Commentary for Terumot 8:10

וכן חבית של שמן – [a jug of] pure [oil] that spilled, and everything goes to loss, they dispute as what is above (in Mishnah 9), and thus they teach regarding oil that spilled, and they did not take it like regarding wine, because a barrel of oil [that broke] in the upper vat, but in the bottom is unconsecrated ritually impure produce, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua agree that if he is able to save from it one-fourth [of a LOG] in ritual purity, he should save it, and if not, let it descend, and he should not defile it by hand, because the oil is appropriate to kindle and they did not trouble to lose a little bit. And with wine, also, they did not dispute, other than specifically when the lower [vat] has less than one-hundred [parts] of unconsecrated produce, for the entire unconsecrated produce becomes forbidden even for non-priests, and there is loss, but if there is one-hundred [parts] of unconsecrated produce, everyone admits, do not defile it by hand because there is no loss.

Introduction This mishnah contains a very similar scenario to the mishnah we learned yesterday.

Similarly a jar of [terumah] oil which spilled: Both Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua agree that if he can save at least a reviit in purity he should save it; In this case a jar of pure terumah oil fall on the ground and it will take time for him to get clean vessels to scoop it up. The choice is to let the oil seep into the ground or to pick it up with unclean vessels. Again, both agree that if he can save at least a reviit, he should do so, even though most will be lost. The reason is that he should do whatever he can to save the purity of the pure terumah. Note that they do not disagree with regard to a situation in which the oil is in the upper part of an oil press and it will flow down into a vat impure hullin oil, thereby making the entire mixture impure medumma (terumah mixed in with hullin). The reason is that such impure medumma oil can be burned, and therefore the loss is not so great. In such a situation all would agree that he should just let the pure terumah oil flow into the impure hullin oil. This is different from the scenario in yesterday’s mishnah where there is no use for impure medumma wine.

But if not: Rabbi Eliezer says: let it flow down and be swallowed up by the ground, and let him not make it unclean with his own hands. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua again disagree if there is no other way to save the oil besides using the unclean vessels. Rabbi Eliezer says that he may not use the unclean vessels and he should rather just let the whole mixture go to waste. Rabbi Joshua’s response is in tomorrow’s mishnah. I’m sure the suspense is just killing you.