La tierra de Israel es pura y sus mikvaot [reuniones de agua recolectadas por medios naturales e inmersas para su purificación] son [asumidas como] puras. Las mikvaot de las naciones fuera de la Tierra son válidas para ba'alei kerayin [hombres que han tenido una emisión seminal pero aún no se han purificado por inmersión en una mikve ], incluso si se llenaron manualmente de un pozo de agua. Las de Israel que están fuera de las cerraduras [de las puertas de la ciudad, es decir, fuera de las ciudades] son válidas incluso para niddot [mujeres que han menstruado y, por lo tanto, son impuras]; los que están dentro de las esclusas [es decir, dentro de las puertas de la ciudad] son válidos para ba'alei kerayin pero no válidos para todos los [otros] individuos impuros. El rabino Eliezer dice: [incluso fuera de las puertas de la ciudad], los que están cerca de la ciudad y de la carretera son impuros debido a que se usan para lavar la ropa, y los que están lejos son puros.
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ארץ ישראל טהורה – and even the villages of the Cutheans (i.e., Samaritans) upon whom they (i.e., the Rabbis) did not decree [ritual] impurity, other than the lands of the nations outside of the Land [of Israel].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with mikvaot that are found and with whether one can assume that they have been filled with rainwater and are valid or that they have been filled with drawn water and are invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ומקואותיה טהוהים – and we don’t presume them to be of drawn [water], for undefined they were made kosher/fit.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
The land of Israel is clean and its mikvaot are clean. The rabbis declared that merely being in the land of the other nations defiles. The land of Israel, on the other hand, is clean. Similarly, if one sees a mikveh in Israel and is not sure if it is valid or not, the presumption is that it too is valid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
לבעלי קריין – to permit them by the words of the Torah, for a person who experienced a seminal emission is prohibited by the words of the Torah until he [ritually] immerses, and if he [ritually] immerses in a place where all of its waters are drawn, it is permitted.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
The mikvaot of the nations outside the land are valid for those who had a seminal emission even though they have been filled by a pump-beam; According to rabbinic legend/law, Ezra decreed that men who have had a seminal emission must immerse in a mikveh before they study Torah or pray (this is no longer observed). A mikveh found outside of the land of Israel can be assumed to be valid for such a purpose for this immersion is mandated only by rabbinic law. This is true even if it had been filled with a pump-beam, which would mean that it is certainly drawn water. However, the mikveh is not valid for other types of immersions that are toraitic in origin.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
אפילו נתמלאו בקילון (even if they were filled up with a swipe and bucket for drawing water – see also Tractate Moed Katan, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1) – that they filled water with a shoulder and poured it into a hole and from that hole/indentation there is a path that the water travels to the Mikveh.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Those in the land of Israel: when outside the entrance [to the city] are valid even for menstruants, and those within the entrance [to the city] are valid for those who had a seminal emission but invalid for all [others] who are unclean. Mikvaot found outside of the city can be assumed to have been filled with rain water or some other natural water. Mikvaot in the city are assumed to have been filled with drawn water and are invalid. With that in mind, if one finds a mikveh outside of the city gates, anyone can immerse there, even a menstruant, whose obligation to immerse is from the Torah. But if one finds a mikveh inside the city, it is only valid for men who have had a seminal emission, whose obligation is derabanan, from the rabbis.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
שחוץ למפתח – outside of the opening of the town gate.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
Rabbi Eliezer says: those which are near to a city or to a road are unclean because of laundering; but those at a distance are clean. Rabbi Eliezer adds that mikvaot found near the city or near a road may have been used for laundering. During the laundering water would have been put into the mikveh and this creates the presumption that the mikveh is invalid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
כשרים אף לנדות – to permit them to their husbands, and even though there is the prohibition of extirpation [for not following the laws of the menstruant woman properly]. But we are not concerned lest they (i.e., the Mikvaot/ritual baths) were lacking [enough water] and that drawn water fell upon them and they were filled up, for outside of the town gate, the foot of people are not found there.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
לפנים מן הפחת – inside from the entrance to the town gate.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ופסולים לכל הטמאים – for many people are found there and fill up water with their shoulders and give them there [clothing] to launder and to wash.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
מפני הכביסה – that one can say that they (i.e., the Mikvaot/ritual baths) were lacking [in water] and were made invalid from the utensils that they would launder there.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
הרחוקים טהורים – for they don’t launder in them but one shouldn’t be concerned for this. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.
