Kommentar zu Oktzin 2:16

זיתים שכבשן – in wine or vinegar or in other liquids.

Leaves of olives pickled together with the olives remain clean, for their pickling was only for the sake of appearances. Leaves of olives are not edible. Even if one pickled them with olives, he did so only for appearance sake. Therefore, they are not susceptible to impurity.

בטרפיהן – with their leaves. The leaf of an olive, we translate in Aramaic as טרף זיתא/the leaf of an olive.

The fibrous substance on a zucchini and the flower-like substance on it are clean. Rabbi Judah says: that as long as it is still before the merchant, it is unclean. These substances that are on a zucchini are neither edible nor are they handles. Therefore, they are not susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Judah holds that since a merchant wants to sell the zucchini (these are not necessarily identical to modern varieties) in as great of a volume as possible, as long as these are with the merchant, these parts are susceptible to impurity. However, once they are sold they are useless so they are no longer susceptible.

טהורים – if a creeping reptile/insect touched/came in contact with the leaves, the olives and the leaves are ritually pure, for the leaves are not considered neither a handle nor a protector.

לפי שלא כבשן- with their leaves.

אלא למראה – in order that they would look nicer when their leaves are with them, for they appear as if they were newly detached/plucked.

כשות של קישות (fine hairs/fibers of cucumbers) - when the cucumbers are small, they have a kind of small hair, and it is called כשות/fine hairs/fibers.

והנץ שלה (its blossom, sprout/flower) – in the mouth of the cucumbers there is like a bit of a long blossom/flower.

טהורים – for they are not considered neither a handle nor a protector.

לפני התגר טמאה (before the vendor/travelling merchant) – for it is satisfactory to the vendor with hair and with a blossom, and because of this the cucumbers appear beautiful and it is as if they were newly plucked/detached, and since he wants their preservation, they are considered as a protector for the fruit. Alternatively, because the cucumbers are soft and everyone’s hand touches them to buy them, they are ruined/spoiled if not because that hair protects them from all dirt and filth.

הגלעינים (the stones/kernel of a stone fruit, globule/pits) – like גרעינים/globules, the stone or kernel of a stone fruit.

All kinds of pits can be defiled and defile but do not join together. Pits are part of the fruit in which they are found and therefore they defile and can be defiled. But since they fall out and are not really attached to the fruit, they do not join together to make the requisite amount.

ולא מצטרפות – [and do not join together] with the food to complete it to be like an egg’s bulk, for it is considered a handle, but not a protector.

The pits of fresh dates, even when detached [from the edible part], do join together; but those of dried dates do not join together. People suck on the pits of fresh dates. Therefore, they count fully as part of the date. But dried dates are like other pits, they are not counted with the date.

גלעינה של רוטב (stones of moist olives) – a stone of a moist olive and it is appropriate to suck.

Accordingly, the stems of dried dates do join together, but that of fresh dates do not join together. The stem of a dried date is considered to be something that protects the pit from falling out. Therefore, it is fully considered part of the date. But a person doesn't care if the pit of a fresh date falls out, because it's part of the date. Therefore, the stem does not "guard" the fruit and the stem doesn't count.

אע"פ יוצאה (even though it is detached) – meaning to say, even though it is detached from the food, it joins with the food, because it is consumed, that one sucks it on account of its moistness.

If only part of a pit is detached, then only that part near the edible portion joins together. If part of a fresh date pit has become detached, only the part next to the date still counts. I really can't imagine how one could actually determine how big the date is, but theoretically it makes sense.

