it is a גזירת הכתוב then there is nothing to talk about - a כלי doesn't become טמא משא. Open and shut case. So here where the כלי is טמא it would have to be not because of the מת but because of the connector [first צד of our chakirah]. But if we say the latter maybe here the סברא would say that the person's volitional movement of the מת is transferred to the כלי which then becomes טמא because of the מת.
[עפ"י תורת מו"ר שליט"א]
