Con respecto a una caja o un cofre [flotante] en el mar, uno no puede sumergir [objetos] en ellos, a menos que hayan sido perforados [con aberturas] del tamaño del tubo de un matraz [conectando sus aguas a las aguas del mar]. El rabino Yehuda dice: para un recipiente grande [la apertura debe ser] cuatro anchos de mano, y para un recipiente pequeño [debe ser] la mayoría de su tamaño. Si se tratara de un saco o una canasta [flotando en el mar], uno puede sumergirse en ellos tal como están, porque las aguas están mezcladas. Si se colocaron debajo de una tubería [de modo que el agua de lluvia fluyera a través de ellos y hacia una mikve ], no invalidan la mikve ; más bien, uno puede sumergirlos y sacarlos normalmente [sin preocuparse de que el agua en ellos haga que la mikve sea impura como agua extraída].
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
השידה והתיבה (the safe/box and the chest) – large utensils made of wood and they are placed within a Kosher mikveh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
A chest or a box which is in the sea: one may not immerse in them unless they have a hole as large as the tube of a water-skin. Rabbi Judah says: in the case of a large vessel [the hole should be] four handbreadths, and in a small one [the hole should be as large as] the greater part of it. The chest or box is floating on the water and water is entering through cracks. The question is whether the water in the box counts as if it was in the sea, in which case there is certainly sufficient water to immerse in it. The first opinion rules that a hole in the box the size of the tube of a water-skin is sufficient for the water in the box to count as mixed in with the waters of the sea. Rabbi Judah rules more stringently. He says that if the box is large, meaning that the majority of the box is more than four handbreadths, then the hole must be at least four handbreadths for the water to be considered mingled. If the box is smaller than that, than the hole must be at least the greater part of the size of the box. Basically, the box must have a pretty big hole relative to its size.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
אלא אם כן היו נקובים כשפופרת הנוד – it is similar to a cavity/pit that we stated above (see Tractate Mikvaot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 1) that it needs to be perforated like the tube (mouth-piece) of a leather bottle (i.e., stopper of a waterskin).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If there was a sack or a basket [in the sea], one may immerse in them as they are, since the water is mixed together. If they are placed under a water-spout, they do not make the mikveh invalid. And they may be immersed and brought up in the ordinary way. The sack and the basket are not at all water-proof, therefore their rules are different from those governing the box or chest. If they are in the sea, they count as being part of the sea and they don't need a hole in order to be able to immerse in them. If they are placed under a water-spout they don't cause the water to be considered "drawn water" as would vessels that are made to hold water. Finally, since the water in them doesn't count as "drawn water" one could immerse them in a mikveh containing exactly forty seahs of water and then pick them up again. The water that will gather in the basket and then fall back into the mikveh does not count as "drawn water" which would disqualify the mikveh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
בכלי גדול – as for example, where the surface is nine handbreadths or more, for its minority is for four handbreadths, it is sufficient with a perforation of four handbreadths. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
שק או קופה (sack or a basket) – a basket made from sprouts/offshoots of a peeled willows.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
מטבילין בהן כמו שהן – if they are in the ocean. But they don’t require a perforation like the tube (mouthpiece) of a leather bottle (i.e., stopper of a waterskin), for all of them are filled with holes and the water in them is voided as regards the water of the Mikveh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
אינן פוסלין את המקוה – because of drawn water.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ומעלין אותן כדרכן (and bring them out in the ordinary way) – as for example, in a Mikveh that has in it forty Seah defined exactly as we state further on (see Tractate Mikvaot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 6) regarding a cushion or mattress of leather, since he lifted up their rims/lips from the water, the water within them is [considered] drawn [water]. How should he do it? Immerse them and raise them through their rims at the bottom of the vessel, for we are not concerned about a sack or a basket, for the water that is within them is not considered drawn water to invalidate the Mikveh.
