Comentario sobre Eduyot 1:8
כַּרְשִׁינֵי תְרוּמָה, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, שׁוֹרִין וְשָׁפִין בְּטָהֳרָה, וּמַאֲכִילִין בְּטֻמְאָה. בֵּית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, שׁוֹרִין בְּטָהֳרָה, וְשָׁפִין וּמַאֲכִילִין בְּטֻמְאָה. שַׁמַּאי אוֹמֵר, יֵאָכְלוּ צָרִיד. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, כָּל מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם בְּטֻמְאָה:
Karshinim (arveja) de terumah —[En árabe se les llama "karshena". Son alimento para camellos, y se usan para consumo humano solo en un año de hambruna. Terumah se separa de ellos, ya que los hombres a veces se los comen, cuando se ven obligados a hacerlo. Y no están santificados, como lo están otros terumoth]—Beth Shammai dice: Están empapados [en agua] y se frotan [sobre la piel] en limpieza [es decir, después de limpiarse las manos (netilath yadayim), de acuerdo con el estruendo de todos los demás alimentos terumah. Para las manos tienen el estado de impureza de segundo grado e invalidan terumah]; y son alimentados [a los animales] en la impureza, [no hay preocupación de que los haga impuros con sus manos cuando los alimentan a los animales. Pero cuando no se les da de comer a los animales, está prohibido dejarlos impuros por las manos.] Beth Hillel dice: Están empapados, en limpieza, [porque sumergirlos en agua los hace susceptibles de adquirir impurezas; y si los empapa de impureza, su tuma y su susceptibilidad se unen. Y esto solo es lo que Beth Hillel prohíbe, como una señal, para que se sepa que son terumah], y se frotan (en la piel) y se alimentan (a los animales) con impureza. Shammai dice: Que se coman tzarid, ["seco", como en "tzarid de menachoth", habiendo un lugar en las ofrendas de comida donde el aceite no llegaba. Aquí, también, déjelos comer secos, para que no haya líquido sobre ellos cuando se comen, para que no se reconozca que se hicieron susceptibles de adquirir impurezas.] R. Akiva dice: Todo lo que se hace con ellos [ incluso remojo] puede hacerse con impureza. [La halajá está de acuerdo con Beth Hillel.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
And Beth Hillel says: “They must be soaked in purity, but can be rubbed and given for food in impurity.”
Shammai says: “They must be eaten dry.”
Rabbi Akiva says: “All actions in connection with them [can be carried out] in impurity.”
In order to understand this mishnah we must first explain several rules.
1) Terumah (heave offering) is a portion of produce separated to give to the priests. It is only given from human food and not from animal feed. Vetches, a type of bean, are generally given to animals, but can be eaten by humans in time of need.
2) It is forbidden to cause terumah to become impure. A person who touches terumah must have previously ritually washed his hands.
3) Food can receive impurity only once it has been made wet. While it is dry it cannot receive impurity.
Our mishnah discusses the preparation of vetches of terumah. According to Beth Shammai they must be prepared (both soaked and rubbed) with pure hands, lest the person decide to eat them himself, in which case it would be forbidden to make them impure. However, they may be given to animals by a person with impure hands, since animal food is not really terumah.
According to Beth Hillel, they must be soaked by a person with pure hands, since getting them wet enables them to receive impurity. However, when he rubs them or gives them to an animal it is obvious that they are not intended for humans, and therefore he can do so with impure hands.
Shammai himself is again, stricter than Beth Shammai. He holds that vetches must be eaten dry so that they will not be able to receive impurity. Assumedly, Shammai would agree that a person might also eat them with clean hands.
Rabbi Akiva’s opinion is the most lenient. He holds that vetches are not fit for human consumption and therefore one may do anything with them while his hands are impure. Since vetches are animal food the rules of the purity of terumah do not apply to them.