Si l'on verrouille la presse à olives avant les ouvriers de la presse [non formés] [une fois qu'il les a purifiés, pour s'assurer qu'ils restent à l'intérieur et préparent l'huile dans la pureté], et qu'il y a aussi des récipients impurs avec l' impureté midras [un type d'impureté due d'être assis ou piétiné par certains types d'individus impurs, rendant quelque chose une origine d'impureté], le rabbin Meir dit: le pressoir à olives est impur. Le rabbin Yehuda dit: le presse-olives est pur. Rabbi Shimon dit: si les ouvriers les considèrent [les vases impurs] comme purs, le pressoir à olives est impur; et s'ils les considèrent impurs, le presse-olives est pur. Le rabbin Yose dit: pourquoi sont-ils [les ouvriers, considérés] impurs? Parce que les amei ha'aretz [les individus sans instruction, sans instruction sur les questions de pureté] ne sont pas des experts en matière de changement [de la position de quelque chose d'impur, même sans le toucher, ce qui est un moyen de transférer l'impureté].
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הנועל בית הבד מפני הבדדין – commoners who are not careful in their observance of Levitical uncleanness and tithing who do work in the olive press, the owner of the olives purified the in order that they would make the [olive] oil in ritual purity, and locked the olive press in their faces so that commoners should not enter there and they should not leave and be defiled through the contact of their commoner colleagues.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
Chapter ten continues to deal with purity laws related to the pressing of olives.
Today's mishnah deals with the owner of an olive press who locks the workers in the olive press so that they won't go out and become impure. [Not very nice to the workers, but I guess they'll be okay].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
והיו שם – within the olive press.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If one locked in olive-workers in the olive-press and there were objects in there that had midras uncleanness: The owner first purified the olive-workers and then locked them in the olive press. Unfortunately for his sake, there were objects inside the olive-press that had become impure through contact with a zav. This gives them "midras impurity" which means that they defile a person who has contact with them, who carries them or who shifts them (even without touching them).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
כלים טמאין מדרס – which is a primary source of ritual impurity an they defile humans whether by contact, whether by carrying or whether by shaking.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Meir says: the olive-press is deemed to be unclean. Rabbi Meir says that we must be concerned lest the olive-workers became defiled through contact with the objects and therefore the entire olive-press is unclean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ר' מאיר אומר בית הבד אמא – for we are concerned that perhaps these ritually pure commoners were defiled and they returned and defiled everything, for they are not concerned about being careful on [matters of] defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Judah says: the olive-press remains clean. Rabbi Judah rules leniently. Since the owner went through the process of purifying the workers, they know that they must be careful. Assuming that they know that the objects are impure, they will be careful and not have contact with them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
רבי יהודה אומר בית הבד טהור – for they are careful on definitive defilement, since this member of the order for the observance of Levitical laws in daily intercourse purified them for this.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Shimon says: if they regard them as clean, the olive-press is deemed unclean; but if they regard them as unclean,the olive-press remains clean. Rabbi Shimon says that it depends on what the am haaretz thinks about the objects. If he mistakenly thinks that they are pure, then he won't be careful about touching them, and the rest of the olive press is impure. However, if he thinks they are impure, then he won't touch other things and the olive press is pure. It is interesting to note that Rabbi Shimon assumes that the am haaretz will try to preserve the purity of the olive press. He just doesn't always know what objects are pure and what are not. In other words, he is trustworthy, but ignorant.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ר' שמעון אומר אם טהורים להם – these are the vessels. As for example, that the wife of a commoner sat upon them or that they belonged to a commoner, that in their eyes were ritually pure.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Rabbi Yose: why are they unclean? Only because the am haaretz is not an expert in the laws of hesset. Rabbi Yose says that the am haaretz doesn't know that shifting causes impurity. Therefore, even if he thinks that the stuff is impure and he refrains from touching it, he will not know not to shift the objects and he will be defiled. Therefore, he agrees that everything in the olive press is considered unclean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
בית הבד טמא – for the workmen in the olive press are not careful from touching them, and one has to be concerned that perhaps they were defiled.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ואם טמאין הן – as, for example, that they knew that a menstruating woman or a woman with a flux sat upon them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
א"ר יוסי – like Rabbi Meir, he (i.e., Rabbi Yossi) holds that the olive press is ritually impure, but the reason of Rabbi Meir is because the olive press workmen are not concerned about defilement, whereas Rabbi Yossi holds that they are concerned about contact but they are not expert in [questions of] shaking, and they think that they are pure all the tine that they didn’t touch it. Therefore, the olive press is ritually impure, for we are concerned that perhaps they shook it, even though they didn’t touch them. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.