לפיכך חותל של יבישה (the membranous enclosure separating the stone of a date from its flesh, pericarp – as far as not eatable) – a berry of grapes or figs has a membranous enclosure, that seals the incision of the fruit, and that at the top of the membranous enclosure/pericarp is a peduncle, such is what my Rabbis have explained. And their explanation has difficulties, of what therefore. And I found in the Mishnayot accuracy, therefore, the membranous enclosure separating the stone of the date from its flesh/pericarp, and such is the reading of Maimonides (i.e., חותל של יבישה ) and he explains the reason – that the kernel of a green date, that is of a moist date, combines/joins together, because it is a protector to the fruit, for without the globule/stone or kernel of a stone fruit, the fruit would be lost. But that of pericarp does not combine/join together, for again, the globule/stone or kernel of a stone fruit is not a protector of the fruit, for the moisture that is in the date has already ceased and the globule does not protect it so that it doesn’t become lost. Therefore, the membranous enclosure separating the stone of the date from its flesh/pericarp, and it is the membrane/skin that is wrapped and attached on the globule of the date, combines/joins with the date when it is dry, because the membrane/skin is a protector and not the globule/kernel of a stone fruit.

[Similarly] with a bone on which there is flesh, only that part that is close to the edible part joins together. The same thing is true when determining the volume of meat. The bone is part of the meat, but only the part of the bone on which there is still some flesh.

ושל רוטב – that is, the moist date, the membrane does not join/combine. For the globule/stone or kernel of a stone fruit is the protector and not the membrane. And that membrane is called a חותל/membranous enclosure separating the stone of date from its flesh/pericarp. Because it is wrapped and attached to the globule/stone or kernel of a stone fruit. It is the language of (Ezekiel 16:4): “[As for your birth, when you were born your navel cord was not cut, and you were not bathed in water to smooth you; you were not rubbed with salt] nor were you swaddled.”

[If a bone] has flesh only upon one of its sides: Rabbi Ishmael says: we take it as though [the flesh] encompasses it like a ring; But the sages say: [only] that part close to the edible part is included [as is the case] for example with savory, hyssop and thyme. The sages debate a case in which there is meat on only one side of the bone. Rabbi Ishmael says that we look at the flesh as if it was a string and if there is enough to go around the bone, it joins together. This would mean even the part of the bone that is not under the flesh would join together. The sages disagree and say that only the part of the bone that has flesh on it joins with the flesh. The other part does not. This is like these three spices that have thin stalks and the spices are on only one side. Whatever has spices on it joins together and whatever does not have spices on it, does not count.

גלעינה שמקצתה יוצאה (a pit, part of which was detached) – as for example the globule of the moist date, half of which is consumed and half of it remains with the globule.

מה שכנגד האוכל (that which is near the edible part) – is considered a protector and combines/joins together, but not the other part. And similarly, a bone that has upon it an olive’s bulk of flesh.

היה עליו – there was flesh on the bone on one side that does not surround the bone, Rabbi Shimon states that we see if there is meat the measurement that it is able to surround its thickness like the thread of woof like a ring around the bone that joins/combines. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

כגון הסיאה והאזוב והקורנית (as for example, a plant classified with hyssop/Satureia Thymbra/savory, and the hyssop/marjoram and the thyme) – for also with these, such is their law. What is near the edible part joins together, what is not near the edible part does not join together. And סיאה and קורנית are a species of hyssop. סיאה is TALIAZ in the foreign language and קורנית is SHADRIAH in the foreign language.

שנימוק מקצתו אין מצטרף (that was partially rotted, does not combine)- for what has rotted is not considered food/edible, since it became in a state of dissolution and it is not worthy of consumption.

If a pomegranate or melon has rotted in part, [what is rotten] does not join together. The rotted part of the fruit does not join together to equal the requisite amount.

הפטמא של רימון (the protuberance on the blossom-end of pomegranates) – like a kind of nipple that extends at the top of the pomegranate and it is called פטמא/protuberance, and around the protuberance is like a kind of green flower that has thin threads. And they are called נץ/blossom, sprouting . And around those threads are a something similar to a cup and its head is made in turrets/fortress. And it is called a מסרק/the crown of a pomegranate, because it has teeth like a comb/indented attachment to a plant.

And if [the fruit] is sound at either end but has rotted in the middle, [what is rotten] does not join together. Even if both ends are okay and only the middle part is rotten, it still is not counted as part of the fruit.

