Commentary for Kelim 13:7
הַכַּדּוּמִין הָאַשְׁקְלוֹנִין שֶׁנִּשְׁבְּרוּ וְהָאֻנְקְלִי שֶׁלָּהֶן קַיֶּמֶת, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ טְמֵאִין. הַמַּעְבֵּר, וְהַמַּזְרֶה, וְהַמַּגּוֹב, וְכֵן מַסְרֵק שֶׁל רֹאשׁ שֶׁנִּטְּלָה אַחַת מִשִּׁנֵּיהֶן, וַעֲשָׂאָן שֶׁל מַתֶּכֶת, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ טְמֵאִין. וְעַל כֻּלָּן אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, דְּבַר חִדּוּשׁ חִדְּשׁוּ סוֹפְרִים, וְאֵין לִי מָה אָשִׁיב:
Ashkelon grappling-irons which broke, but their hooks remained, are susceptible to impurity. If a pitch-fork, winnowing-fan, or rake, and similarly a hair-comb, lost one of its teeth and it was replaced by one of metal, it is susceptible to impurity. And concerning all these Rabbi Yehoshua said: The scribes have here introduced a new principle of law, and I have no explanation to offer.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
הכדומין (a sort of lever with which a pitcher is fished out of the wall/grappling iron) – a big long piece of wood and hooks come out from it here and there and they suspend on those hooks flasks of water in the air in order to cool them off. But Maimonides explained, that is a kind of seed-pot with hooks all around them and on it they raise the utensils that fell into the pit.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Introduction
This mishnah deals with vessels that are basically wooden, but have one part made of metal.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
האשקלונין – that are made in Ashkelon.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If Ashkelon grappling-irons were broken but their hooks remained, they remain susceptible to impurity. Since the hooks are the main parts of the grappling-irons, as long as they remain, the vessel is susceptible to impurity. Furthermore, although the vessel is made of wood, since its hooks are of metal, it is susceptible.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
המעבר והמזרה ומגוב (pitchfork – for the first stage of winnowing – passing the grain from one side to the other; winnowing fan; rake – an agricultural implement with many teeth, forming a sort of sieve to separate the grain from the chaff) – utensils that are made to clean the grain from the straw and to transfer the straw from place ot place. The pitchfork/המעבר has teeth and it is similar to the hand of humans, and with it, they transfer the straw from place to place. And the winnowing fan they winnow the wheat in the granary/threshing floor , therefore it is called a מזרה/winnowing fan, and its teeth are greater in umber than the teeth of the pitchfork. And the מגוב/rake has even more teeth than that of the winnowing fan, and with it, they separate/sift the grain after they winnowed it with the winnowing fan.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If a pitch-fork, winnowing-fan, or rake, and the same applies to a hair-comb, lost one of its teeth and it was replaced by one of metal, it is susceptible to impurity. These are all tools with teeth. Most of the tool is made of wood, but one of the missing wooden teeth was replaced with metal. This one metal tooth gives the entire vessel the status of a metal vessel and it is therefore susceptible to impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
דבר חדש חידשו סופרים – they were appropriate to be ritually pure, for they are straight/flat wooden vessels, but because of one metal tooth, they were not put down as defiled.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
And concerning all these Rabbi Joshua said: the scribes have here introduced a new principle of law, and I have no explanation to offer. Rabbi Joshua adds here a fascinating note, one which I don't believe we have encountered elsewhere in the Mishnah. In all of the above cases, since the basic vessel was of wood, and it was a simple vessel without a receptacle, the vessel should not have been susceptible to impurity. The innovation that the earlier scribes innovated was that although only one part was of metal, the entire vessel is susceptible. Rabbi Joshua accepts this innovation, but nevertheless admits that he does not understand it. We can see here his deference to tradition, and yet his striving to understand it, and his sense of frustration when he cannot. This is an attitude that I believe is very typical among rabbis. They have a strong sense of respect for tradition, and yet they do not simply accept all that they have received. Rather, they constantly attempt to understand the early halakhot, to make sense out of them, and to use the principles that they perceive as underlying these halakhot to derive further halakhot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ואין לי מה להשיב – for what reason did they say this [to the critics].
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