Commentary for Mikvaot 8:2
These are the <i>ba'alei kerayin</i> who require immersion: if one discharged drippings or a murky liquid at the start [of his urinating], he is pure; in the middle or the end, he is impure; from the start until the end, he is pure. If [the discharge was] white and flowing, he is impure. Rabbi Yose says: white is like murky.
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
חלוקים – that he drips [urine] in smooth drops like a chain.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Introduction
Today's mishnah and tomorrow's deal with what constitutes a seminal emission such that a man must go to the mikveh. I know, you're thinking, doesn't a man know when one has had a emission? I would imagine that this is generally the case. But the rabbis talk about everything like this. They also talk about how a woman can distinguish between menstrual blood and blood from another source, even though most women probably can tell the difference. This is simply part of the way the rabbis talk.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
בתחילה – at the beginning of his urinating.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
These are the men who had a seminal emission who require immersion: The men listed below require immersion even though we are not one hundred per cent sure that they have had a seminal emission.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
טהור – for it is not a kind of emission, but rather, from the stopping of urination it comes.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If he noticed that his urine issued in drops or was murky: At the beginning he is clean; In the middle and at the end, he is unclean; From the beginning to the end, he is clean. The liquid being emitted is not like urine, which generally doesn't come out in drops, as does semen. But then again, it is not like semen, which is usually white not murky. What is it? If the stream begins this way, he is clean, for this is not considered semen. It is probably just problematic urination (yes, we've heard of this problem on radio ads). If it occurs at the middle or end of his urination, then it is considered semen for it is unusual for urine to begin normally and then turn into murky drops. If it occurs from the beginning to the end, then that's just the way he urinates. Hopefully, things will get better.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
באמצע ובסוף – [in the middle or at the end] of his urination, he is impure, that he is someone with a kind of emission.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If it was white and viscous, he is unclean. Rabbi Yose says: what is white counts like what is murky. If the issue was white and viscous, meaning in clumps, not little drops, then it is semen and he is unclean. Rabbi Yose says that even if it is white, if he sees such a type of emission at the beginning, he is pure, the same as is true with murky liquid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
נמשכים (prolonged/continued or conducted in a channel) – urination that is attached.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
טמא – for it is a kind of emission.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
לבנים כעכורים – and at the beginning heis pure, but in the middle and at the end he is [ritually] impure. But the Halakah is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
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