Commentaire sur Tohorot 9:8
הַשֶּׁרֶץ שֶׁנִּמְצָא בָרֵחַיִם, אֵין טָמֵא אֶלָּא מְקוֹם מַגָּעוֹ. אִם הָיָה מַשְׁקֶה מְהַלֵּךְ, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. נִמְצָא עַל גַּבֵּי הֶעָלִים, יִשָּׁאֲלוּ הַבַּדָּדִים לוֹמַר לֹא נָגָעְנוּ. אִם הָיָה נוֹגֵעַ בָּאוֹם, אֲפִלּוּ בְשַׂעֲרָה, טָמֵא:
Si une vermine a été trouvée parmi les meules [pour broyer les olives avant qu'elles ne soient pressées], seule la zone touchée est rendue impure. Si un liquide coulait à travers [toutes les olives], tout est impur. Si [la vermine] était trouvée sur les feuilles [des olives], ils devraient demander aux travailleurs de la presse de dire: «Nous n'avons pas touché [la vermine]». S'il touchait le tas principal [d'olives], même par un cheveu, il est impur.
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
בריחים (in the millstones) – that they grind/mill the olives before placing them in the olive press and afterwards they place them in the olive press and mill them with a beam.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
Our mishnah deals with a dead sheretz found among the olives of the olive press.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ואם היה משקה – the liquid is defiled by the [dead] creeping thing, and all of the olives are defiled through connection of the liquid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If a [dead] sheretz was found in the milling stones, only the place that it has touched becomes unclean. But if moisture was running, all become unclean. If a dead sheretz, which causes impurity, is found in the milling stones which are used to crush the olives before they are pressed, only the olives that the sheretz touches is impure. The rest of the olives that touch these olives remain pure because each olive is not the size of an egg such that it could transmit impurity to the other olives. Furthermore, each olive is considered to be a separate entity. However, if the moisture is running over all the mill stones it transmits purity to everything and all of the olives are impure. This is because all of the olives are considered one lump.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
נמצא על גבי העלים – if the [dead] creeping thing is found on top of the leaves that cover the olives, and the leaves are not receptacles of defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If it was found on the leaves, the olive-press men shall be asked whether they can say, "we did not touch it." In this case the sheretz is found on the leaves that cover the olives. These leaves are not food and they are not susceptible to impurity. Therefore, they themselves are not the problem. The problem is that the leaves were put there by somebody. We must ask the men who work at the olive press whether they touched the sheretz. If they admit that they did not, then the olives are pure. In other words, these men are trusted.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ישאלו הבדדים (ask the olive press workers) – commoners who are not careful in their observance of the laws of Levitical purity and tithing whom the owner of the oil purified to work on his olives in ritual purity, and they are believed to state: “we have not touched the creeping thing that is on the leaves and we were not defiled.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
If it touched the mass [of olives], even by as little as the bulk of a barley grain, [the mass becomes] unclean. However, if the sheretz touched the mass of olives that are all stuck together, then all of the olives are considered unclean. This is because they are all considered to be connected.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ואם היה נוגע באום – if the creeping thing left from the leaves that cover the olives and touched the cluster/mass of olives.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
אפילו וכו' – one hair from the creeping thing touches the cluster/mass [of olives].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
טמא – all of the cluster/mass [of olives is ritually impure], for it is considered attachment/joining. [The word] אום/cluster, mass, the olives that are collected together and attached each with another in the vat are called an אום.
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