Un chien qui a mangé la chair d'un cadavre, et le chien est mort et était couché sur le seuil, le rabbin Meir dit, si son cou a un espace qui est une largeur de main, il répand l'impureté, mais sinon il ne répand pas l'impureté . Rabbi Yosi dit que nous vérifions l'impureté, [si elle est trouvée] du seuil et à l'intérieur, la maison est impure, [si elle est trouvée] du seuil et à l'extérieur, la maison est pure. Le rabbin Elazar dit que si sa bouche fait face à l'intérieur, la maison est pure, mais si elle fait face à l'extérieur, la maison est impure, puisque l'impureté part par son arrière. Le rabbin Yehuda Ben Betaira dit que dans les deux cas, la maison est impure. Combien de temps reste-t-il dans ses entrailles? Trois jours entre le moment [du jour où il a été mangé] et ce moment [du jour trois jours plus tard]. Par les oiseaux et les poissons, assez longtemps pour qu'il tombe dans le feu et soit brûlé, dit le rabbin Shimon. Le rabbin Yehuda ben Betaira dit que par les oiseaux et les poissons, c'est du moment [du jour où il a été mangé] à ce moment [du jour un jour plus tard].
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ומת הכלב – for if it (i.e., the dog) lived, even if all of it was in the house, the house is pure, for absorbed defilement [found] in living creatures is not defilement.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with a dog who ate the flesh of a corpse and then died on the threshold of a house. His neck is in the house and his stomach, where the piece of flesh is being digested, is outside of the house. The question is: does the impurity enter the house in order to defile all of the contents of the house?
We should note that if the dog was still alive there is no question that a source of impurity found inside him does not defile outside.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ומוטל על האסקופה – and its neck is inside.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
A dog which had eaten the flesh of a corpse and then died and was lying over the threshold: Rabbi Meir says: if its neck has a thickness of one handbreadth it can bring the uncleanness, but if not, it does not bring the uncleanness. Rabbi Meir says that the purity of the house depends on whether the neck is large enough to serve as an ohel. If it is an ohel, then the impurity enters the ohel of the neck and from there spreads to the body. But if the neck is too small to serve as an ohel, the impurity remains in the dog.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אם יש בצוארו פותח טפח – the width of the neck is a handbreadth. And they estimate it through a thread that surrounds the neck. For everything that is within the width of a handbreadth, there is in its circumference three handbreadths.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Yose says: we [examine to] see where the uncleanness is. If it is beneath the lintel and inwards, the house becomes unclean; if from the lintel and outwards, the house remains clean. Rabbi Yose says that the size of the neck doesn't matter. Rather we check to see where in the dog's body the impurity is found. If it is found inside a part of the body that is in the house, then the house is impure. But if the impurity remains outside of the house, the house is pure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
מביא את הטומאה – to the upper side that within it (i.e., the dog), it overshadows over the defilement and the defilement and conducts it into the house.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Eliezer says: if its mouth [points] inwards, the house remains clean; if its mouth [points] outwards, the house becomes unclean, since the uncleanness goes out through its hind. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says: in either case the house becomes unclean. Rabbi Eliezer says that the impurity escapes through the dog's rear end. Therefore, if the rear end is in the house, the house is impure. But if the mouth is in the house, the house is pure. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says that the impurity can also escape through the dog's mouth. Therefore, it does not matter which end is in the house, the house is impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ואם לאו – that there isn’t an opening of a handbreadth.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
How long can [the uncleanness] remain in its entrails? Three whole days. The piece of corpse is assumed to be present in the dog's guts for three whole days. After that it will have been fully digested.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אינו מביא את הטומאה – that concerning the matter of bringing the defilement we require an opening of a handbreadth.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
[If in the entrails] of fishes or birds, as long as [it takes for the uncleanness] to fall in the fire and be consumed, the words of Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says: in the case of fishes or birds, twenty-four hours. Flesh eaten by fish or birds does not remain in their (smaller) guts as long as it does for dogs. According to Rabbi Simon, it will remain there only as long as it would take to burn the flesh in a fire. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says that it stays there longer, for an entire day.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
רבי יוסי אומר רואים את הטמאה – we check the place of the defilement on the body of the dog. If it (i.e., the defilement in the belly of the dog) is from the lintel and inside, the house is impure even though its neck does not have the thickness of a handbreadth, for hidden defilement bursts forth and ascends, and it is found that the house overshadowed over the defilement. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
פיו לפנים – and the hole of his tail (i.e., the dog’s rectum) is from the outside.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הבית טהור – if the defilement is from the outside. For because of the conducting water through a channel, we do not defile him, for here is no path for the food to leave through its motuh, but rather through the hole in the privy.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
פיו לחוץ – and through its lower part of the body/abdomen is on the inside.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הבית טמא – for this is the path of the small opening which was at its conclusion to exit.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בין כך ובין כך – whether its (i.e., the dog’s) mouth is inside or whether its mouth is outside, whether the defilement is opposite the lintel and inside or whether the defilement is outside, whether there is in its neck a handbreadth or whether there isn’t in its neck [the space of] a handbreadth, in every matter the house is impure, for the defilement goes whether through its entrance or whether through its exit.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כמה תשהה – the flesh of the corpse.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
במעיו – of the dog prior to the dog dying and further would not defile because it would be considered as consumed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
שלשה ימים מעת לעת – from the time it (i.e., the dog) ate it. As we state in [Tractate Shabbat folio 155b] that it is revealed and known before the Holy One, blessed be He that the food of a dog is small, therefore, it leaves its food remains in its intestines for three days.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בעופות ובדגים – if they (i.e., birds and/or fish) ate from the flesh of the corpse, in order that it fall into the fire and be burned.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ר' יהודה בן בתירא אומר וכו' – And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira.
