Commentary for Kelim 27:12
שְׁלֹשָׁה עַל שְׁלֹשָׁה שֶׁנִּקְרַע, אִם נְתָנוֹ עַל הַכִּסֵּא וּבְשָׂרוֹ נוֹגֵעַ בַּכִּסֵּא, טָהוֹר, וְאִם לָאו, טָמֵא. שָׁלֹשׁ עַל שָׁלֹשׁ שֶׁנִּמְהָה מִמֶּנָּה חוּט אֶחָד, אוֹ שֶׁנִּמְצָא בוֹ קֶשֶׁר, אוֹ שְׁנֵי חוּטִין מַתְאִימִין, טְהוֹרָה. שָׁלֹשׁ עַל שָׁלֹשׁ שֶׁהִשְׁלִיכָהּ בָּאַשְׁפּוֹת, טְהוֹרָה. הֶחֱזִירָהּ, טְמֵאָה. לְעוֹלָם הַשְׁלָכָתָהּ מְטַהֲרַתָּה, וַחֲזָרָתָהּ מְטַמֵּאתָהּ, חוּץ מִשֶּׁל אַרְגָּמָן וְשֶׁל זְהוֹרִית טוֹבָה. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, אַף מַטְלִית חֲדָשָׁה כַּיּוֹצֵא בָהֶן. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, כֻּלָּן טְהוֹרִין, לֹא הֻזְכְּרוּ אֶלָּא מִפְּנֵי הֲשָׁבַת אֲבֵדָה:
Regarding a [piece of cloth of] three by three [handbreadths] which was torn, if one places it on a chair and [when he sits down upon it] his skin touches the chair, it is pure; and if not, it is impure [i.e. it can retain impurity]. Regarding a [piece of cloth of] three by three [fingerbreadths], if one of its threads was worn away, or if a knot was found in it, or if two of its threads ran alongside each other [i.e. as an imperfection in its weave], it is pure. A [piece of cloth of] three by three [fingerbreadths] which was cast to the trash heap is pure. If one brought it back [from the trash], it is [once more susceptible to being rendered] impure. Its having been thrown away always renders it pure, and its being brought back renders it [susceptible to becoming] impure, except when it is of purple or fine crimson [which can still be rendered impure even after being cast into the trash]. Rabbi Eliezer says: the same applies also to a piece of new cloth. Rabbi Shimon says: all of these are pure; they were mentioned [as exceptions] only with regard to the returning of lost property.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שלשה על שלשה שנקרע – and the tears were not divided from each other (i.e., they were attached).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
[A piece of cloth] three [handbreadths] square that was torn: if he put it on a chair, and his skin touches the chair, it is pure; And if not, it remains impure. The piece of cloth described here is torn, but has not yet been completely torn into two pieces. Therefore, we need a test to determine whether or not it is still considered one piece of cloth such that it should be susceptible to midras impurity. If when one puts the cloth on a chair and then sits on the chair, one's skin touches the chair, the cloth is considered as if it had been torn completely, and it is not susceptible. If the cloth does block his contact with the chair, then it is considered to be whole and is still susceptible to impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ובשרו נוגע בכסא – if the tear is so large under that when they place the cloth upon the chair and he sat upon it, his flesh would come in contact/touch the chair.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
[A piece of cloth] three [fingerbreadths] square one thread of which was worn away, or in which a knot was found, or in which two threads ran alongside each other, is pure. The piece of cloth here is exactly large enough to be susceptible to impurity, but in some way something is awry with one of the strings. Either one of the strings was worn out, or a knot was found in one of the strings, or two of the strings ran parallel and not opposed to each other, as is supposed to be the case in woven garments. In all of these cases the cloth is considered to be smaller than three fingerbreadths and therefore it is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טהור – that he nullified it from the category of a piece of cloth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
[A piece of cloth] three [fingerbreadths] square that was thrown on the rubbish heap becomes pure. If he brought it back, it it becomes susceptible to uncleanness. Throwing away a small piece of cloth renders it pure because it is no longer considered of use. Taking it back renders it again susceptible.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ואם לאו – that the tear is not so great that his skin would come in contact with/touch the chair, it did not void it from the category of a piece of cloth, and he is ritually impure.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Throwing it away always renders it pure and taking it back renders it susceptible to uncleanness, except when it is of purple or fine crimson. There are two exceptions to the rule in section three purple and fine crimson cloth. Since these are such expensive materials, even throwing them away does not render them free from uncleanness.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שנמהה ממנו (to be tattered/to fall to pieces from it) – that [one thread] wore out from it, and its example of something tattered that was hanging over a healthy piece, as is taught in the Mishnah above at the end of chapter twenty-four (Mishnah 17) "שלשה תריסין הן"/There are three kinds of shields”: “A worn out basket in which one patched to a sound one – they follow the status of the sound one.” And when one thread wore out from a piece of cloth of three [handbreadths] by three-handbreadths squeezed in, the measurement was lessened and it is ritually pure.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Rabbi Eliezer says: a patch of new cloth is also subject to the same law. Rabbi Eliezer says that the same exception applies to a new piece of cloth. Since it is new, it is more important and even throwing it away does not render it free from impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
או שני חוטין מתאימין (or two threads running alongside) – My teachers/Rabbis explained, that [the word] מתאימין/running alongside/adjoining refers to the knot. And such it is taught, that if there found in it two knots that are adjoining each other or two threads adjoining each other. Because if two threads that are tied one to the other in the cloth, there is no way to leave them, and this what we said in the Gemara in [Tractate Shabbat 74b) in the chapter, “The Great Principle”/כלל גדול, if it happens that there are two knots next to one another, one is loosened and the other is knotted. Two threads that run along one another, for it is the manner of the weaving that the woof enters into the warp, two threads do not enter at the same time, but rather in a place where this one enters and that one leaves, and when both of them are equivalent, the one is thought to be like the one that doesn’t exist.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Rabbi Shimon says: all these materials become pure; they were mentioned only in connection with the return of lost property. Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the anonymous opinion in section four. All material is free from impurity when it is thrown into the garbage heap. However, there is a difference between purple and crimson cloth and regular cloth in that if one finds the former in the trash heap he must announce that he has found them in an attempt to find the owners. The assumption is that no one would throw away such fine cloth. But if one finds a piece of regular cloth in the trash heap, one can assume that it was intentionally thrown away and he may keep it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
החזירה – to the house.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טמאה – for he retracted in his intention/thought.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
לעולם השלכתה מטהרתה וחזרתה מטמאתה (always does throwing it out purify it and recovering it renders it unclean) – meaning to say in that manner/way, it becomes susceptible for being defiled and becomes purified ten times a day.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ארגמן וזהורית טובה (purple and fine crimson silk) – it is considered but it is not nullified [from the category of cloth]. And the good crimson is colored silk CRAMIZI in the foreign language.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אף מטלית חדשה כיוצא בהן (even a new patch of that stuff) – its law is like the law of purple and fine crimson [silk], and the trash does not invalidate it from the category of a cloth.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
כולן טהורין – if it was thrown into the trash, even the purple and the fine crimson [silk].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
לא הוזכרו – purple and good crimson [silk] to be separated/divided from the rest of the clothing.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אלא מפני השבת אבידה – that if he found them in the trash, we don’t say that he threw them there knowingly, and they require public announcement for because of their importance, the owner do not despair [of recovering it]. But the rest of the clothing is not important, that if he found them in the garbage/trash, they don’t require public announcement. And the Halakah is according to the first Tanna/teacher.
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