Por seis incertidumbres [con respecto al estado de pureza] se quema terumah : por la incertidumbre de un cementerio arado, y por la incertidumbre de la suciedad que provenía de las tierras de las naciones [es decir, fuera de Israel], por la incertidumbre de la ropa de una persona sin educación. , y por la incertidumbre de los vasos encontrados, por la incertidumbre de la saliva encontrada, por la incertidumbre de la orina humana que se encontró frente a la orina de un animal [permitiendo así que se identifique claramente como orina humana]. En [casos donde hay] una certeza de que alguno de estos tocó [ terumah ], que es [por lo tanto la causa de] una incertidumbre con respecto a su estado de impureza, el terumah se quema. El rabino Yose dice: en un dominio privado, [el terumah se quema] incluso en [casos donde hay] una incertidumbre que tocaron. Pero los Sabios dicen: en un dominio privado, [cuando hay una incertidumbre que tocaron] suspendemos [es decir, ni quemar ni comer el terumah ], pero en un dominio público es puro.
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
על ספק בית הפרס - heave offering/priest’s due that entered into an area in which uncertainty exists concerning the location of a grave or a corpse, that this is a field in which a grave was plowed up and it is doubtful if there within a bone a barley-corn’s bulk from the corpse.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
Our mishnah deals with six cases where a person touched something of doubtful impurity and then touched terumah. In these six cases the terumah must be burned, as if we were certain that the terumah had been defiled. Note that this is the mishnah's way of saying that something is to be treated as if it was certainly defiled, for one would not burn terumah unless he had no other choice. It is prohibited to burn terumah unless one is certain that it is impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ועל ספק עפר הבא מארץ העמים – that dust that comes from the lands of the nations, we have doubts regarding the mass of earth from a grave containing parts of a decayed human body. And it is taught concerning the land of the nations/ארץ העמים and the area in which uncertainty exists concerning the location of a grave or a corpse/בית הפרס, they (i.e., the Rabbis) decreed that they would defile through contact and through lifting.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Section one: 1. A bet ha-peras is a place where there used to be a grave but was plowed over. The ground defiles because it might have bones in it. 2. The rabbis say that land from outside the land of Israel is impure (see Ohalot 2:3). The origin of the dirt referred to here is unclear. 3. The garments of an am haaretz, one who is not observant of the strictures of the purity laws, defile. These clothes may have come from such a person. 4. Vessels that were simply found might be impure. Therefore, they have to be treated as such. 5. Spit that is simply found (yuck) might have come from a zav or from a niddah, and the spit of both such people defiles (we will learn more about this in the future). 6. Human urine defiles if it comes from an impure person. Albeck explains that in mishnaic times they would use urine as a cleaning agent. They would usually gather human urine and animal urine separately. The person in this section therefore knows that the urine he touched is human urine. What he does not know is if this human urine was impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ועל ספיקן של בגדי עם הארץ – for regarding all of them we are in doubt if his menstruating wife sat upon them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
On account of a certainty of having touched these which causes the doubtful uncleanness, terumah is burned. In all of these cases the person knows that he had contact with one of these things, he just doesn't know whether they were unclean. If he didn't know whether he had even touched them, then he is pure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ועל ספק כלים הנמצאים – for we don’t know if they are ritually impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Yose says: also on account of their doubtful contact in a private domain; But the sages say: in a private domain the terumah is only held in suspense and in a public domain it is deemed clean. Section one referred to things found in the public domain. Doubtful impurity is more likely to be deemed impure in the private domain. Rabbi Yose says if this occurred in the private domain then even if he is not sure if he had contact with the item he is impure. The sages are more lenient. In the private domain if he is not sure if he had contact with it, the terumah is "held in suspense." This means that it is not treated as pure, but neither is it burned. However, in the public domain the person is impure only if he is certain that he had contact with the item.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ועל ספק רוקין – for perhaps they are of a person with gonorrhea or a woman with flux, or that of a menstruating woman or someone who just gave birth.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
מי רגלי אדם שהן כנגד מי רגלי בהמה – it teaches us a noteworthy point, and we don’t say that since these (i.e. urine) are from beasts, those also are from beasts, and even though there are two doubts (i.e., a compound uncertainty) for a leniency, the doubt regarding beasts [and] the doubt regarding a human being, and even if you can assume that [both] are from a human being, perhaps, the person is pure. And Maimonides explains through reference to the Tosefta (see Tractate Makhshirin, Chapter 3, Halakha 13 and Tractate Taharot, Chapter 5, Halakha 2), as for example, that the urine of a ritually impure man was mixed with the urine of a beast in equal measure, and this is nearby the urine of cattle, and we have a doubt if the appearance of the human urine was nullified and that all of them are ritually pure, or that they weren’t nullified and all of them are ritually impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
על ודאי מגען שהוא ספק טומאתן (because of certainly touching them which is a manner of doubt in respect to their [imparting] uncleanness)- he knows with certainty that priest’s due/heave offering came in contact with them, but he doesn’t know if they are ritually impure or not, as we have explained the doubt in all of them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
וחכמים אומרים ברשות היחיד תולין – on the doubt of their contact, and we don’t burn them because it is a compound uncertainty which is ruled as a leniency, there is a doubt whether it touched and there is a doubt whether it did not touch, and even if you can assume that it came in contact, there is doubt of whether they are ritually impure or ritually pure. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi who stated that on doubt of their contact we burn them [in the private domain].
