Commentaire sur Kéilim 12:2
קְנֵה מֹאזְנַיִם שֶׁל סָרוֹקוֹת, טָמֵא, מִפְּנֵי אֻנְקְלָיוֹת. וְשֶׁל בַּעֲלֵי בָתִּים, אִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ אֻנְקְלָיוֹת, טָמֵא. אֻנְקְלִין שֶׁל כַּתָּפִין, טְהוֹרָה. וְשֶׁל רוֹכְלִים, טְמֵאָה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, שֶׁל רוֹכְלִים, שֶׁלְּפָנָיו טְמֵאָה, וְשֶׁלְּאַחֲרָיו טְהוֹרָה. אֻנְקְלִי דַרְגָּשׁ, טְמֵאָה. וְשֶׁל נַקְלִיטִין, טְהוֹרָה. שֶׁל שִׁדָּה, טְמֵאָה. וְשֶׁל אָקוֹן, טְהוֹרָה. שֶׁל שֻׁלְחָן, טָמֵא. שֶׁל מְנוֹרַת הָעֵץ, טָהוֹר. זֶה הַכְּלָל, כָּל הַמְחֻבָּר לַטָּמֵא, טָמֵא. וְהַמְחֻבָּר לַטָּהוֹר, טָהוֹר. וְכֻלָּן, אַחַת אַחַת בִּפְנֵי עַצְמָן, טְהוֹרוֹת:
Si l'on achète les écailles des marchands de laine, elles sont sujettes à l'impureté, à cause des crochets. Des ménages, s'ils ont des crochets, ils sont impurs. Les hameçons des porteurs sont purs. Des marchands, impurs. Rabbi Yehudah dit, [crochets] des marchands, ce qui est devant lui est impur, et ce qui est derrière lui est pur. Les crochets d'un tabouret sont impurs. Des poteaux sur un lit, pur. D'un coffre-fort, pur. D'un panier de roseaux, pur. D'une table, impure. D'une lampe en bois, pure. Telle est la règle: tous les [crochets] qui sont attachés à quelque chose sujet à l'impureté sont également sujets à l'impureté. Tous les [crochets] qui sont attachés à quelque chose qui n'est pas soumis à l'impureté ne sont pas non plus sujets à l'impureté. Tous les [crochets] qui sont [détachés pour que] chacun soit par lui-même, sont purs.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
קנה מאזנים של סרוקות (the beam of the balance of wool combers/dealers in hatchelled wool) – those who hatchel wool or flax, and sell it a number of liters/measures of capacity, when they want to weigh, they have a long wooden rod and it is suspended at its head like a ring from above., and hooks of iron are suspended from below in a chain, made like hooks and their heads are bent from above. And there is for that rod another ring that goes over the face of the rod and one is not able to go out from it, and it is like a polished block/bar of iron or of thick and heavy copper suspended in that ring, and when he comes to weigh a bag of wool or of yarn, e inserts the hook in the sack and holds the ring that corresponds to it above and raises it in the air, and the ring that has the bar/polished block of iron is suspended removed from the ring that holds it, and it weighs down on the beam until it comes straight and does not bend to any side more, and because the distance of the ring that contains bar/polished block of iron, he knows the number/accounting of the weight, which has symbols on a rod, until here is one Liter, until there, ten, until there – one hundred, and this is called in the language of Scripture פלס , as it is written (Isaiah 40:12): “And weighed the mountains with a scale [and the hills with a balance],” [and] (Proverbs 16:11): “Honest scales and weights are the LORD’s; [All the weights in the bag are His work].”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
The beam of a wool-combers’ balance is susceptible to impurity on account of the hooks.
And that of a householder, if it has hooks is also susceptible to impurity.
The hooks of porters are clean but those of peddlers are susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Judah says: in the case of the peddlers' [hooks], [the hook] that is in front is susceptible to impurity but that which is behind is clean.
The hook of a couch is susceptible to impurity but that of bed poles is clean.
[The hook of] a chest is susceptible to impurity but that of a fish trap is clean.
That of a table is susceptible to impurity but that of a wooden candlestick is clean.
This is the general rule: any hook that is attached to a susceptible vessel is susceptible to impurity, but one that is attached to a vessel that is not susceptible to impurity is clean.
All these, however, are by themselves clean.
Most of this mishnah deals with the susceptibility of various types of hooks to impurity.
Section one: Wool-combers' hooks are used for hanging and weighing wool. Since the hooks are a vessel, they can receive impurity, and by extension, so can the whole beam.
Section two: Generally, the beam that a householder uses to weigh things doesn't have metal hooks. Therefore, it is not susceptible to impurity. However, if it does have metal hooks, it is susceptible.
