Commentary for Mikvaot 5:6
גַּל שֶׁנִּתְלַשׁ וּבוֹ אַרְבָּעִים סְאָה, וְנָפַל עַל הָאָדָם וְעַל הַכֵּלִים, טְהוֹרִים. כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁיֶּשׁ בּוֹ אַרְבָּעִים סְאָה, טוֹבְלִין וּמַטְבִּילִין. מַטְבִּילִין בַּחֲרִיצִין וּבִנְעָצִים וּבְפַרְסַת הַחֲמוֹר הַמְעֹרֶבֶת בַּבִּקְעָה. בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, מַטְבִּילִין בְּחַרְדָּלִית. בֵּית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, אֵין מַטְבִּילִין. וּמוֹדִים שֶׁהוּא גוֹדֵר כֵּלִים וְטוֹבֵל בָּהֶם. וְכֵלִים שֶׁגָּדַר בָּהֶם, לֹא הֻטְבְּלוּ:
Regarding a wave which became detached [from the sea], and which contains forty <i>se'ah</i> [a specific unit of volume], if it fell on a person or on vessels, they are pure. Any place which has forty <i>se'ah</i>, one may immerse, and cause [other objects] to be immersed. One may immerse [objects] in trenches, and in ditches, and in the [hollowed out] tracks of donkeys mixed in [and connected, though small openings in the mountainside, to a <i>mikveh</i> containing forty <i>se'ah</i> that is also in] the valley. Beit Shammai say: one may immerse [objects] in runoff streams. Beit Hillel say: one may not immerse in them. And they agree that one can fence-off [the runoff waters] with vessels and immerse in them. And the vessels with which one fenced-off [the runoff waters] were not immersed.
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
גל שנתלש – from the sea that is moving and in commotion.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If a wave was separated [from the sea] and was forty seahs, and it fell on a man or on vessels, they become clean. The wave that was separated from the sea is equivalent to a spring; thus one can immerse in it even when it is flowing. But it is also similar to the mikveh in that it must contain forty seahs. So if one put vessels in such a wave, the vessels would be pure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ונפל על האדם ועל הכלים טהורים – for non-sacred purposes only, for non-sacred purposes do not require intentionality. But for Second Tithe and/or for Heave Offering, the one who immerses is not ritually pure until he intends it [for this purpose].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Any place containing forty seahs is valid for immersing oneself and for immersing other things. Any hole in the ground that has forty seahs of water that has not been drawn is valid for a mikveh. One can immerse in it and one can immerse vessels in it as well.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
טובלין – a man or a woman.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
One may immerse in trenches or in ditches or even in a donkey-track whose water is connected in a valley. This section illustrates the previous one. As long as there are forty seahs and the water was not drawn, one can immerse in water found anywhere. One can immerse even in donkey tracks found in a valley whose little puddles have been connected so that together they add up to 40 seahs.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
מטבילין – utensils or hands in a place that requires the ritual immersion of hands, such as for something Holy, where it is not sufficient with ritual washing [of the hands].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Bet Shammai say: one may immerse in a rain torrent. But Bet Hillel say: one may not immerse. They agree that one may block its flow with vessels and immerse oneself in it, but the vessels with which the flow is blocked are not thereby [validly] immersed. According to Bet Shammai, if the from the start to the end of the rain flow there are 40 seahs of water, one can immerse in them. In other words, one doesn't even need any shape to the water whatsoever. As long as the source is rain (if the source was from the ground this would not be a mikveh but a spring) the water can serve as a mikveh. Bet Hillel says that the water must be gathered together for it to count as mikveh. After all, that is the meaning of the word "mikveh" gathered waters. Bet Hillel agrees that one may fence off the flow of rain water with vessels and thereby create a mikveh out of flowing rain water. But the vessels themselves don't count as having been immersed because the outside of the vessel is not touching the mikveh that has been formed on the inside and the water that flows outside is not valid for use as a mikveh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
חריצין (trench) – wide and square like a cave, rather that they are not fountains.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ונעיצים (a wedge-like ditch) – short from the below and wide from above.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
פרסת חמור – and the same law applies regarding the tracks of any animal.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
המעורבת בבקעה – a hole/indentation that was made in the ground through the tracks of the animal and water was gathered in it and it is combined to the Mikveh of forty Seah through an incision like that of a tube/mouthpiece of the leather bottle, we immerse through it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
חרדלית (rainwater rushing down a slope, torrent) – like a mountain varix. A stream/current/downpour of water that comes from the drawing of water of a mountain, an explanation from the collector of the mountain. And according to the School of Shammai one immerses things in them even if there is only forty Seah in it from their beginning to their end (see also Tractate Eduyot, Chapter 5, Mishnah 2).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ובית הלל אומרים אין מטבילין – until there will be forty Seah in one place. For the rainwater rushing down a slope/a torrent does not ritually purify other than in a collection of water/אשבורן.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
שנודר כלים וטובל בהם (dams it with utensils and dips in it) – he makes a division with the utensils in order that they will hinder/impede the path of he water and they won’t be flowing . And he immerses them in water that is within the division of the utensils which are like the waters of a Mikveh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
וכלים שגדר בהן לא הוטבלו (and utensils with which one dammed – they are not deemed to have been immersed) – because all of the utensil was not immersed in the water during the division [of space], other than the side that is towards the torrent/rainwater rushing down the slope) and not at the side towards the outside. But if there is a difficulty, for Rabbi Yossi stated above (Tractate Mikvaot, Chapter 5, Mishnah 5) “anything that is susceptible to receiving ritual impurity – they do not stop the flowing of water therewith,” but how can he disagree with the School of Hillel which agrees that one dams it with utensils/vessels and immerses in it? One can say, that this where they agree is with the concluding clause [of the Mishnah], that stated, “and utensils with which one dammed, they are not deemed to have been immersed.” And this is how it should be read: The School of Shammai agrees with the School of Hillel when one dams with utensils and one immerses in them, utensils/vessels with which one dammed, they are deemed to have not been immersed. But the School of Hillel always holds that one does not dams with utensils/vessels and immerses in them, according to Rabbi Yossi who stated (see above, Mishnah 5), that anything that is susceptible to receiving ritual impurity, they do not stop the flowing of water therewith. And this is implied in the Tosefta [Mikvaot, Chapter 4, Halakha 10].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy