Kommentar zu Oholot 18:8
אֶת מַה הֵם בּוֹדְקִים, אֶת הַבִּיבִים הָעֲמֻקִּים וְאֶת הַמַּיִם הַסְּרוּחִים. בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, אַף הָאַשְׁפַּתּוֹת וְעָפָר הַתִּחוֹחַ. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, כָּל מְקוֹם שֶׁהַחֲזִיר וְהַחֻלְדָּה יְכוֹלִים לְהַלֵּךְ בּוֹ, אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ בְּדִיקָה:
Was müssen sie überprüfen? Tiefe Abflüsse und stehendes Wasser. Beit Shammai sagt sogar Müllhalden und losen Boden, aber Beit Hillel sagt, dass jeder Ort, an dem ein Schwein oder ein Wiesel laufen kann, keine Überprüfung erfordert.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הביבין העמוקים (the deep drains) – water pipes/ducts that they cause a gushing forth [of water] that spills out to the public domain. And there are books where it is written in them הכוכים/sepulchral chambers, the language of a כוך/a cave that is underneath the ground.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Introduction
In yesterday's mishnah we learned that a Jew wishing to buy a home from a non-Jew must examine the home to make sure that the non-Jew had not buried there a miscarried fetus. Today's mishnah discusses where they must check.
Warning: there is a strong "yucky" factor to this mishnah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ועפר התיחוח – for one can be concerned that on account of the abortion/non-viable birth that they buried there, the ground became crushed, loose earth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
What do they examine? Deep drains and foul-smelling waters. The first opinion seems to imply that the fetus might be cast into drains and other types of drainage ditches.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
חזיר וברדלס (pig and spotted beast/leopard, hyena) – it is their manner to dig and search underneath the ground. But if they would find an abortion/non-viable birth buried underneath the ground, they would remove it from there. ברדלס – is a beast that they call ALTZEBAH in Arabic.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Bet Shammai say: even garbage dumps and crumbled earth. Bet Shammai adds garbage dumps and soft crumbled earth. Note that both opinions agree that the non-Jew would not actually bury the fetus in the floor of the house, for digging up such a floor would not be easy.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Bet Hillel say: any place where a pig or a weasel can go requires no examination. Bet Hillel adds a leniency that doesn't seem to disagree with the above opinion (this is unusual). The Jew need not check any place where a pig or weasel might go, because if the fetus had been buried there we could assume that a pig or weasel either ate it or dragged it somewhere else [I told you this was yucky].
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