Concernant un mikvé contenant précisément quarante se'ah , si deux personnes sont descendues et se sont immergées [en lui], l'une après l'autre, la première est pure et la seconde est impure. Rabbi Yehuda dit: si les pieds du premier touchaient l'eau [pendant que le second immergeait], même le second est pur. Si l'on y plonge un épais manteau de laine [qui absorbe beaucoup d'eau] et qu'on le relève, si une petite partie touche l'eau [et qu'une autre personne vient alors et plonge], il est pur. En ce qui concerne un oreiller ou un coussin en cuir, une fois que l'on a soulevé leurs bords hors de l'eau, l'eau qu'ils contiennent est [considérée] tirée. Que doit-on faire [dans un tel cas]? Il faut les immerger et les soulever par leur dessous.
Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
והשני טמא – for certainly there is a lack in the measurement of the Mikveh through the ritual immersion of the first [person].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If a mikveh contained forty seahs exactly and two persons went down and immersed themselves one after the other, the first becomes clean but the second remains unclean. Rabbi Judah says: if the feet of the first were still touching the water, the second also becomes clean. When the first person exits the mikveh, he will inevitably remove some water with him. The mikveh will now have less than forty seahs of water, so the second person to immerse will not become pure. Rabbi Judah says that if the feet of the first person are still in the mikveh, we consider all of the water on his body to still be in the mikveh. In such a case, the second person to immerse is pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
אף השני טהור – for we say that we lower [the partition], for it is as if the water that the first person brought up on his body is attached to the waters of the Mikveh, and it (i.e., the Mikveh) is not lacking anything from its measurement. And they explained in the Gemara (i.e., Talmud) of [Tractate] Hagigah [19a] that Rabbi Yehuda did not purify other than according to the gradations of the Rabbis, as for example that he was ritually pure for non-sacred things and he immersed in order to become ritually pure for tithes, or that he was ritually pure for tithes and he immersed in order to become pure for priest’s due/heave offerings. But to ascend from complete ritual impurity to purity, he is ritually impure to everyone. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
If one immersed a thick cloak and when he drew it out a part was still in contact with the water [and then another person immersed himself in the mikveh], he becomes clean. This matches Rabbi Judah's opinion from above. As long as part of the thick cloak is still in the water, the water that is on or soaked up by the cloak counts as if it was still part of the mikveh.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
סגוס (coarse woolen blanket – usually as a mattress to sleep on) – a thick woolen clothing, and we call it in Arabic ALBORNOS, and it absorbs a lot of water.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Mikvaot
A pillow case or a cushion of leather, as soon as it is taken out of the water by its open ends the water which still remains in it is drawn water. How should one do it? One should immerse them and draw them up by their lower edges. The pillow case and leather cushion both have a receptacle. Therefore, as soon as they are immersed in the mikveh and some of the open ends are removed, the water in them is considered drawn water. This would disqualify the mikveh if it wasn't large enough, meaning if there wasn't forty seahs of valid water. The way to fix this problem is to immerse the pillow case or leather cushion with the open side down, such that when he pulls them out, there is no water inside. Simple problem, simple solution!
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
מקצתו נוגע במים טהור – and we are speaking of a Mikveh that has in it exactly forty Seah [of water] and another person immersed after he immersed in it the thick woolen cloth, the person who immersed is ritually pure even though that it is lacking the measurement of the Mikveh with the immersion of the thick woolen cloth, for since part of the thick woolen cloth touches the water. And Rabbi Yehuda is the one who holds that we state that גוד אחית/we lower the partition (i.e., it is as if the water on the thick woolen cloth was still in the water).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
המים שבתוכו שאובים – and we return and invalidate the Mikveh with the three LOG [of drawn water] for there were only exactly forty Seah [of fit/kosher water] in it and it became lacking when he lifted their lips out of the water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Mikvaot
ומעלה אותם דרך שוליהם – in order that the water that is within them doesn’t fall to the Mikveh and will invalidate all of its waters.
