פירוש על עדיות 3:8

מסמר השולחני – the money-changer hangs on it the scale of the balance. But our Rabbis explained that it was a fixed nail/pin set in the stand that is in front of the money-changer to put up the shutters of the shop. And the Rabbis make them pure because its use is with the ground.

Introduction Mishnah eight contains another case in which one Sage declares something pure and the other Sages declare it impure.

אבן השעות – a stone which has zones and markings on them the names of the hours which is inserted in it with a nail and through it they determine the hours. And in a foreign tongue, they call it IRLIVE and in Arabic ALBALATA.

Three things Rabbi Zadok pronounces [liable to receive] impurity and the Sages pronounce them not [liable to receive]: The nail of the money-changer; And the chest of grist makers; And the nail of a stone dial. Rabbi Zadok pronounces [liable to receive] impurity and the Sages pronounce them not [liable to receive]. Rabbi Zadok and the Sages disagree with regards to the liability of three items to receive impurity. Again, in order to receive impurity something must be considered “a vessel”, which in the Mishnah can include any manmade usable object which a has a specified purpose to it. According to Rabbi Zadok the items listed in our mishnah fit the definition of “vessel” whereas according to the Sages, they do not. The items are: 1) The nail of a money-changer. According to Maimonides, this was the nail used to hang the scales that the money-changer would use to weigh the money. 2) The chest used by a grist-maker to store the grist. Others explain that this is the nail of a chest used by a grist-maker, which is used to attach the chest to a wagon to bring the grist to market. If this is the correct explanation, then our mishnah lists three different types of nails. 3) The nail used to measure time in a sundial.

וארון של גרוסות – that makes pounded beans with their millstone, they have a sort of wooden cabinet.

ר' צדוק מטמא – this cabinet, for it has the status of a utensil on it.

וחכמים מטהרין – for a wooden utensil is make to stand and it is not make to carry. But Rabbi Tzadok held, that sometimes we repair it to carry it, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Tzadok.