Kommentar zu Kelim 18:8
תְּפִלָּה, אַרְבָּעָה כֵלִים. הִתִּיר קְצִיצָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה וְתִקְּנָהּ, טְמֵאָה טְמֵא מֵת, וְכֵן שְׁנִיָּה, וְכֵן שְׁלִישִׁית. הִתִּיר אֶת הָרְבִיעִית, טְהוֹרָה מִטְּמֵא מֵת, אֲבָל טְמֵאָה מַגַּע טְמֵא מֵת. חָזַר לָרִאשׁוֹנָה וְהִתִּירָהּ וְתִקְּנָהּ, טְמֵאָה בְמַגָּע, וְכֵן שְׁנִיָּה. הִתִּיר אֶת הַשְּׁלִישִׁית, טְהוֹרָה, שֶׁהָרְבִיעִית בְּמַגָּע, וְאֵין מַגָּע עוֹשֶׂה מַגָּע:
Eine Tefillin-Box, die aus vier Fächern besteht [dh dem Shel Rosh ]: Wenn er das erste Fach entfernt und dann [ein anderes] anbringt, behält sie ihre Leichenverunreinigung bei, ebenso wie das zweite und das dritte [Fächer]. Wenn er das vierte [Abteil] entfernt, wird es von Leichenverunreinigungen gereinigt, aber es bleibt unrein durch Kontakt mit [einem durch] Leichenverunreinigungen unreinen Objekt. Wenn er zum ersten Abteil zurückkehrte und es entfernte und [ein anderes] anbrachte, bleibt es unrein vom Kontakt [mit einem durch Leichenunreinheit unreinen Gegenstand]. So auch mit dem zweiten [Fach]. Wenn er dann das dritte Fach entfernt und [ein anderes] anbringt, wird es rein, da das vierte vom Kontakt unrein war und das, was vom Kontakt unrein ist, keine Verunreinigung durch Kontakt vermitteln kann.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
תפלה – it is speaking of the Tefillin of the head that came in contact with a corpse, for it has four compartments, and every compartment is called a קציצה/capsule, compartment.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Introduction
The tefillin box worn on one's head has four compartments to hold four scrolls. The box was defiled with corpse impurity. Our mishnah deals with cases where one replaces the compartments, eventually causing the entire tefillin box to be pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
התיר קציצה (he untied/loosened the compartment) – he removed one compartment and brought another in its place.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
A tefillin box consisting of four vessels: if the first compartment was unloosed, and then he mended it, it retains its corpse uncleanness. So is it also the case with the second and the third. If he opens up the first compartment and removes it, and then makes a new compartment, the whole box of tefillin retains its corpse impurity. The same is true if he removes and then repairs all three of the first boxes. Since one compartment is still there, the tefillin is not considered new and it retains the same level of impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טמאה טמא מת – that their connection/attachment makes them one body.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If he unloosed the fourth it becomes free from corpse uncleanness but it is still unclean from contact with corpse uncleanness. If after having replaced all three of the first compartments, he now replaces the fourth compartment, then the box loses it corpse impurity because it is an entirely new tefillin box. However, the box still has some level of uncleanness. When he replaced each of the first three compartments he put them back into contact with a compartment that has corpse uncleanness. The unclean compartment which is a "father of impurity" defiles by contact the compartment that it touches, giving it first degree impurity. So all of the first three compartments have this status, and therefore the whole box has this status.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
וכן שניה וכן שלישית – all the time that the fourth [compartment] exists. On account that it is attached to the fourth [compartment]. But when he removed also the fourth and exchanged it for another, the defilement from [contact with] the dead flies out from it, and there remains in the three compartments/capsules [of the Tefillin of the head] the defilement from contact with something which had been defiled through contact with a corpse, for it came in contact with the fourth [capsule/compartment] when they attached them and it still exists. But the Fourth [capsule/compartment], when it was switched out, there is no defilement in its body at all, for if it was because it come in contact with the three [other] compartments, contact [uncleanness] does not cause contact uncleanness, since the first three [compartments] are new, that came in contact with someone who had been in contact with a corpse, the new forth [compartment] does not receive defilement from them, and there is no defilement in the new fourth [compartment] other than on account that is attached to the three which are defiled through contact. Therefore, when he return and switched out the three [compartments] a second time, all of them are pure, and there is no contact [with defilement] in them.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If he went back to the first compartment and unloosed and mended it, it remains unclean from contact. So also in the case of the second compartment. Going back and undoing the first compartment and then replacing it, and then doing the same with the second department, will not cause the box to be entirely clean. Because some of the compartments are unclean, the whole box is unclean.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If he then unloosed the third compartment and mended it becomes clean, since the fourth is unclean from contact, and what is unclean from contact cannot convey uncleanness by contact. However, if he goes back and replaces the third compartment, the whole box becomes completely pure. As long as one of the first three replacement boxes was still around, the whole box is impure with first degree impurity, because these three replacement compartments came into contact with something that was a "father of impurity." The first came into contact with the second, the second witht the third and the third with the fourth. However, once the first three compartments are replaced again, none of the compartments left was ever in contact with something that was a "father of impurity." All that is left is the fourth compartment which also was never in contact with a "father of impurity." It has "first degree impurity" only because it was part of a box that had "first degree impurity." The fourth compartment does not now return to defile the new third compartment, because something with "first degree impurity" does not defile other vessels. And since the first three compartments are completely pure, the fourth one is also pure.
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