Commentary for Kelim 18:5
מִטָּה שֶׁהָיְתָה טְמֵאָה מִדְרָס, נִטְּלָה קְצָרָה וּשְׁתֵּי כְרָעַיִם, טְמֵאָה. אֲרֻכָּה וּשְׁתֵּי כְרָעַיִם, טְהוֹרָה. רַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה מְטַמֵּא. גָּדַד שְׁתֵּי לְשׁוֹנוֹת לוֹכְסָן, גָּדַד שְׁתֵּי כְרָעַיִם (טֶפַח עַל טֶפַח) לוֹכְסָן, אוֹ שֶׁמִּעֲטָהּ פָּחוֹת מִטֶּפַח, טְהוֹרָה:
A bed that had contracted <em>midras</em> impurity [transmitted by sitting]: If a short side was removed and its two legs it is impure. But if a long side and two legs were removed it becomes pure. Rabbi Nehemiah says: it is impure. If he chopped off two props at opposite corners, or if he chopped off two legs at opposite corners, or if he reduced the bed to less than a <em>tefach</em> [handbreadth] high, it becomes pure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
מטה שהיתה טמאה מדרס (a bed that was ritually impure through treading) – that a person with gonorrhea who lay on it or was suspending from it or leaning on it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with how much of a bed must be removed for it to be considered defective and therefore no longer unclean (or susceptible to impurity).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
קצרה (the short board, the board at the head and at the foot of the bed) – those pieces of wood that are at the width of the bed to the side from its head or from its feet.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
A bed that had contracted midras uncleanness: If a short side was removed and its two legs still remains it is unclean. But if a long side and two legs were removed it becomes clean. Rabbi Nehemiah says: it is unclean. Midras impurity is impurity conveyed when an object is sat upon or laid upon by a zav (one with abnormal genital discharge). If the board on the short side of the bed, meaning the head or foot of the bed, was removed and with it its two legs the bed is still unclean, because it can still be used. However, if one of the long sides is removed the bed can no longer be used because the person lying on it will fall off. Therefore the bed is clean. Rabbi Nehemiah says that what remains is still unclean because he can use it by leaning it up against the wall or in some other way. If we were to summarize the principle that emerges from this debate, the sages would say that a vessel that is broken and can no longer be used without support of another vessel is clean. Rabbi Nehemiah holds that as long as it can still be used, it is still unclean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ארוכה – those pieces of wood that are at the length of the bed from the right or from the left, and they are called ארוכות המטה/long board, long side of the bedstead.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If two props at opposite corners were cut off, or if two legs at opposite corners were cut off, or if the bed was reduced to a level of less than a handbreadth, it becomes clean. The "props" referred to here are the supports upon which the rectangle rests. If two props or two legs at opposite corners were cut off then the bed won't be able to stand. In both cases the bed is clean because it is unusable. In addition, if he cuts down the legs so that the bed is lower than a handbreadth high, the bed is clean because it is considered unusable.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טהורה – for they further are not proper and they are like shards of vessels that are ritually pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ר' נחמיה מטמא – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Nehemiah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
גדר – he severed and broke off (i.e., cut) like cut down a tree.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שתי לשונות לוכסן (two tongues diagonally – two pieces of wood that are made like a tongue, that the frames of the bed are placed upon them, he cuts them with crosswise/diagonally, one that is in the southeastern corner and one that is in the northwest corner, are ritually pure, for they are not appropriate. And similarly if he cut two legs a handbreadth by a handbreadth diagonally, from the leg that is in the southeast corner he cut a handbreadth, and from the leg in the northwest corner he cut a handbreadth, it is like it is broken.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
או מיעטה מטפח (or he diminished it by a handbreadth) – that he cut its legs and there is no handbreadth from the bed to the ground, it is not considered [of value, and hence is pure].
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