Commentaire sur Tohorot 2:1
הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁהָיְתָה כוֹבֶשֶׁת יָרָק בִּקְדֵרָה וְנָגְעָה בְעָלֶה חוּץ לַקְּדֵרָה בְמָקוֹם הַנָּגוּב, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁיֶּשׁ בּוֹ כַבֵּיצָה, הוּא טָמֵא וְהַכֹּל טָהוֹר. נָגְעָה בִמְקוֹם הַמַּשְׁקֶה, אִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ כַבֵּיצָה, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. אֵין בּוֹ כַבֵּיצָה, הוּא טָמֵא וְהַכֹּל טָהוֹר. חָזַר לַקְּדֵרָה, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. הָיְתָה מַגַּע טְמֵא מֵת וְנָגְעָה, בֵּין בִּמְקוֹם הַמַּשְׁקֶה בֵּין בְּמָקוֹם הַנָּגוּב, אִם יֶשׁ בּוֹ כַבֵּיצָה, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. אֵין בּוֹ כַבֵּיצָה, הוּא טָמֵא וְהַכֹּל טָהוֹר. הָיְתָה טְבוּלַת יוֹם מְנַעֶרֶת אֶת הַקְּדֵרָה בְּיָדַיִם מְסֹאָבוֹת, וְרָאֲתָה מַשְׁקִין עַל יָדֶיהָ, סָפֵק מִן הַקְּדֵרָה נִתְּזוּ, סָפֵק שֶׁהַקֶּלַח נָגַע בְּיָדֶיהָ, הַיָּרָק פָּסוּל וְהַקְּדֵרָה טְהוֹרָה:
Une femme qui marina des légumes dans un pot et qui a touché [avec des mains impures] une partie sèche d'une feuille à l'extérieur du pot [mais qui était partiellement immergée ou reliée à une tige immergée dans le pot], même si elle [la feuille entière ] a l'équivalent d'un œuf [en volume], il est impur, et tout le reste est pur [parce que lorsque ses mains impures, qui sont une impureté du deuxième degré, ont touché la partie sèche de la feuille, il est devenu une impureté du troisième degré, qui ne génère plus d'impureté]. Si elle a touché une partie humide, si elle a [au moins] l'équivalent d'un œuf [en volume], tout est impur; s'il n'a pas l'équivalent d'un œuf, il est impur et tout [le reste] est pur. Si elle [la partie humide de la feuille] retourne dans le pot, tout est impur. Si [sa main] avait été rendue impure par contact avec un cadavre, et qu'elle a touché une partie humide ou sèche [d'une feuille sortant du pot], si elle a l'équivalent d'un œuf [en volume], tout est impur; s'il n'a pas l'équivalent d'un œuf, il est impur et tout [le reste] est pur. Si une femme qui avait immergé ce jour-là [et qui était donc toujours d'une impureté du deuxième degré jusqu'au coucher du soleil] vidait le pot avec des mains sales [c'est-à-dire impures] et qu'elle voyait des liquides sur ses mains, et il est douteux qu'ils aient été éclaboussés du pot, ou que la tige a touché ses mains, le légume [connecté à la tige] est invalide [c'est-à-dire impur], et [le reste de] le pot est pur.
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
האשה – we are speaking of a ritually pure woman.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
When learning this mishnah it is important to remember that produce is not susceptible to impurity until it has been made wet.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
שהיתה כובשת ירק (that was pickling/pressing vegetables) – of heave offering in a pot and that vegetable was not susceptible to receive ritual defilement, but rather in the manner of those who pickle that they cut/sever the vegetable without liquid and salt it and place them in a pot or in a jar and afterwards place upon them wine or vinegar or oil (and that leaf is made susceptible to receive ritual defilement).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
A woman who was preserving vegetables in a pot and touched a leaf outside the pot on a dry spot, even though the leaf had an egg's bulk of volume, it alone becomes unclean while all the rest remains clean. The woman is preserving some vegetables that are either terumah or are regular vegetables whose purity she wishes to preserve as if they had the sanctity of terumah. She is preserving the vegetables in either vinegar or salt. Note that the only reason a woman and not a man is mentioned is that it seems that women were more likely to do this work than men. The same laws would apply to men. Before the pickling, the vegetables had not come into contact with liquid to make them susceptible to impurity. The vegetables and the leaf sticking out of the pot did become susceptible when she poured liquid on them to begin the preserving process. If she touches the leaf at a dry spot the leaf becomes impure with third degree impurity because hands have second degree impurity. In this case it doesn't matter how big the leaf is, only the leaf will be impure. The leaf doesn't convey impurity to the attached vegetables because things with third degree impurity don't defile terumah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ונגעה – with unwashed hands which make the heave-offering/priest’s due unit/invalid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If she touched it at a wet spot: If there was an egg's bulk in the leaf, everything becomes unclean. If there was not an egg's bulk in it, it alone becomes unclean but all the rest remains clean. If it is returned into the pot, everything becomes unclean. In this case the leaf was wet when she touched it. If the leaf is the size of an egg, then it will convey its impurity to other things. The liquid on it now has first degree impurity, and it conveys second degree impurity back to the leaf. The leaf will convey third degree impurity to the vegetables in the pot. However, if the leaf is smaller than the size of an egg, while it is impure because there is no minimum size for produce to receive impurity, it will not convey uncleanness because food needs to be the size of an egg to convey impurity. If the leaf goes back into the pot, then the liquid on the leaf will convey its impurity to the liquid in the pot and everything will be impure. There is no minimum amount for liquids for them to convey impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
בעלה – [on the leaf] of a vegetable that is half in the pot with the liquids and half outside of the pot dry, and she touched it in the dry place.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If the woman was unclean due to contact with one who had corpse uncleanness, and she touched the leaf either at a wet spot or at a dry spot: If there was an egg's bulk in the leaf, everything becomes unclean; If there was not an egg's bulk in it, it alone becomes unclean but all the rest remains clean. In the previous two sections the woman's hands had second degree impurity, as do all hands unless they have been ritually cleansed. In this section, she had contact with something (either a person or a vessel) that had been defiled by a corpse. The woman has first degree uncleanness. The difference here is that the leaf will have second degree uncleanness even if it is not wet. Again, if it is large enough it will convey its impurity back into the pot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
