Menachem b. Signai testificó sobre el borde de la cuba de las calderas de aceitunas que es tamei; y de tintoreros, que es tahor. Porque había quienes decían lo contrario. [Las calderas de olivo y los tintoreros solían tener grandes cubas en cuyos bordes colocaban un borde de arcilla para contener el agua cuando hervía. Eso (es decir, el borde) de las calderas de olivo era tamei porque esa adición era necesaria para el recipiente y se usaba; y la Torá declaró con respecto a un horno o una estufa (Levítico 11:31): "Ellos serán inmundos para ti"—"para ti", para todo lo que necesitas; es decir, la cosa en el recipiente que necesita y usa—es lo que es susceptible de tumah. ("y de los tintoreros, que es tahor" :) Los tintoreros no hacen uso de esa adición, ya que temen que estropee su tinte.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
מוסף היורה של שולקי זיתים – it is the manner of those who seethe olives and dyers who have large boilers and make for them additional plaster on their rims so that they will bring forth water at the time of their boiling. That of those who seethe olives is ritually impure, because that supplement is necessary for the utensil and it is used, and the Torah stated concerning the oven and portable stoves on feet (Leviticus 11:35): “an oven or stove shall be smashed. They are unclean and unclean they shall remain for you.” And they (i.e., the Rabbis) expound upon the word לכם/”for you,” everything that they need, that is a substance from the utensil that one you need it for and use it – that it receives defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Introduction
Olive-boilers and dyers would both use large metal cauldrons for boiling. In order to prevent the water from spilling out they would put a plaster ledge around the sides of the cauldron. The question in our mishnah is: are these plaster ledges receptive to impurity? In other words, are they considered “vessels” which receive impurity or raw material which does not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
ושל צבעים טהור – for dyers do not use the same supplement since they are fearful lest they lose their color.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Menahem ben Signai testified concerning the ledge attached to an olive-boiler’s cauldron, that it is [liable to become] impure; and concerning that of dyers, that it is not [liable to become] impure, whereas they used to say the reverse. According to Menahem ben Signai, the ledge attached to the olive-boiler’s cauldron can become impure. This is because it is necessary for the proper use of the cauldron; it allows the olive-boiler to fill the entire cauldron with water. The ledge that the dyer uses cannot become impure because the dyer is careful not to fill the cauldron up to the top with water so that it might boil over. Previously people reasoned the opposite. Evidently they thought that the dyer’s made more use of the ledge than did the olive-boilers. The principle, however, remains the same. If the ledge is normally used to keep the water in, than it receives impurity. Unfortunately, I must admit, never having boiled olives or dye, that I cannot fully understand the reason why people would change their minds about which is a “vessel” and which is not.
