The following impurify through touching and carrying, but not through overshadowing: bone the size of a grain of barley, [earth from] foreign lands, a <i>Beit Pras</i> [a field in which a grave has been plowed over], a limb from a corpse or a limb from a living person that do not have flesh on them as is appropriate, the spine or the skull that are deficient. How much is a deficiency in the spine? The Beit Shammai say two vertebrae. Beit Hillel say even one vertebra. And in the skull? Beit Shammai say [the size of] a hole [made] by a drill, but Beit Hillel say as much as if it were taken from a living person he would die. Of what drill did they speak? Of the small one of doctors, these are the words of Rabbi Meir. The Sages say, the large one of the Temple-chamber.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
עצם שעורה – defiles through contact and through carrying, as it is written (Numbers 19:18): “[A person who is clean shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle on the tent and on all the vessels and people who were there,] or on him who touched/ועל הנגע [the bones or the person who was killed or died naturally or the grave,” but there it does not state, "בעצם אדם"/human bone (as we find in Numbers 19:16). [This comes] to teach about the bone the size of a barleycorn that defiles through contact even though it is not recognized that it of a human being. But in the tent, it is written (Numbers 19:14): “When a person dies in a tent,” and with regard to a bone for the matter of defilement through overshadowing in a tent, we require that it is recognized that it (i.e., the bone) is of a human being, for in another place (Numbers 19:16) it (i.e., the Torah) states, “or human bone”/או-בעצם אדם.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Introduction
Our mishnah deals with elements of a corpse that have a lower degree of impurity, and can only defile through contact and carriage but not through overshadowing.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
וארץ העמים – Everything that is outside of the Land [of Israel] is called ארץ העמים/the land of the nations [which is ritually impure]. And here we are speaking of a clod/lump of dust that comes from outside the Land which defiles through contact and through carrying but does not defile though overshadowing in a tent. But a person who enters the land of the nations, even if he did not touch nor carry anything, as for example, that he was riding upon a horse, is impure, but on the airspace of the land of the nations they (i.e., the Rabbis) also decreed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
a) A single bone does not defile by overshadowing, but as long as there is the size of a barleycorn, it does defile by contact and carriage. b) According to tradition, Yose ben Yoezer and Yose ben Yohanan, two Second Temple sages decreed that foreign lands defile. Our mishnah teaches that even dust from a foreign land defiles, although not through overshadowing. c) A bet peras is a cemetery that has been plowed over. We will learn more about the bet peras in chapter seventeen. d) A spine or a skull that are complete defile through overshadowing. If they are deficient, they still defile through contact and carriage.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בית הפרס (area in which uncertainty exists concerning the location of a grave or a corpse) – a field in which a grave was plowed and the bones of the corpse were broken and threshed in the dirt of that field. [And the word] פרס from the language of פרוסה/a broken piece (Isaiah 58:7): “It is to share your bread with the hungry.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
How much is [considered] a deficiency in the spine? Bet Shammai say: two vertebrae, But Bet Hillel say: even one vertebra. Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel argue about how much of a spine or skull has to be deficient for it to no longer defile in an ohel. In both cases Bet Hillel is more lenient (meaning the amount they require for the defiency is less).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כמה חסרון בשדרה (how much is a sufficient lack in the backbone) -that it will not be defiled [through overshadowing] in the tent, but rather through contact and through carrying.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
And in the skull? Bet Shammai say: [the size of a] hole [made] by a drill, But Bet Hillel say: as much as would be taken from a living person and he would die. According to Bet Shammai if there is a hole in a skull the size of a drill, the skull no longer defiles in an ohel. The type of drill of which they are speaking will be explained in section four. Bet Hillel holds that if the hole is large enough such that the person would die, then the skull is deficient.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כמלא מקדח (as large as the hole made with the large carpenters’ borer/drill) – as wide as the incision that they make with an awl.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Of what drill did they speak? Of the small one [used] by physicians, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: of the large one in the Temple-chamber. It is interesting to note that in this section, the sages and Rabbi Meir disagree concerning the proper interpretation of Bet Shammai's opinion. It is possible that in this case, both hold that the halakhah is according to Bet Shammai. Rabbi Meir says that the drill is the one used by a physician. [I don't think I would want to be on the receiving end of that drill]. The other rabbis say that the drill is the drill used in the Temple. The size of this drill is explained in Kelim 17:12.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כדי שינטל מן החי וימות – and the Sages estimated the loss as equivalent to a Sela.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בקטן של רופאים – with a small awl that the doctors open up the wounds.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בגדול של לשכה (concerning the large one of the chamber) – that the Sages estimated as an incision like the size of a Pundiyon.
