[Wenn] man seine Hand oder sein Bein oder einen Stab in eine Zisterne streckt , um zu sehen, ob sich Wasser darin befindet, erreicht dies nicht BeKhi Yutan ; [es ist] zu sehen, wie viel Wasser darin ist, das BeKhi Yutan erreicht . [Wenn] man einen Stein in eine Zisterne wirft, um zu sehen, ob Wasser darin ist, erreicht das, was herausspritzt, BeKhi Yutan nicht , und das, was sich auf dem Felsen befindet, ist rein [das heißt, es macht Lebensmittel nicht anfällig für Verunreinigungen].
Bartenura on Mishnah Makhshirin
לידע כמה מים יש בו – he desires the liquid that is on the tracing mark, as we have stated [in the previous Mishnah], therefore, they are under the law of “when water is put” (Leviticus 11:38). But to know if there is water within it, he does not a tracing mark of liquid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makhshirin
If one put his hand or his foot or a reed into a cistern in order to check whether it had any water, it does not come under the law of ‘if water be put’; But if to ascertain how much water it had, it comes under the law of ‘if water be put’. In the first case he just wants to see if there is any water in the cistern, but he doesn't need to see how deep the cistern is. Since he doesn't need to see the mark that it makes on his foot, hand or reed (see Rabbi Akiva's opinion in yesterday's mishnah), the water is not "to his will" and it doesn't cause susceptibility. However, if he does need to check how much water is in the cistern, then the water that comes up on his hand, foot or reed does cause susceptibility, as we learned in yesterday's mishnah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makhshirin
ושבאבן – that is to say, that is on the stone also are pure, and there are not susceptible [to ritual -impurity].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makhshirin
If one threw a stone into a cistern to check whether it had any water, [the water] that was splashed up does not come under the law of ‘if water be put’, and also [the water] that is on the stone is clean. In this case, he didn't want to bring up any water or cause any splash. He just wanted to hear the sound of the rock hitting the water. Therefore, the water that does come up and the water that is on the rock (if half of it is sticking out of the water) does not cause susceptibility.