אף המסרק טהור – that if it severs/cuts from the fruit, the globule/stone or kernel of the stone fruit is not revealed through this, therefore, it is not a protector. Even the protuberance, if one severed it until its root, it would reveal the globules/stones and destroy the fruit. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.

The stem of a pomegranate does join together, but the fibrous substance in it does not join together. Rabbi Elazar says: also the comb is not susceptible to uncleanness. The stem of the pomegranate is treated like other stems and it joins together with the fruit. But the little hairs inside the stem do not. Albeck describes the "comb" as being a sort of "cup" around the fibrous substance whose edge looks like a comb. This part is clean meaning it doesn't join together and according to the Tosefta it is not even considered part of the fruit such that it could be defiled.

כל הקליפין (all the husks/skins) – as for example, the shells of nuts and almonds and pomegranates and shells of eggs, are considered as a protector to the food, and combines/joins with the food to complete to make up the measurement to be susceptible to receive ritual defilement. But however, a moist upper shell that is upon nuts at the time of their harvest, does not combine, for it is not considered a protector, for there is no protector on top of a protector.

All kinds of peels defile and are defiled, and join together. Peels generally protect the fruit that's what they're there for. So they count as part of the fruit, they defile and can be defiled and they join together to add up to the minimal amount.

קדורה (perforated) – perforated, it is the language of מקדרים בהרים/estimating the level distance between two places separated by mountains that is taught in the Mishnah in [Tractate] Eruvin (Chapter 5, Mishnah 4 – Talmud Eruvin 58a – measuring Sabbath elevations are considered as cut through). But something cut through/perforated does not combine, because it doesn’t protect when it is perforated and severed/cut.

Rabbi Judah says: an onion has three skins: the innermost one whether it is in its entire state or whether it be pierced with holes joins together; the middle one when it is in a whole state joins together, but when it is pierced with holes does not join together; the outermost skin is in either case insusceptible to uncleanness. Rabbi Judah distinguishes between the different layers of an onion. The inner part is always considered part of the onion. It's probably edible so why shouldn't it be. The middle part is part of the onion when it is whole. But if it has holes, meaning it's not complete, it is not part of the onion. [This is probably the part I always try to keep because I don't like to waste, but sometimes I can't peel the outer part without taking this off as well]. The outer peel is not part of the onion because the onion is protected even without it.

והחיצונה – it is the thin shell that falls on its own, when we handle the onion. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

המחתך לבשל – as for example, cuts gourds or onions or meat in order to cook it in a pot.

If one chops up [fruit] for cooking, even if [the chopping had] not been completely finished, it is not regarded as connected. Once one begins to chop up produce in order to cook it, the pieces are no longer considered connected to one another.

שלא מירק (did not finish it off) -that he did not complete the cutting, like he completed it after slaughtering by his hand in Tractate Yoma [31b].

If his intention had been to pickle or to boil it, or to set it on the table, then it is regarded as connected. However, if he intends to either pickle, boil or set aside the pieces, then they are considered connected to one another. If one is defiled, then they are all defiled. It is a bit difficult to understand why or how section two differs from section one. According to Albeck, section two presents cases in which he wants the pieces to stay together until he does something else with them, such as pickle them, put them in a pot or put them in front of those eating. Therefore, they are considered connected. However, in section one he doesn't care if they stay connected, perhaps because he will cook them separately.

אינו חיבור – even though the pieces are still partly intertwined/interwoven.

If he began to take [the pieces] apart, [only] that part of the food which he began to take apart is not considered connected. This refers to section two. Once he begins to take the pieces of the fruit apart from the pile that they were in, the stuff he has taken apart is no longer considered connected. But the parts he has not yet taken apart remain connected.

לכבוש – that he pickles in wine or in vinegar in order to preserve it.

Nuts that had been strung together, or onions that had been piled together, count as connected. If he began to take the nuts apart, or to strip the onions, they are not connected. Nuts or onions strung together, perhaps to bring them to market, count as connected. But once he begins to take them apart, they are not connected.

ולשלוק (or to seethe) – seething is more than cooking, and in these it is satisfactory for it in their combining/joining, therefore whenever he didn’t finish it off, it is combining/joining. But to cook is not combining/joining, for if he knows that the cooking will separate them and divide them one from the other.

[Shells of] nuts and almonds are considered connected [with the edible part] until they are crushed. Shells of nuts are connected until they are smashed to get the nuts out. Once they are smashed, they are not considered connected even if he has not yet removed the shells. This is because they no longer protect the nut.

התחיל לפרק (when he has begun to strip vegetables) – and to separate completely one from them, we do not say that since he revealed his intention with one that he wants separate them, all of them also are as if they are separated one from another and it is not combining/joining, but if he eats and only strips, it is not combining/joining, and what he didn’t strip is combined/joined.

האגוזים שאמנן (nuts which one arrayed/arranged in lines) – that he grew them and combined them one with the other. It is the language of (Esther 2:7): “He was foster father to Hadassah [that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother].”

שחמרן ([and the onions] which one has piled up) – It is the language of (Exodus 8:10): “And they piled them up (i.e., the dead frogs) in heaps, [till the land stank].” From the manner of those who wish to store up nuts or onions, they cut them and tie them up with rope or with cord/flax rope and combine them one with the other and suspend them in order that they will endure.

לפקל (to strip, peel) – like to peel/לקלף. And it is example we taught in [Tractate] Maaserot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 6, “the onions [are subject to tithes] when one begins to strip them (for storage)” (note that there is a mistake in the printed editions which mention chapter 2 and/or chapter 4).

האגוזים והשדקים – now we are speaking of cracking open nuts and almonds. For the shell of nuts and almonds are considered a protection, and even though he cracked them open, all the while that it is attached to the food/edible part, it is considered a protection.

עד שירסס (until he crushes them) – It is the language of (Amos 6:11): “[For the LORD will command,] And the great house shall be smashed to bits [And the little house to splinters],” meaning to say until the shell will be crushed and opened into thin pieces.

ביצה מגולגלת (a roasted egg) – roasted slightly, until it is mixed and appropriate to sip/quaff.

[The shell of] a roasted egg [is considered connected] until it is cracked. That of a hard-boiled egg [is considered connected] until it is entirely broken up. The shell of a roasted, soft-boiled egg is considered connected to the egg until the egg is cracked so that someone could scoop out or suck out the egg itself. If the egg was hard-boiled, then the shell is connected until it's all broken up. At this point it no longer guards the eggs. But it is already not considered connected even though it hasn't been removed.

עד שיגוז (until it is chipped) – the shell is considered a protector and combines [to make it susceptible to ritual uncleanness] until he cuts off from it a little bit, and then it is not considered a protector any more, for the egg comes down slowly through the path of that fracture and cut.

A marrow-bone serves as connected until it is wholly crushed. Until he crushes the bone to get out the marrow, the whole bone is considered connected.

ושלוקה – but if the egg was boiled, that it is hard and stands within the shell, and een that which is broken, the shell is always considered a protector, until it is crushed.

A pomegranate that has been divided into sections is connected until it has been knocked with a stick. It seems that they would remove the seeds of the pomegranate by hitting it with a stick. This is a trick that I would like to learn. In any case, until he knocks on the pomegranate to separate the seeds, it is considered connected.

וכן עצם שיש בו מוח (and similarly a bone that has marrow in it) – the bone is considered a protector for the marrow, and even though the bone is broken, it [protects] until it is crushed.

Similarly, loose stitches of laundrymen or a garment that had been stitched together with threads of kilayim, are connected until one begins to loosen them. If a laundrymen or clothier sold strung garments together with string that are "kilayim" with each other meaning the garment is wool and the string is linen or vice versa then they are connected and therefore forbidden from use until he begins to loosen them.

