From Modi'ith within, they (amei ha'aretz) are believed concerning earthen vessels. From Modi'ith outside, they are not believed. [Modi'ith was a city fifteen mil distant from Jerusalem. From Modi'ith within, towards Jerusalem, it is permitted to take light earthenware from potters who are amei ha'aretz, such a cups, pots, and ladles; for it is impossible (to secure them) otherwise. In Jerusalem they did not make (potters') ovens because of the smoke, neither for lime nor for pottery, for which reason they believed them and did not decree against them. For a decree is not imposed upon the congregation, which they are not able to abide by.] How so? A potter selling pottery — if he entered within Modi'ith, he is the potter [Only he who brought them from outside Modi'ith was believed, it being impossible not to believe him. But if he made a middleman of another potter, an am ha'aretz, living in Modi'ith or within, he (the second) was not believed.], and they are the pots [He is believed only concerning those pots that he bought; but he is not believed to add to them pots of another potter living in Modi'ith or within], and they are the buyers. [The potter has credibility only for those chaverim who saw him bring them, but not for others.] Once he leaves Modi'ith [to return], he is not believed.
Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
מן המודיעית ולפנים – Modin is a city fifteen miles [northwest] from Jerusalem. From it and inwards to the side of Jerusalem, the ignorant potters are believed to take thin earthenware, such as cups, pots and ladles, because it is impossible [to exist] without them. But in Jerusalem they do not erect furnaces (see Talmud Bava Kamma 82a) neither for plaster nor for pots; therefore, they believed them and didn’t make a decree against them, for we must not impose a restriction on the public which the majority cannot endure (see Tractate Bava Batra 60b).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
Introduction
The previous mishnah discussed when a person is trusted with regard to the purity of his things. Today’s mishnah discusses another such rule when is a pottery maker trusted that he has preserved the purity of his pots.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
הוא הקדר – whomever brought them from outside of Modin to him alone, they believed him, for it is impossible not to believe him, but if he transferred them to another ignoramus potter who dwells in Modin or inside of Modin [towards Jerusalem], they did not believe him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
From Modi’im inwards [the potters] are trusted in regard to [the purity of] earthenware vessels; from Modi'im outwards they are not trusted. Modiim is famous for being the city where the Maccabees lived. It is about 30 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, about a day’s travel by foot. (It is also where I live, but that won’t really help you understand this mishnah). The closer a pottery maker is to Jerusalem the more it will be in his best interests to preserve the purity of his pottery because it is likely that people buying his goods may want to use them in connection with the sacrificial service. Therefore, if the pottery-maker lives from Modiim and inwards toward Jerusalem, he is believed to say that his pots are pure. We should note that the Temple would have required many clay pots because they could be used only one time. Once a clay pot was used to cook sacrificial meat it could no longer be used because the meat that was absorbed into the pot would become remnant (leftover sacrifice) which is forbidden. Therefore the pots had to be disposed of after one use.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
והן הקדרות – on those selfsame pots that he brought, he is believed, but he is not believed to combine with the pots of another potter who dwells in Modin or inside [towards Jerusalem].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
How so? A potter who sells the pots entered inwards of Modi'im, then the same potter, the same pots and the same buyers are trusted [to be pure]. But if he went out [from Modi’im outwards] he is not trusted. In this section we learn that the rule that the potter is believed when he is inside of the Modiim border is an absolute rule. The same potter, pots and buyers that are trusted to be pure when they are between Modiim and Jerusalem are no longer believed to be pure when they go out beyond Modiim.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
והן הלוקחין – members of the order who observe Levitical laws in daily intercourse who saw that he brought them, the potter is considered reliable with them, but not with other purchasers.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
יצא – [but if he left] from Modin to return back [home], he is not believed.
