Perutiyot [mulas de las que no podemos estar seguros si su madre era un caballo o un burro] están prohibidas [entre sí], pero el ramakh [una mula cuya madre es un caballo] está permitido. Adnei Hasadeh [criaturas parecidas al hombre] son como animales salvajes [las leyes de los animales salvajes se aplican a ellos, es decir, no imparten impurezas en una tienda de campaña]. El rabino Yosi dice: Transmiten la impureza en una tienda como un ser humano. El erizo y la comadreja de los arbustos son [considerados] animales salvajes. [Con respecto a] la comadreja de los arbustos, dice el rabino Yosi, dice Beit Shammai, el tamaño de una aceituna [de su carcasa hace que la persona que la lleva] sea impura, y el tamaño de una lenteja [de su carcasa] hace que la Persona que lo toca impuro.
English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with mules and whether they can be yoked together. It then goes on to categorize a few other animals as a “hayyah,” wild animals. We shall see below why such categorization has halakhic ramifications.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
Mules of uncertain parentage are forbidden [one with another,] If it is unclear whether a given mule was born of a female horse or a female donkey then it can’t be yoked together with a different mule, lest the two be of different species. Since the prohibition of kilayim is “deoraita,” or toraitic origin, in cases of doubt we rule strictly.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
And a ramakh is permitted. A rammakh is a mule whose mother is known to be a horse. Hence it is permitted to yoke this type of mule with another ramakh. Albeck provides an alternative explanation to the “ramakh” halakhah. The ramakh does not actually aid in pulling the plow, and therefore there is no prohibition of yoking it with another animal.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
Wild man-like creatures are [in the category of] hayyah. Wild man-like creatures are probably a type of monkey. The mishnah categorizes this animal as a “hayyah” a wild beast. Hence the laws of kilayim are applicable to it. Were we to have categorized it as a “man” the laws of kilayim would not have applied.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
Rabbi Yose says: they cause impurity in a tent like a human being. Rabbi Yose says that despite the fact that this animal is a “hayyah” and not considered like a human, when it comes to transmitting impurity in a tent, the animal is treated like a person. This means that if something overhangs this dead animal and another person, impurity goes from the carcass and impurifies the human being.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
The hedgehog and the bush-mole are [in the category of] hayyah. The hedgehog and the bush-mole are categorized as “hayyah.” Again, this means that the laws of kilayim do apply to them. Without this mishnah we might have thought that they belong to the category of “sheretz,” creepy crawly thing, to which the laws of kilayim do not apply.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kilayim
The bush-mole: Rabbi Yose says in the name of Bet Shammai: an olive's size [of its carcass] renders a person carrying it unclean, and a lentil’s size [of its carcass] renders a person touching it unclean. Rabbi Yose says that according to Bet Shammai, the bush-mole is a doubtful hayyah/doubtful sheretz, meaning that it might be either and we just don’t know how to categorize it. Since its categorization is doubtful, the stricter impurity laws of both categories apply. What this means is that an olive’s worth of its flesh transmits impurity in a tent, as does the flesh of the carcass of a hayyah (or behemah). However, a lentil’s worth of its flesh transmits impurity to one who touches it, as does the flesh of the carcass of a sheretz.