הרמון שפירדו (a pomegranate which one has cut into two – leaving the seeds in their sheaves) - that he cut the pomegranate into two and still the seeds/kernel of the stone fruit are attached in the shell, this shell is a connection/attachment, until he knocks it with a reed and will shake the seeds/kernel of the stone fruit that is within it.

שלל הכובסים (washers’ materials loosely stitched together) – it is the manner of washers to stitch the clothes of a child with those of an adult in order that they don’t become lost, and eventually to separate them.

והבגד שהוא תפור בכלאים – two pieces of woolen cloth which was sewn with threads of flax, for certainly, they will be separated one from the other, because of the prohibition of the mixture of wool and linen in the same web.

חיבור לטומאה -if one is defiled, its neighbor is defiled, until he begins to loosen it/take it apart, and even though he did not finish loosening it/taking it apart, for the deed/act [of loosening/taking it apart] removes it from the act [mixing wool and linen together].

ירוקים מצטרפין – they are fit/appropriate for consumption.

The [outer] leaves of vegetables: if they are green they join together, but if they have whitened they not join together. If the outer leaves are green, they are still edible and therefore they are included as part of the vegetable. Once they have whitened, they are no longer part and are not included.

לבנים אין מצטרפין – that furthermore they are not appropriate/fit.

Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says: the white leaves of cabbage join together because they are edible. White outer leaves of cabbage are still edible so they join together.

ובחזרת – with lettuce, even though they are white, they are not appropriate for consumption, nevertheless, they are a protector. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar bar Tzadok.

So also those of lettuces, because they preserve the edible part. While the outer leaves of lettuce may not be eaten, they join together because they protect the inner part.

בני בצלים ( central sprouts of onions) – the middle pillar which is like the heart (green) and from it, they grow the onions, to this they call בני בצלים/central sprouts of onions.

Introduction This mishnah deals with foods that have an empty space in them, or that might have an empty space. Does the empty space count as part of the volume of the food?

אם יש בהן ריר (if there is juice/sap in them) – that they are filled with moisture, and there is no empty space/cavity in them.

Onion leaves or the offshoots of onions, if there is moisture in them they are to be measured as they are; if there is empty space within them, it must be squeezed tightly together. "Onion leaves" probably refers to leaks. "Offshoots of onions" are small onions that sprout from larger onions. In either case, if they are still moist, then they are measured for matters of impurity as they currently are. However, if they have dried out and the inner part is not full of moisture, then we squeeze the air out of them before measuring them.

משתערין כמו שהן (they are measured as they are) – when we come to measure if there is within them edible parts of an egg’s bulk, the measurement of receptibility to defilement, we measure them with the juice/sap and we don’t crush/press down on their empty space/cavity. But if there is in them a cavity, we press down on their empty space and afterwards measure for an egg’s bulk.

Spongy bread is measured as it is, but if there is empty space within it, it must be pressed firmly. The same is true for spongy bread. If it is moist, it is measured as it is, but if there is an empty space in it, the empty space is squeezed before it is measured.

ספוגנית (spongy [bread]) – it is made soft like a kind of sponge, but it is not tread upon nor stamped upon.

The flesh of a calf which had swollen, or the flesh of an old [beast] that has shrunken in size, are measured in the condition they are in. The swelling or shrinking of this meat is after cooking. The mishnah basically teaches that if meat either expands or shrinks when cooked, its volume is measured as it is, and not as it was.

משתערה כמות שהיא – without being crushed.

בשר העגל שנתפח (meat of a calf that is swollen) – it is the manner of calf meat that is swollen that it increases when it is cooking, whereas the meat of an old bull diminishes.

בכמות שהן – if it is the meat of cooked bull that diminished and stood on less than that of an egg’s bulk, we don’t say that when it was living there was in it an egg’s bulk [of meat] or more, and it would become defiled even though that now it lacks according to the measurement. And similarly, if it was the calf meat that had become swollen and increased, and there is within it in order to defile, we don’t say for since when it was alive there wasn’t in it sufficient to defile, even now it doesn’t defile.

