Un élevage de bétail a [une distinction, en ce qui concerne le statut de pureté, entre son] extérieur et son intérieur: les sept [poignées] de la bêche [attachées à l'arrière de la prod, sont considérées comme étant l'extérieur], et le quatre [poignées] de [l'extrémité pointue de] la prod [sont considérées comme étant l'intérieur], selon le rabbin Yehuda. Le rabbin Meir dit: ils n'ont pas [une telle distinction]; les quatre et les sept n'ont été mentionnés qu'aux fins des restes [c'est-à-dire que s'il se brise, ce sont des mesures de la quantité qui doit rester pour qu'il soit toujours considéré comme un instrument, à des fins de pureté].
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
מרדע (handle of the plough-having on one end a broad iron blade/חרחור and on the other a spud/דרבן) – It is a long, round staff that is a third of a handbreadth thick. And at its one end, is a wide piece of sharpened iron to sever/cut the roots, and its name is חרחור/broad iron blade, and its other end is a piece of iron like an awl/borer, whose name is דרבן /spud/point, through which leads the heifer to its furrow/ridge.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
An ox-goad has different laws for its outer and inner parts, [The outer part is] the seven handbreadths from the broad blade and four handbreadths from the point, the words of Rabbi Judah. An ox-goad is the stick which was used to drive the oxen (to goad them on). On one end was a point. The other end was a broad piece of iron that was also used for plowing and for cleaning the dirt off the plow. According to Rabbi Judah beyond seven handbreadths on the piece of iron and four handbreadths on the point is considered the outer part of the ox-goad. If impure liquids come into contact with the ox-goad beyond these two points, the "inner" part of the ox-goad remains pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
משבעה לחרחור מארבעה לדרבן – if impure liquids fell upon the broad iron blade, it is not impure from the handle of the plough other than seven handbreadths, but if they fell on the spud/point, it is not impure other than four-handbreadths. But Maimonides explained/expounded, that if if impure liquids fell on the handle of the plough seven handbreadths outside from the broad iron blade or outside four handbreadths from the spuds, it is like a vessel whose outsides had been defiled, but its inside was not defiled, and those seven handbreadths that are next to the broad iron blade and the four [handbreadths] that are next to the spud were not defiled.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
Rabbi Meir says: it is not to [subject to such distinction], the four and the seven handbreadths were mentioned only in regard to its remnants. Rabbi Meir again disagrees and holds that there is no "inner" or "outer" portion for an ox-goad. He does admit that the numbers four and seven handbreadths were mentioned by earlier generations of sages. But he holds that these numbers were mentioned with regard to the remnants of an ox-goad, not with regard to the "inner" or "outer" sides. According to Rabbi Meir, if seven handbreadths of the blade or four handbreadths of the point remain, the ox-goad is still impure (or susceptible to impurity). Less than that and the ox-goad is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
אלא לשיריים – when the Sages gave measurements for the broad iron blade of seven [handbreadths] and for the spud four [handbreadths], it was not given other than regarding this matter that if the handle of the plough was broken and there remained next to/adjacent to the broad iron blade seven handbreadths, or adjacent to the spud four [handbreadths, it is impure, because it is appropriate to do some kind of its work. Less than this, it is like the shards of a vessel and is pure. But the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.
