Coleccionistas [judíos, amei ha'aretz, que son designados por el rey para recaudar impuestos de otros judíos], que ingresaron a la casa [para hacer la promesa], y de la misma manera, ladrones, que devolvieron los recipientes [de barro] [que robaron] se cree que dicen: "No los tocamos" [en el interior. Esto, si los devolvieron en penitencia voluntaria, pero no por miedo.] Y en Jerusalén se les cree con respecto a Kodesh. [Se cree para toda la loza, tanto grande como pequeña, decir que están limpios para Kodesh; porque no hacen hornos (de alfareros) en Jerusalén. Por esta razón les creyeron y no decretaron en contra de ellos.] Y, durante el tiempo de la fiesta, (se creía) incluso para terumah, [está escrito (Jueces 20:11): "Y todos los hombres de Israel reunidos contra la ciudad como un solo hombre, chaverim ". Cuando están todos reunidos, las Escrituras los llaman "chaverim". Y un festival es un momento de reunión.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
הגבאים – Jewish tax collectors of a king from the nations of the world who collect taxes and taxes from crops and other farmer’s produces delivered in kind, and they entered into the house to seize his pledge.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
Introduction
Our mishnah continues to deal with the question of when to trust a person when he says that he has not made vessels impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
וכן הגנבים – who stole earthenware and restored/returned them.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
Tax-collectors who entered a house, and similarly thieves who restored [stolen] vessels are believed if they say, “We have not touched [anything].” The mishnah refers to a tax collector who has taken someone’s possessions in order to use them as collateral for a tax debt. When he returns the object to its owner he is believed if he says that he didn’t make the object impure. The same is true for the thief who is returning something he had stolen. It seems that these people are believed specifically because they are doing “teshuvah”, repentance, by returning the stolen/collected item. Since they are repenting, they are at the same time believed with regard to other aspects of religious law. Some commentators say that these people are believed if the item is going to be used for sacrifices, because even tax collectors and thieves respect the purity of sacrifices. But they are not believed with regard to terumah. Other commentators say that they are believed for both.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
נאמנים לומר לא נגענו – [we did not touch] inside them, and they returned them on account of repentance that they did on their own and not on account of fear [of punishment].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Chagigah
And in Jerusalem they are believed in regard to sacred things, and during a festival also in regard to terumah. Amei Haaretz (uneducated people) are believed when they are in Jerusalem to say that their vessels are pure so that they could be used with sacrifices. During a festival their trustworthiness is even greater because everybody, even the uneducated, would purify themselves before the festival. Therefore they are even believed with regard to terumah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
ובירושלים נאמנים על הקדש – they are believed on all earthenware utensils, whether big or small, to state that they are pure for sacred things, because they do not make kilns in Jerusalem. Therefore, they were believed and did not make decrees against them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Chagigah
But during the season of the Festival/Jewish holy day(s), even on the Terumah/priest’s due [they are assumed to be ritually pure], as is said in Scripture (Judges 20:11): “So all the men of Israel, united as one man, massed against the town.” The Biblical verse called them “united” at the time of gathering, and the Festival was a time of gathering together/being united.