קישות שנטעה בעציץ (a cucumber which was planted in a pot) – which is not perforated, and became susceptible there to receive ritual impurity and it became defiled, that is considered like it is detached.

A cucumber planted in a pot which grew until it was out of the pot is pure. The mishnah refers to a plant growing in a non-perforated pot. Such a plant is treated as if it is no longer attached to the ground and it is susceptible to impurity. According to the first opinion in the mishnah, if the plant grows out of the pot is now considered to be attached to the ground below it. Plants that grow from the ground are not susceptible to impurity and therefore this plant is now pure. Note that the whole plant is pure, not just the parts growing out of the plant.

והגדילה ויצאה חוץ לעציץ – and it is considered as attached, because it sucks/is nurtured from the ground that is outside of the pot.

Rabbi Shimon said: what is its nature to make it clean? Rather, that which has already become unclean remains unclean, and only that which is pure can be eaten. Rabbi Shimon questions how something that was impure can all of a sudden become pure. He rejects the tanna kamma and holds that once something is unclean it remains unclean. The part of the plant that remains in the pot is impure; only the part of the plant that grows out of the pot is pure.

טהורה – that defilement flew off from it when it left outside the pot

מה טיבה ליטהר (what is its character that it should be insusceptible to uncleanness) – that when it received defilement it was like it was detached, therefore, whatever is within the pot remains in its defilement and what it added afterwards and left outside of the pot is pure. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

כלי גללים – a vessel made from the dung of cattle.

Vessels made of cattle dung or of earth through which the roots can penetrate, do not render the seeds susceptible. If a pot is made of cattle dung or earth and the pot has been perforated so that roots can penetrate to the ground do not allow the seeds inside to become susceptible to impurity. This means that if rain water falls into this pot, the seeds are not susceptible to impurity.

שהשרשים יכולים לצאת בהן – even though they are not perforated, the root goes out on its own and perforates the dung and the ground of that vessel. And for this reason, it (i.e., the Mishnah) did not take the language of "כלי אבנים"/stone utensils, because they are hard and the root does not penetrate/perforate them.

A perforated plant-pot does not render seeds susceptible; but if it has no hole, the seeds do become susceptible. What should be the hole's dimension? Such that a small root can push its way through. Produce growing in perforated pots is considered to be attached to the ground. Therefore, anything in it is not susceptible to impurity. But pots without holes are treated as if they are not "ground" and produce growing in there is susceptible. To be considered "perforated" the hole must be at least wide enough for a small root to push through.

עציץ נקוב אינו מכשיר את הזרעים – that are within it. And they don’t receive susceptibility [to receive defilement] because they are considered as attached, and the seeds are not susceptible to receive ritual defilement other than when water comes upon them after they have become detached, and even detached fruit are not made susceptible [to receive ritual defilement] with the water that is within, because the water does not make them susceptible [to receive ritual defilement] when they are attached/connected, for we require that the water is detached and these waters that are placed on a perforated pot, it is like placing it on the ground.

If it was filled with earth to its brim, it is deemed as a frame without an edge. If the pot was completely filled up, all the way to the brim, then it is treated like a "frame without an edge" (see Kelim 2:3). This means that there is no "inside" to the frame or in this case the pot. So anything that grows in such a pot is not susceptible to impurity.

ושאינו נקוב מכשיר את הזרעים – for whether the water is within it or between the seeds, both of them are considered as detached.

מלאהו – to a pot that is not perforated.

עפר עד שפתו (dirt until its rim) – since it sees the atmosphere from four directions, it is like a perforated pot, and it is considered as attached/connected, between the water and between the seeds that are in it.

כטבלא שאין לה לזביז (like a tray lacking a vertical rim/ledge – by which a flat vessel is made into a vessel-like receptacle) – that it lacks a rim from this side and that but is rather flat and smooth, that the water that is in it does not make the seeds susceptible [to receive ritual defilement] and it is considered as attached, since it sees the atmosphere from four directions.