Section three: The porters use a beam with hooks attached to carry their load. The hooks are metal and the beam is wood. These hooks are clean, because the main instrument is the beam, and since it is made of wood and has no receptacle, it is pure. In contrast, the hooks used by peddlers have receptacles in which to hang their wares. Therefore, they are susceptible.
Rabbi Judah says that only the front hooks are used to hang the peddlers' wares, and therefore only they are susceptible.
Sections four-seven: The general rule here explains the particular details in sections 4-6. In all of these cases, as long as the hook is attached to a susceptible vessel, the hook has the status of the vessel and it too is susceptible. However, if the hook is attached to something that cannot become impure (poles, fish-trap or wooden candlestick), it too is pure.
Section eight: When the hooks are not attached to something else, they are clean. There are two possible reasons: 1) they don't have their own name; 2) they are not usable unless attached to something else.
And that of a householder, if it has hooks is also susceptible to impurity.
The hooks of porters are clean but those of peddlers are susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Judah says: in the case of the peddlers' [hooks], [the hook] that is in front is susceptible to impurity but that which is behind is clean.
The hook of a couch is susceptible to impurity but that of bed poles is clean.
[The hook of] a chest is susceptible to impurity but that of a fish trap is clean.
That of a table is susceptible to impurity but that of a wooden candlestick is clean.
This is the general rule: any hook that is attached to a susceptible vessel is susceptible to impurity, but one that is attached to a vessel that is not susceptible to impurity is clean.
All these, however, are by themselves clean.
Most of this mishnah deals with the susceptibility of various types of hooks to impurity.
Section one: Wool-combers' hooks are used for hanging and weighing wool. Since the hooks are a vessel, they can receive impurity, and by extension, so can the whole beam.
Section two: Generally, the beam that a householder uses to weigh things doesn't have metal hooks. Therefore, it is not susceptible to impurity. However, if it does have metal hooks, it is susceptible.
Section three: The porters use a beam with hooks attached to carry their load. The hooks are metal and the beam is wood. These hooks are clean, because the main instrument is the beam, and since it is made of wood and has no receptacle, it is pure. In contrast, the hooks used by peddlers have receptacles in which to hang their wares. Therefore, they are susceptible.
Rabbi Judah says that only the front hooks are used to hang the peddlers' wares, and therefore only they are susceptible.
Sections four-seven: The general rule here explains the particular details in sections 4-6. In all of these cases, as long as the hook is attached to a susceptible vessel, the hook has the status of the vessel and it too is susceptible. However, if the hook is attached to something that cannot become impure (poles, fish-trap or wooden candlestick), it too is pure.
Section eight: When the hooks are not attached to something else, they are clean. There are two possible reasons: 1) they don't have their own name; 2) they are not usable unless attached to something else.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ושל בעלי בתים – they don’t regularly place in it hooks which are the hooks that they insert in a sake to raise it, but without hooks, they tie it with a rope and suspend it on a pole. We have the reading אונקליות but we don’t have the reading אונקיות.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אונקלי של כתפין (hooks of porters/carriers) – a long piece of wood like a kind of balancing pole/staff that the porter places on his shoulder and suspends on it two bags – one in front of him and another behind him with two iron hooks that are inserted in the balancing pole/staff on its two sides.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
של רוכלין – those who sell spices and women’s perfumes.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טמאה – because it has a receptacle.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שלפניו טמאה – because he uses it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ושלאחריו טהורה – that he doesn’t use it other than for protection, so that the burden will not fall from behind him, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
דרגש (footstool in front of a high bed/state bed with its footstool) – a small bed of leather and they suspend straps at the rim of the leather around and there are iron hooks along the length of the bed and when they wish to stretch it they intertwine/fasten by means of a loop with those hooks.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
נקליטין (poles of the bedstead, connected by a cross-pole over which a net is spread to form a slanting cover/curtain frame) – two pillars/posts that they place in the middle of the walls of the bed, one from its head and the other from its feet, and it is forked/split at their head, and they place a beam from this side to that and spread over it a sheet. But sometimes the pillars are not forked/split, but it is like two hooks that they place at the top of the poles of the bedstead/curtain frame, and these are hooks.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
שידה – a small chest.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אקון (reed basket) – a chest that hunters make to hunt fish with.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
כל המחובר לטמא – a hook that is attached to a vessel that is susceptible to receive ritual impurity is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
לטהור – as for example, a wooden candelabrum which is ritually pure is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אחת אחת בפני עצמה – every hook that is separated from tis vessel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טהורה – because it doesn’t have a name of its own.
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