Commentaire sur Parah 5:4
שְׁפוֹפֶרֶת שֶׁחֲתָכָהּ לְחַטָּאת, רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, יַטְבִּיל מִיָּד. רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר, יְטַמֵּא וְיַטְבִּיל. הַכֹּל כְּשֵׁרִים לְקַדֵּשׁ, חוּץ מֵחֵרֵשׁ שׁוֹטֶה וְקָטָן. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַכְשִׁיר בְּקָטָן, וּפוֹסֵל בְּאִשָּׁה וּבְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס:
Un tube qui a été coupé pour le chatat [comme un récipient dans lequel sanctifier l'eau avec les cendres], le rabbin Eliezer dit: il doit être immergé immédiatement; Le rabbin Yehoshua dit: il doit être rendu impur [d'abord] puis immergé. [L'intention ici est d'aller spécifiquement à l'encontre de l'opinion des sadducéens qui ont soutenu que le rituel de la génisse rouge nécessite un niveau de pureté atteint une fois que le soleil s'est couché après l'immersion, alors que les rabbins ont soutenu qu'une pureté suffisante est atteinte immédiatement après l'immersion ; ceci est discuté dans le chapitre 3, Mishnah 5 en ce qui concerne les gens, et dans cette Michna, il est également étendu aux vases.] Tout le monde est valide pour sanctifier [l'eau pour le rituel, en la mélangeant avec les cendres] sauf pour un sourd -mute, une personne cognitivement handicapée et un mineur. Le rabbin Yehuda valide avec un mineur et invalide avec une femme ou une personne androgyne.
Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שפופרת (tube) – of reed.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
A reed pipe that was cut [for use as a container] for the hatat: Rabbi Eliezer says: it must be immersed immediately. Rabbi Joshua ruled: he defiles it and then immerses it. A reed pipe was cut and made into a vessel usable for holding water (on reed pipes as vessels see Kelim 17, the end of the chapter). Rabbi Eliezer says that it is to be immersed immediately for the sake of a hatat. Rabbi Joshua says that it should first be intentionally defiled and then it can be immersed and used immediately. This way the reed pipe will have the status of "tvul yom" something that is clean but has not yet waited for the sun set. As we saw in 3:7, the rabbis wanted the red cow ritual to be performed by a tvul yom as part of their polemic against the Sadducees who believed that a person was not pure until after the sun had set.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שחתכה – he prepared it to place in it the waters of lustration or the ashes of lustration (i.e., of the sin-offering), even if a חבר/member of a group dedicated to the precise observance of the commandments who is not suspect regarding defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
All are eligible to prepare the mixture, except a deaf mute, an imbecile and a minor. Rabbi Judah says a minor is eligible, but disqualifies a woman and a hermaphrodite. Anyone, even a non-priest and even a woman, can take the ashes and put them in the water. Numbers 19:9 says that a pure person must collect the ash. The rabbis take this to mean that the person needs to be pure, but that it can be done by anyone. However, he must have "awareness" meaning the ability to comprehend what he is doing. As we have seen many times throughout the Mishnah, the rabbis considered the deaf mute, the imbecile and the minor to be incapable of such awareness. Rabbi Judah says that a minor is capable of putting the ash into the water, but a woman is not allowed to do so. Similarly, a hermaphrodite who is part man/part woman, cannot perform the mixing of the ash and water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
ר' אליעזר אומר יטביל מיד – and there is recognition, that the [rituals surrounding] the cow/heifer are performed by someone who had immersed himself that day, because vessels that have been completed in ritual purity require ritual immersion for consecrated objects, lest there remain in the vessel the spittle that comes out from the mouth of a person who is not punctilious in his observance of the laws of tithing and ritual purity (i.e., a common, uneducated person/עם הארץ), and it is moist at the time at the time when he completes the vessel and he defiles it. But even though that this defilement does not require [waiting until] sunset but only ritual immersion, nevertheless, there is recognition, because regarding the cow/heifer of lustration (i.e., the sin offering), it makes him like someone who has been defiled by a corpse on his seventh day and he defiles people and vessels, and if there is of a heifer, he would require a sunset [to pass], and it (i.e., the tube of the reed) would also require it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
ר' יהושע אומר יטמא ויטביל – that in another matter there isn’t any recognition, since the vessels that are completed in ritual purity do not require [the passing of] a sunset to mix them. But the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
הכל כשרים לקדש - all those who are poor are fit/appropriate to cast the ashes into the mater, and even women. As is it written concerning the collection of the ashes of the cow/heifer (Numbers 19:9): “A man/person who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp [in a pure place, to be kept for water of lustration of the Israelite community].,” and we expound [on the word] "איש"/a person or man, to permit the non-Kohen/”foreigner.” [The word] טהור/pure [means] even a woman; [the word] "והניח"/he shall deposit [implies] a person that has cognitive awareness/temperament to place it, excluding the deaf-mute, the imbecile and a minor who lack cognitive awareness. And after [the collection of its ashes], if is written that this Divine service of mixing – and there is no Divine Service that interrupts in the meanwhile. We learned that all who are fit/appropriate for the collection of its ashes are fit/appropriate for mixing.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
ר' יהודה מכשיר בקטן ופוסל באשה – but if there is that everyone who is fit for the collection of [ashes] is fit for mixing, it (i.e., the Torah) should write, "ולקח"/and he takes, in the singular with regard to mixing, for just as (i.e., the Torah) wrote, "ואסף"/and he collected – in the singular for collecting [of the ashes], why does it write, "ולקחו"/and they shall take (see Numbers 19:17 – “Some of the ashes from the fire of purification shall be taken for he impure person,”/"ולקחו לטמא מעפר שרפת החטאת", that even those that are invalid there are fit/appropriate here, such as a minor. But not a woman, for it is written (Numbers 19:17): "ונתן עליו מים חיים אל-כלי"/and fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel), "ונתן"/and he shall give, and not "ונתנה"/and she gave.
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