Commentary for Makhshirin 5:5
פָּשַׁט יָדוֹ אוֹ רַגְלוֹ אוֹ קָנֶה לְבוֹר לֵידַע אִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ מַיִם, אֵינָן בְּכִי יֻתַּן. לֵידַע כַּמָּה מַיִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ, הֲרֵי זֶה בְכִי יֻתַּן. זָרַק אֶבֶן לְבוֹר לֵידַע אִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ מַיִם, הַנִּתָּזִין, אֵינָן בְּכִי יֻתַּן. וְאֶת שֶׁבָּאֶבֶן, טְהוֹרִים:
[If] one reaches out his hand or his leg, or a rod into a cistern to see if there is water in it, that does not that does achieve <i>BeKhi Yutan</i>; [it it is] to see how much water is in it that does achieve <i>BeKhi Yutan</i>. [If] one throws a rock into a cistern to see if there is water in it that which splashes out does not achieve <i>BeKhi Yutan</i>, and that which is on the rock is pure [that is, does not make food susceptible to impurity].
Bartenura on Mishnah Makhshirin
לידע כמה מים יש בו – he desires the liquid that is on the tracing mark, as we have stated [in the previous Mishnah], therefore, they are under the law of “when water is put” (Leviticus 11:38). But to know if there is water within it, he does not a tracing mark of liquid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makhshirin
If one put his hand or his foot or a reed into a cistern in order to check whether it had any water, it does not come under the law of ‘if water be put’; But if to ascertain how much water it had, it comes under the law of ‘if water be put’. In the first case he just wants to see if there is any water in the cistern, but he doesn't need to see how deep the cistern is. Since he doesn't need to see the mark that it makes on his foot, hand or reed (see Rabbi Akiva's opinion in yesterday's mishnah), the water is not "to his will" and it doesn't cause susceptibility. However, if he does need to check how much water is in the cistern, then the water that comes up on his hand, foot or reed does cause susceptibility, as we learned in yesterday's mishnah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Makhshirin
ושבאבן – that is to say, that is on the stone also are pure, and there are not susceptible [to ritual -impurity].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Makhshirin
If one threw a stone into a cistern to check whether it had any water, [the water] that was splashed up does not come under the law of ‘if water be put’, and also [the water] that is on the stone is clean. In this case, he didn't want to bring up any water or cause any splash. He just wanted to hear the sound of the rock hitting the water. Therefore, the water that does come up and the water that is on the rock (if half of it is sticking out of the water) does not cause susceptibility.
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