Wenn sich eine Zisterne in einem Haus befand und sich ein Kerzenhalter darin befand und das blütenförmige Ornament herausstand und ein Korb [der nicht unrein werden kann] so darüber gestellt wurde, dass der Kerzenhalter herausgenommen würde, wenn der Kerzenhalter herausgenommen würde würde auf der Mündung der Zisterne stehen, das Haus von Shammai sagen, die Zisterne ist rein, aber der Kerzenhalter ist unrein. Das Haus Hillel sagt, sogar der Kerzenhalter sei rein. Und sie sind sich einig, dass [wenn der Korb so platziert wurde, dass] wenn der Kerzenhalter herausgenommen würde, der Korb fallen würde, alles unrein ist.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
החדות (the cellar) – like [the word] דות/cellar, that is the same as a בור/cistern, and that is the same as a דות/cellar, but that the בור/cistern is something [made by] digging and דות/cellar is [something made] by building.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
A cellar in a house with a candlestick in it, whose calyx protrudes and an olive-basket is placed such that if the candlestick was taken away the olive-basket would still remain over the mouth of the cellar: Bet Shammai says: the cellar remains clean but the candlestick becomes unclean. Bet Hillel says: the candlestick also remains clean. The source of corpse uncleanness is found in the house. The cellar has a candlestick protruding from it, and the calyx (a flower-shaped receptacle on the candlestick) is supporting a basket that covers the opening to the cellar. The basket is of a type that is not susceptible to impurity. If the basket can remain in place without the support of the candlestick, then it joins the walls of the cellar to prevent impurity from going below. However, Bet Shammai holds that since part of the candlestick protrudes from the cellar, the candlestick is impure. The basket covering it does not protect it from contracting impurity. Bet Hillel disagrees and holds that the basket protects the candlestick as well.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ומנורה בתוכה – within the cellar/דות.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
But they agree that if the olive-basket would fall [into the cellar] if the candlestick was removed, all would become unclean. If the olive-basket is supported by the candlestick and would collapse without it, it does not protect the impurity from going down below. This is because the candlestick is a vessel and vessels do not act as an ohel to prevent spread of impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
והפרח של מנורה יוצא וכפישה נתונה עליו (the calyx/cup of the Menorah projects and its inverted vessel – divided into two compartments by the bottom - is put over it [that it would remain in position]) – we have the this reading. Meaning to say, on the calyx/cup/flower. And the cup/calyx is wide at the top of the Menorah that the candle sits upon it. And the כפישה/inverted vessel is a large basket that they press the olives in it in order to produce shrinking and maturing of the frits by underground storage or by exposure to the sun.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
על פי חדות – that doesn’t fall into it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
טהור – that it is preserved with the walls of the tent, as we stated above in Chapter 5, [Mishnah 6].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
המנורה טמאה – because of the calyx/flower that protrudes from the cellar, the inverted vessel does not protect it. But if you should say, since the Menorah is impure, how can the cellar be pure? For doesn’t it become defiled like the corpse itself that a sword is like that the slain person? One can say, that we are speaking as for example that there isn’t a corpse in the house but rather the sword that touched/came in contact with the corpse, and through it defiles the house and the Menorah, and we hold that the a vessel does not make another vessel something else as was explained in the first chapter (see Mishnah 2).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אף המנורה טהורה – for we follow after it (i.e., the Menorah) and not its calyx. And it (i.e., the Menorah) is within the cellar exists and is protected with the cellar.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הכל טמא- whether the cell or whether the Menorah, since if you take the Menorah, the inverted vessel falls into the cellar [and everything is unclean].
