Commentaire sur Kéilim 18:2
מוּכְנִי שֶׁלָּהּ, בִּזְמַן שֶׁהִיא נִשְׁמֶטֶת, אֵינָהּ חִבּוּר לָהּ, וְאֵינָהּ נִמְדֶּדֶת עִמָּהּ, וְאֵינָהּ מַצֶּלֶת עִמָּהּ בְּאֹהֶל הַמֵּת, וְאֵין גּוֹרְרִין אוֹתָהּ בְּשַׁבָּת בִּזְמַן שֶׁיֶּשׁ בְּתוֹכָהּ מָעוֹת. וְאִם אֵינָהּ נִשְׁמֶטֶת, חִבּוּר לָהּ, וְנִמְדֶּדֶת עִמָּהּ, וּמַצֶּלֶת עִמָּהּ בְּאֹהֶל הַמֵּת, וְגוֹרְרִין אוֹתָהּ בְּשַׁבָּת אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁיֶּשׁ בְּתוֹכָהּ מָעוֹת. הַקִּמְרוֹן שֶׁלָּהּ, בִּזְמַן שֶׁהוּא קָבוּעַ, חִבּוּר לָהּ וְנִמְדָּד עִמָּהּ. וְאִם אֵינוֹ קָבוּעַ, אֵינוֹ חִבּוּר לָהּ וְאֵינוֹ נִמְדָּד עִמָּהּ. כֵּיצַד מוֹדְדִין אוֹתוֹ, רֹאשׁ תּוֹר. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אִם אֵינָהּ יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמֹד בִּפְנֵי עַצְמָהּ, טְהוֹרָה:
Son chariot: s'il peut être glissé, il n'est pas considéré comme connecté, ni inclus dans sa mesure, ni ne protège avec lui dans la tente d'un cadavre, ni ne peut être traîné le Chabbat quand il y a l'argent dedans. S'il ne peut pas être glissé, il est considéré comme connecté, il est inclus dans sa mesure, il offre une protection avec lui dans la tente d'un cadavre, et il peut être traîné le Chabbat même s'il contient de l'argent. Son sommet cintré, s'il est fixé [à la boîte], est considéré comme connecté et se mesure avec lui, mais s'il n'est pas fixe il n'est pas connecté et n'est pas mesuré avec lui. Comment est-il mesuré? En triangulant avec une chaîne. Le rabbin Yehudah dit: s'il ne peut pas se tenir seul, il est pur.
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
המוכני (the machine for lifting weights, wheel-work) – it is a wheel, like a sort of wheels of a wagon, and since the chest is carried upon it, it is called a מוכני/wheel-work. It is the language of (Exodus 30:28): “and the laver and its stand.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Introduction
Today's mishnah continues to deal with how the box is measured.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
בזמן שהיא נשמטת(at the time when it may slipped off) – that a person may remove it from the wheel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Its carriage: if it can be slipped off, is not regarded as connected, nor is it included in its measurement, nor does it afford protection together with it in the tent of a corpse, nor may it be drawn along on Shabbat if it contains money. The word I have translated as "carriage" is interpreted by some to mean the box's wheels and by others to mean the box's base. In any case, as we shall see, the rules differ depending on whether the carriage can be detached. If the carriage can be slipped off then it is not regarded as connected to the box, even when it is connected. This means that its status as far as purity goes is independent of the box. If the box is small enough to become impure, the carriage remains pure. And if the carriage becomes impure, the box is pure. And if the box is too large to become impure, the carriage is still susceptible. When measuring the size of the box, the carriage is not included, since it can be taken off. Vessels that are in a box are not defiled if the box is found in the tent of a corpse. However, if the carriage is what separates the vessels from the air of the tent, the carriage does not offer such protection and the vessels will be defiled. If the carriage has coins it, it may not be drawn on Shabbat because the carriage is the base for an object that cannot be used on Shabbat (the coins).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אינה חבור לה (and it is not connected to it) – and it is considered a vessel to itself. But if is a chest with a receptacle, it is a defilement that does not hold forty Seah, and the chest is defiled, but the wheel-work is not defiled, but if it is not a receptacle, it is defilement, and the defilement came in contact with the wheel-work, the wheel-work is ritually impure, because it is not considered from the chest, and it is carried full and empty and there is a receptacle.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If it cannot be slipped off, it is regarded as connected, it is included in its measurement, it affords protection together with it in the tent of a corpse, it may be drawn along on Shabbat even if it contains money. If the carriage cannot be slipped off, all of the above halakhot are reversed. It is regarded as connected and therefore has the same purity status as the box. It is measured with the box and it affords protection as if it was part of the box. It can be drawn on Shabbat even though there are coins in it. This is because there are permitted things in the box (clothes, etc.) and when something has permitted and forbidden things in it, it may be moved.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ואינה נמדדת עמה – in the accounting of a cubit by a cubit at the height of three cubits, for it is considered like the thickness of the legs, and even according to Rabbi Yossi, it is not measured with it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Its arched top, if it is fixed [to the box], is considered connected and is measured with it, but if it is not fixed it is not connected and is not measured with it. The box's arched top is considered to be part of the box only if it is fixed to the box with nails. In such a case its purity status goes with the box itself and it is measured with the box. If it is not nailed to the box, it is not considered part of the box.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ואינה מצלת עמה באוהל המת (and does not offer protection with it in the tent of the corpse) – for if the chest is in the cemetery, it protects over the vessels that are within it, since it supports/strengthens forty Seah. But if vessels protrude from it corresponding [to the height] of the wheel-work from above, the wheel-work does not protect it, for a wheel-work is susceptible to receive defilement and does not interpose before the defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
How is it measured? As an ox-head. How do they measure the arched top when it measurements are included with the box? They measure it with a sharp angle called "an ox head." Picture a half circle with a triangle inside it. Whatever is in this triangle is counted as far as the dimensions of the box.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
בזמן שבתוכה מעות – it is a vessel of is own accord, and is the base for a prohibited thing, but it is permitted if it is not detached, for after that they were not within the chest which is the essence of the vessel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Rabbi Judah says: if it cannot stand by itself it is clean. Rabbi Judah says that if the box cannot stand without the aid of the arched top, then the box is pure even if it cannot contain forty seahs.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
קמרון (arched lid) – like a kind of arched compartment over the chest.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
נמדד עמה – to complete the forty Seah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
מודדים אותו – when it is fixed.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
ראש תור (how is an arched top-piece measured? By drawing an equilateral triangle circumscribing the curve) – a diagonal line. For this arched lid does not correspond to the entire chest, but rather it covers over part of the empty space, and he comes to measure the airspace, we view it as if a chord is placed in the diagonal line from the wall of the chest until the top of the arch, and the empty space that is below it is measured.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אם אינה יכולה לעמוד בפני עצמה – the chest without the arched lid that is fixed in it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
טהורה – even though it does not hold forty Seah. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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