If there is an uncertainty as to whether they [i.e. the waters which one used to wash one's hands] have been used for any occupation or have not been used for any occupation, or an uncertainty as to whether they contained the required measure [for washing] or did not contain the required measure, or an uncertainty as to whether they were impure or pure [waters], their uncertainties [in all these cases] are pure, since they [i.e. the Sages] said: The uncertainty of hands regarding whether they can be rendered impure, or render impurity, or be rendered pure, is pure [i.e. in all those circumstances of uncertainty they are assumed to be pure]. Rabbi Yose says: regarding [the uncertainty as to] whether they can be rendered pure, they are impure. How so? If one's hands were pure, and before him are two impure loaves, and there is an uncertainty as to whether he touched or did not touch [the impure loaf]; or if one's hands were impure, and before him are two pure loaves, and there is an uncertainty as to whether he touched or did not touch [either of the loaves]; or if one of one's hands was impure and the other pure, and before him are two pure loaves, and he touched one of them, and there is an uncertainty as to whether he touched with the impure [hand] or with the pure one; or if one's hands were pure, and before him are two loaves, one impure and one pure, and he touched one of them, and there is an uncertainty as to whether he touched the impure one or the pure one; or if one of one's hands was impure and one pure, and before him are two loaves, one impure and one pure, and he touched both of them, and there is an uncertainty as to whether [he touched] the impure [loaf] with the impure [hand] and the pure [loaf] with the pure [hand], or the pure [loaf] with the impure [hand] and the impure [loaf] with the pure [hand]. The hands [in all of these cases of uncertainty] are they were [i.e. with regard to their purity status, remaining either pure or impure], and the loaves [as well] are as they were.
Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
ספק נעשה בהן מלאכה – for work defiles the water for pouring, as is taught in the first chapter [of Tractate Yadayim, see Mishnah 3].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yadayim
Introduction
This long mishnah is about cases of doubtful impurity involving hands. While the mishnah is quite long, it is not actually too difficult.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
טמאים – invalid for pouring [water for ritual cleansing of the hands].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yadayim
If there was a doubt whether any work has been done with the water or not, A doubt whether the water contains the requisite quantity or not, A doubt whether it is unclean or clean, In these cases the doubt is considered to be clean because they have said in a case of doubt concerning hands as to whether they have become unclean or have conveyed uncleanness or have become clean, they are considered to be clean. Rabbi Yose says: in a case [of doubt as to] whether they have become clean they are considered to be unclean. There are three types of "doubts" that could cause the water not to have purified his hands. As we learned in 1:3, if work was done with the water it cannot be used to wash his hands. There must be a quarter of a log (1:1) and the water must be pure. In all of these cases, if there is a doubt as to whether his hands were purified, the law is lenient and we treat them as pure. Below the mishnah will explain the meaning of "become unclean" and "convey uncleanness." To become pure means that if he isn't sure whether he effectively purified his hands, they are considered pure. This refers to the cases in the beginning of the mishnah cases where there was a doubt whether the water he used could purify his hands. Rabbi Yose disagrees with the ruling concerning doubt over whether his hands have become pure. Because his hands are presumed to be impure, they cannot be considered pure unless we are sure that they have been purified. The status quo remains.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
ספיקו טהור – even if there is with the water that he poured [for the ritual cleansing of the hands] so many of these doubts. And is the doubt of its being purified as the Rabbis and Rabbi Yossi argue in the concluding clause [of the Mishnah]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Yadayim
How so? If his hands were clean and there were two unclean loaves before him and there was a doubt whether he touched them or not; Or if his hands were unclean and there were two clean loaves before him and there was a doubt whether he touched them or not; Or if one of his hands was unclean and the other clean and there were two clean loaves before him and he touched one of them and there was a doubt whether he touched it with the unclean hand or with the clean hand; Or if his hands were clean and there were two loaves before him one of which was unclean and the other clean and he touched one of them and there was a doubt whether he touched the unclean one or the clean one; Or if one of his hands was unclean and the other clean and there were two loaves before him one of which was unclean and the other clean, and he touched both of them, and there is a doubt whether the unclean hand touched the unclean loaf or whether the clean hand touched the clean loaf or whether the clean hand touched the unclean loaf or whether the unclean hand touched the clean loaf The hands remain in the same state as they were before and the loaves remain in the same state as they were before. The mishnah now goes through a long list of cases in which an impure hand might have touched a pure loaf of terumah or vice versa. Note that this is a different type of doubt than in section one. In section one, the doubt was whether his hands had been purified. Here the doubt is whether he defiled a loaf of terumah. The mishnah rules that in all of these cases his hands and the loaves remain in their previously assumed state. The hand or hands that were pure remain pure and the loaf or loaves that were pure remain pure. In other words, in cases of doubt the status quo remains.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
ספק ידים ליטמא ולטמא – (see Tractate Taharot, Chapter 4, Mishnah 7 as this Mishnah explains the general principle learned there) further on in the other segment [of the Mishnah] it explains it].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
שני ככרים טמאים - that impure foods defile the hands, as it is taught in the Mishnah [of Tractate Yadayim] in Chapter 3 [Mishnah 2]: “Whatever imparts unfitness to heave-offering imparts uncleanness to the hands to become second-degree of ritual uncleanness.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
שני ככרים טהורים – we are speaking of Terumah/heave-offering, that the hands invalidate the heave-offering.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Yadayim
הידים כמו שהיו והככרים כמות שהיו – that which is defiled in its defilement and that which is pure in its purity.
