Comentario sobre Tohorot 4:8
סְפֵק טֻמְאָה צָפָה עַל פְּנֵי הַמַּיִם, בֵּין בַּכֵּלִים בֵּין בַּקַּרְקַע. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, בַּכֵּלִים, טָמֵא. וּבַקַּרְקַע, טָהוֹר. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, סְפֵק יְרִידָתוֹ, טָמֵא. וּסְפֵק עֲלִיָּתוֹ, טָהוֹר. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, אֲפִלּוּ אֵין שָׁם אֶלָּא מְלֹא אָדָם וְטֻמְאָה, טָהוֹר:
La incertidumbre de una impureza que flota en la superficie del agua [donde no está claro si alguien entró en contacto con el objeto flotante: los sabios lo declararon puro] ya sea en un recipiente o en la tierra. El rabino Shimon dice: en un recipiente es impuro [ya que está en un lugar fijo], y en la tierra es puro. El rabino Yehuda dice: Si la incertidumbre era [una que surgió] cuando cayó [al agua], es impuro, pero si la incertidumbre era cuando estaba saliendo [del agua], él es puro. El rabino Yose dice: incluso si hay espacio [en el agua] solo para una persona más la impureza, él es [todavía] puro.
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ספק טמאה צפה על פני המים – there is a doubt if it (i.e., the water) touched the uncleanness floating on the surface of the water or it didn’t touch it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
Today's mishnah begins to explain cases of doubtful uncleanness that the rabbis rule pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
בין בכלים בין בקרקע – whether the water was in vessels or whether the water was on the ground, it is ritually pure, for it is considered as if there is no place for uncleanness.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
"A doubt concerning an object of uncleanness that floated upon water:" There is an unclean object floating on some water and there is doubt as to whether a person touched it. Since the object of impurity does not "have a set place," the person who might have touched it is pure. We have seen this principle before in mishnah three.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
בכלים טמא – for they are considered as if there is a place for uncleanness. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
[It is clean] whether the water was in vessels or in the ground. Rabbi Shimon says: if in vessels he is deemed unclean but if in the ground he is deemed clean. The first opinion holds that it does not matter whether the object was floating in water on the ground, let's say in a pond, or in water in a vessel. In both cases it is considered to not have a fixed place. Rabbi Shimon says that if the water is in a vessel then we consider the impure thing to have a place, because the vessel is set in a specific place.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ספק ירידתו טמא (if the doubt has to do with his descent into the water) – for it is manner of a person when he descends to a pond of water that everything that is in the water comes upon him, on account of the movement that when he begins to wash himself. But when he ascends from the water, the things that are in the water distance themselves from him and go to the sides of the pond.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Judah says: if the doubt arose when the man went down into the water he is deemed unclean, but if when he came up he is deemed clean. Rabbi Judah notes that when a person gets into water and there is something floating in the water, it is normal for the thing to come closer and even touch the person. Thus, if the doubt arose when he was getting into the water, he is impure. But when someone gets out of water, it is normal for things to move away from him. Thus in this case the person is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
אפילו אין שם אלא מלא האדם והטומאה – that the place is narrow in the path for it is impossible for him that he wouldn’t touch it, nevertheless he is ritually pure, for he (i.e., Rabbi Yossi) holds that the uncleanness that floats does not defile. Such is what I found. But Maimonides explains that all the while that he didn’t know with certainty that he touched uncleanness, he is ritually pure. It appears that if he was on the path where it is impossible for him that he doesn’t touch it, he is ritually impure.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Yose says: even if there is only enough room for a man and the uncleanness the former remains clean. Rabbi Yose rules that even if there is only enough room in the water for the person and the object, thereby making it quite likely that the person touched the object, the person remains clean. Note that he seems to simply apply the rule cases of doubtful uncleanness where the impurity is moving are pure. This is a legal truth even if it doesn't seem to be realistic.
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