Commentaire sur Tohorot 1:2
הַכְּנָפַיִם וְהַנּוֹצָה, מִטַּמְּאוֹת וּמְטַמְּאוֹת וְלֹא מִצְטָרְפוֹת. רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל אוֹמֵר, הַנּוֹצָה מִצְטָרֶפֶת. הַחַרְטוֹם וְהַצִּפָּרְנַיִם מִטַּמְּאִין וּמְטַמְּאִין וּמִצְטָרְפִים. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, אַף רָאשֵׁי אֲגַפַּיִם וְרֹאשׁ הַזָּנָב מִצְטָרְפִים, שֶׁכֵּן מַנִּיחִים בַּפְּטוּמוֹת:
Les ailes et les plumes [de la carcasse d'une volaille pure] peuvent être rendues impures et peuvent rendre [d'autres objets] impurs, et elles ne sont pas additionnées [pour atteindre une mesure de volume suffisante pour provoquer l'impureté]. Rabbi Yishmael dit: la plume est ajoutée [pour compléter la mesure suffisante]. Le bec et les serres deviennent impurs et ils s'additionnent. Le rabbin Yose dit: même le bout des ailes et le bout de la queue sont additionnés, comme ils sont laissés sur les [oiseaux, pour servir].
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
מיטמאות (become susceptible to uncleanness) – if a creeping animal touched them (i.e., the large feathers and down) they are defiled. And if they are impure, and the large feathers and down touched pure foods, they are defiled. For they are considered a handle to bring in and to remove/take out, and anything which is a handle becomes susceptible to becoming defiled and defiles.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
This mishnah is a continuation of the list of 13 rules regarding the carrion of a clean bird.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ולא מצטרפות (but they do not join together) – if the food was less than an egg’s bulk, the large feathers and the down do not combine to complete it to an egg’s bulk to defile through the ritual impurity of foods, as is taught in the beginning of [Tractate] Uktzin (see Chapter 1, Mishnah 1 – as it is not considered a protective part of the plant).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
The large feathers and the down contract uncleanness and convey uncleanness but do not combine [with the flesh to constitute the prescribed minimum]. Rabbi Ishmael says: the down does combine [with the flesh]. When it comes to matters of purity and impurity, the large feathers and the downy feathers both count as part of the bird. Therefore, they can both be defiled and defile other things. However, when it comes to making up enough to have a minimum measure to defile (the amount of an egg if the issue is food defilement, or the amount of an olive if the issue is the defilement caused in the gullet) the feathers do not join together with the flesh of the bird. In other words, let's say one has 3/4 of an egg's worth of bird flesh and 1/4 of an egg's worth of feathers, the total amount if impure does not convey impurity because it is not sufficient. You would need a sufficient amount of flesh or feathers alone. The reason seems to be that the feathers and flesh are both part of the bird but they are off different categories. Therefore, they don't join together. Rabbi Yishmael says that the downy feathers are like the flesh and therefore they do join together to convey impurity.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הנוצה מצטרפת – for it is considered like a protective part of the animal. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yishmael.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
The beak and the claws contract uncleanness and convey uncleanness and also combine [with the flesh to constitute the prescribed minimum]. The beak and the claws are considered to be part of the bird for all purposes. They even join with the flesh to constitute a minimum measure. Perhaps this is because, unlike feathers which can't be eaten, the beak and claws could either be eaten (I'm pretty sure that I read a story about how claws were a delicacy in China) or at least put into some kind of soup.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
החרטום (nose/beak) – that the bird gnaws/bites it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Yose says: also the ends of the wings and the end of the tail combine [with the flesh to constitute the minimum] since they are left unplucked on fattened birds. Rabbi Yose adds that the tips of the wings and tip of the tail are left on fattened birds and eaten with them. Therefore, they too join with the rest of the flesh to convey impurity and to become impure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ראשי אגפים הראש הזנב (tips of the wings and the tip of the tail)- that remain attached to the body after it plucks off the down, and it is customary to cut/sever them and cast them away for they are not appropriate for eating. But on the fattened birds, we leave them and eat them with the bird, and that is what it states [by Rabbi Yossi at the conclusion of the Mishnah]: "שכן מניחים בפטומות"/”for so they are allowed to remain on fattened birds.” But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi. And these thirteen matters that are considered in our Mishnah, in the first section, there are night, for its ritual slaughter and its pinching/wringing of the neck are considered one, and both of them are pure for its torn animal, and the large feathers and the down and the nose/beak and the nails a, these [make up] the thirteen matters.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy