Rabbi Yose says: Two <i>mikvaot</i> [gatherings of water collected by natural means and immersed in for purification] that do not [each] contain forty <i>se'ah</i> [a specific measure of volume], and which a <i>log</i> [a specific measure of volume] and a half [of drawn waters] fell into this one, and a <i>log</i> and half into that one, and they [the two <i>mikvaot</i>] became mixed together, they are valid, since they were never given a title of invalidity [i.e. independently, each was considered valid by the law]. But a <i>mikveh</i> which does not contain forty <i>se'ah</i>, into which fell three <i>log</i> [of drawn waters], and was then split into two, it is invalid, since it was given a title of invalidity [since three <i>log</i> of drawn waters invalidate a <i>mikveh</i> containing fewer than forty <i>se'ah</i> of valid waters]. And Rabbi Yehoshua considers it valid, for Rabbi Yehoshua would say: Any <i>mikveh</i> which does not contain forty <i>se'ah</i> [of valid waters], if three <i>log</i> [of drawn waters] fell into it, and it [then] became lacking even a <i>kortov</i> [A minute volume measure], it is valid [when enough valid water is added], since it is lacking [part of the] three <i>log</i>. And the Sages say: it is forever in its invalid state, until its fullness plus some more depart from it [i.e. it would need to become lacking the amount of water it contained before the drawn waters were added, plus a little more, in order to be considered valid].
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
רבי יוסי אומר. ולזה לוג ומחצה ונתערבו – And behold there are three LOG of drawn water that invalidate the Mikveh, nevertheless, they are kosher/fit.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Rabbi Yose says: two mikvehs neither of which contains forty seahs and a log and a half [of drawn water] fell into this one and a log and a half into this one, and then they are mixed together, they remain valid, since they had never been called as invalid. But if there is a mikveh holding less than forty seahs, and three logs [of drawn water] fell into it, and it was then divided into two, it is invalid, since it had already been called invalid. According to Rabbi Yose, if the mikveh was never declared invalid because a full three logs of drawn water fell in at one time, then it remains valid even if it turns out that there are three logs of drawn water in it. This is what occurs in the first scenario. The opposite is true in the second scenario. Even though the mikveh was split into two and now in each mikveh there are less than three logs of drawn water, since it was originally declared invalid, both mikvaot remain invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
שלא נקרא עלהים שם פסול – that if they add kosher water (i.e., rainwater, for example) in all of them until the completion of the measurement of the Mikveh, that each one of them was kosher.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Rabbi Joshua declares it valid, for Rabbi Joshua used to say: any mikveh containing less than forty seahs into which three logs [of drawn water] fell and from which a kortov was withdrawn becomes valid, since the three logs have also been diminished. Rabbi Joshua says that both mikvaot are valid because neither mikveh now contains three logs of drawn water. This matches his general opinion that a mikveh into which exactly three logs of drawn water have been put can be made valid by removal of even a kortov, 1/64 of a log of water. Since this tiny bit of water will have some drawn water mixed in with it, there will now be less than three logs of drawn water in the mikveh. Therefore it is valid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ונחלק לשנים – and they added to each one of them kosher water until there is in each one of them according to the measurement of the Mikveh (i.e., forty Seah).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
But the sages say: it always remains invalid until the amount of its former contents and a little more are removed. The other sages disagree with Rabbi Joshua. They hold that once a mikveh is disqualified because it has three logs of drawn water it cannot be made valid until an amount equal to and a little bit more than its original contents (the amount that was in it before the three logs were put in) is removed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
פסול – each one of them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
וחסר אפילו קרטוב – after three contracted/squeezed in LOGS of drawn water fell in it that was missing even a Kartuv (i.e., a small liquid measure equivalent to 1/64th of a LOG) of water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
כשר – [it is kosher/fit] to add upon it water to complete it for the measurement of a Mikveh/ritual bath. It is impossible that with this one that is lacking is not missing a little bit from the three LOGS, and it is found that there weren’t three LOGS of drawn water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
קרטוב – 1/64th of a LOG.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
עד שיצא ממנו מלואו – that water that was in it initially when the three LOGS of drawn water fell in.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ועוד –a bit more in order to omit/lessen from the three LOGS [of drawn water]. As for example, a Mikveh which had in it twenty Seah of kosher water and three LOGS of drawn water fell into it and it was filled up afterwards with rain water, it will always be in its status of invalidity/unfitness until he removes from it the twenty Seah that were there initially, and a little bit more, to omit three LOGS [of drawn water].
