Panes santificados cuyas crestas han santificado agua [es decir, suficientemente pura] en ellos, si uno de ellos se volvió impuro al [entrar en contacto con] una alimaña, todos se vuelven impuros [cualquier pan que lo toque, junto con cualquier pan que toque esos panes, y etc., ya que incluso una impureza de cuarto grado, que generalmente no genera más impurezas, puede hacer que los líquidos santificados sean primarios, lo que significa que luego pueden volver impuros al resto de los panes]. Con [hogazas de] terumah , [una alimaña que entra en contacto con una de ellas] hace que dos [hogazas] sean impuras e invalida una [es decir, la primera hogaza que tocó las alimañas se vuelve impura en primer grado, y cualquier hogaza que toque eso el pan se vuelve impuro en el segundo grado, y cualquier pan que toque ese pan se vuelve impuro en el tercer grado y, por lo tanto, todavía no es válido para terumah , pero ya no causa más impurezas]. Si hay líquido goteando entre ellos, incluso con [panes de] terumah , todo es impuro [porque el líquido, que se hace primario por los panes, y que hace que los panes que toque luego se vuelvan secundarios, y esos panes, a su vez , haga que el agua que toca los siguientes panes se vuelva primaria, y así sucesivamente, a todos los panes].
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ככרות הקודש – as, for example the two loaves (brought as a communal offering on Shavuot – see Leviticus 23:27 – which were leavened, resembling that of the shewbread which, however was unleavened, together with two lambs, ceremonially waved, and afterwards, divided among the priests and eaten in the Temple courtyard) and the shewbread (see Leviticus 24:5-9 – describing the twelve shewbread loaves that were placed on the sacred table in the Sanctuary each Shabbat; the bread of the previous week was divided among the priests and eaten; it was placed on the table in two arrangements of six loaves with frankincense placed between them or atop them) and similar kinds of things.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Holy loaves in whose hollows there was holy water, if one contracted uncleanness from a sheretz, they all become unclean. The holy loaves are for instance the showbread or the two loaves brought on Shavuot. There is holy water, meaning water whose purity was preserved in order to be used with sacrifices, in the hollows within the loaves. This water, as we shall see, can act as conveyor of impurity. The first loaf has contact with a sheretz, which causes it to have first degree impurity. The next loaf has second degree impurity and the third loaf has third degree impurity. The third loaf defiles the water in its hollows such that the water has first degree impurity. The reason for this is that anything that defiles holy food, meaning even something with third degree impurity, causes holy water to have first degree impurity. The water then ups the level of defilement within that very loaf causing it to have second degree impurity, which will then defile the next loaf. Thus all the touching loaves will be defiled, if all of them are holy loaves.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
שבתוך גומותיהן מים המקודשים (that within their indentations is preserved water in cleanness fitting for Holy Things)- that there were within the indentations that are on top of the loaf water that was made on the purity of Holy Things, and one loaf was defiled by a moving creature/unclean reptile, and the loaf that was defiled touched something that was second degree [of ritual impurity] , and the second [touched] that which was third degree [of ritual impurity] and even if they are one-hundred, all of them are ritually impure, and even though they didn’t touch the water that was in the loaf but rather all of the loaf touched/came in contact with its neighbor/fellow [loaf], all of them were defiled, for the honor in which sacred objects are held makes them [fit for Levitical uncleanness (even without contact with liquids)], as if the liquid that is within each loaf that is made first degree [of ritual impurity]that which touched the loaf and defiled it. But heave-offering is not such, but rather, the first loaf [of heave-offering] that is defiled by a moving creature/unclean reptile alone defiles its neighbor/fellow loaf to become second degree [of ritual impurity], and the second-degree invalidates the third-degree, but not further, and we don’t worry about the liquid that is within the hole/indentation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
In the case of loaves of terumah, uncleanness is conveyed to two loaves and one is invalidated. If the loaves are terumah, the process is arrested quicker. The first loaf has first degree impurity and the loaf that touches it has second degree impurity. The third loaf is invalid, although not impure. It doesn't convey impurity to the fourth loaf. It also doesn't defile the water in its hollows. This is because this loaf, or anything with third degree impurity in cases of terumah, doesn't cause water to become impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
אם יש בין הככרות משקה טופח אף תרומה כולן טמאות (if there is between the loaves dripping liquid, even in the case of heave offering, the whole is ritually unclean) – that the liquid dripping that is between each and every loaf returns to become first degree [of ritual impurity], and defiles the loaf that it touches to make it second degree [of ritual impurity], and similarly, forever. Another interpretation: Holy loaves that are placed on a plank/board that are made with indentations/holes, and each loaf is placed within its hole/indentation. But the מים המקודשים/preserved water in cleanness fitting for Holy Things, we have the reading, meaning, and similarly, the preserved water in cleanness fitting for Holy Things that are placed in a vessel that is made with indentations/holes, if one of them is defiled by a moving insect/unclean reptile, all of them are defiled, for the vessel combines/joins what is within it to the Holy Things. But not for heave-offering, for heave offering does not defile other than first degree [of ritual impurity] and second degree [of ritual impurity] and invalidates third-degree [of ritual impurity] where they touched one another, but the vessel does not combine/join. But if there is dripping liquid between the holes/indentations, everything is ritually impure, for the loaf which is second degree [of ritual impurity] makes the liquid first-degree [of ritual impurity] and returns and defiles another loaf, and similarly all of it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If there was dripping liquid between them, even in the case of terumah all become unclean. In this case the liquid is dripping, meaning that if one puts one's hand on it, it will become moist. The first loaf has first degree impurity and every subsequent loaf has second degree impurity. This is because since there is a greater quantity of water it becomes defiled with first degree impurity. It then causes the loaf that touches it have second degree impurity and on and on, no matter how many loaves there are. In sum, we can see that water is a great conduit for impurity and that things that are really moist are even better conduits of impurity.