אע"פ שיש בו כביצה – which is the measurement to defile foods.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If a woman who was a tevulat yom emptied out the pot with unwashed hands, and she observed some liquid on her hands, and it is uncertain whether it was splashed from the pot or whether a stalk had touched her hands, the vegetables are invalid but the pot remains clean. A "tevulat yom" is one who has been to the mikveh but has not yet had the sun set. She has second degree impurity. She pours out the pot while her hands also have second degree impurity. While doing so she notices that some water has gotten onto her hands. If the water sprayed out of the pot, then it doesn't affect the contents of the pot. But if her hand touched the stalk of one of the vegetables in the pot, then the liquid on it would be impure and it would convey impurity back into the pot. The rule is that in cases of doubt with regard to a tevul yom, they do disqualify terumah. Therefore, the vegetable(s) itself is impure and if it is terumah will not be able to be eaten. However, the pot itself remains pure for a tevul yom does not defile liquids causing them to have first degree impurity (see Parah 8:7).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הוא טמא – that leaf [is impure].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
והכל טהור – the rest of the vegetable and the liquids that are in the pot, for this leaf part of which is in the pot does not come defile it, for the hands are second degree [of ritual impurity] and the leaf is third degree [of ritual impurity], but something that is third-degree does not make something fourth-degree in regard to heave-offering.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
נגעה – for mere hands are second degree [of ritual uncleanness].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
במקום משקה – that is to say, in a place where the leaf is not dried, the liquid that is upon it (i.e., the leaf) becomes first degree [of ritual defilement], for everything that invalidates the heave-offering defiles liquids to become first degree [of ritual defilement], and the liquid makes the leaf second-degree [of ritual defilement. Therefore, when there is on a leaf an egg’s bulk, that is the the measure to defile other things.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הכל טמא – even the pot itself [is ritually impure], for part of the leaf that is in the pot makes the liquid that is in the pot first degree [of ritual defilement] and it (i.e., the leaf) returns and defiles the pot, as is brought in the first chapter of [Tractate] Shabbat [see the Bartenura commentary to Mishnah 4] concerning food and vessels that were defiled by liquids.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
אין בו כביצה הוא טמא – that leaf that she touched [is ritually impure].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
והכל טהור – for less than an egg’s bulk it does not defile other [things].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
חזר לקדירה – that place that liquid touched it (i.e., the leaf).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הכל טמא -even though there isn’t on the leaf an egg’s bulk [of liquid], for the liquid that touched it returned and defiled all that was in the pot, and even the pot itself.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
היתה מגע טמא מת – this woman who is pickling the vegetables, for the woman is first-degree [of ritual impurity] and the leaf that she touched is second degree [of ritual impurity], therefore, if there is an egg’s bulk on it, everything is ritually impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
היתה טבולת יום מנערת את הקדירה (if one who had immersed herself on that same day was emptying (or stirring) the pot) – for now the woman has two defilements: one – that she is someone who had immersed herself that day, and the other – that hands are second-degree of ritual impurity, as it is taught regarding unwashed hands, and both of them are necessary [to teach in the Mishnah] because of the concluding clause. [The word} מנערת – that she empties out what is within the pot (another version), מנערת – she stirs with a spoon that is in her hand that which is in the pot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ספק מן הקדירה נתזו (doubt whether it – the liquid had splashed from the pot) – and what is within the pot is not defiled.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ספק שהקלח (a doubt whether the jet/the stalk) – which is completely filled with liquid and it is within the pot touched her hand.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
הירק פסול – because of doubt of being someone who immersed that day, but not because of doubtfulness of [the status] of her hands, as is taught in the Mishnah in Chapter 2 [Mishnah 2] (regarding the stringency of whether her hands were unclean or not), there is a greater stringency regarding someone who immersed that day for the doubtfulness concerning [whether] a person who immersed that day invalidates the heave offering/priest’s due, but the hands are doubtfully pure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
והקדירה טהורה – because a person who immersed that day did not defile it (i.e., the pot) even it is she certainly touched the liquids, for a person who immersed that day does not make liquids first degree [of ritual impurity], as is taught in the Mishnah [Tractate Parah, Chapter 8, Mishnah 7]: “All who renders the priest’s due/heave offering unit defiles the liquids to be first-degree [of ritual impurity] except for a person who had immersed that day.” But if it is because of [her] hands, she does not defile it, for since there is a doubt lest it (i.e., the liquid from the pot) splashed upon her hands, from doubt the pot is ritually pure, for hands that are doubtfully impure are pure.
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