פירוש על כלים 10:8

לפסין (tightly covered pot/stew-pot) – like אלפסין/tightly covered pots. Large iron pans – that they cook in them.

If [earthenware] pans were placed one within the other and their rims were on the same level, and there was a sheretz in the upper one or in the lower one, that pan alone becomes unclean but all the others remain clean. If the sheretz is in the upper pan, the lower pans are still clean because the sheretz is not considered to be in the air-space of the lower pans. Only the upper pan is impure because the sheretz is in its air-space. If the sheretz is in the lower pan it is unclean but the upper pans are clean because the sheretz is not in their air-space.

ושפתותיהן שוות – that one rim from them is no higher than its neighbor.

If [they were perforated] to the extent of admitting a liquid, and the sheretz was in the uppermost one, all become unclean. If in the lowest one, that one is unclean while the others remain clean. If the pans were perforated enough that they could let liquid in and out, they are still susceptible to impurity. In order for them not to be susceptible they must be able to admit and let out an olive (see 3:2). Nevertheless, they are not considered to be "vessels" vis a vis other vessels in order to afford protection from impurity. Therefore, if the sheretz is in the upper one, it doesn't protect the lower ones. The sheretz is considered to be in their air-space as well. However, if it is in the lower one, the upper (inner) pans are pure because the sheretz is still not in their air-space.

בעליונה – this is the inner one for the outer one is underneath it.

If the sheretz was in the uppermost one and the lowest projected above it, both are unclean. The mishnah now returns to the first scenario, where the pans are not perforated. If the lowest pan projects above the upper one, and the sheretz is in the upper one, then both of those pans are unclean, because the sheretz is in both of their air-spaces. However, the middle pans remain clean because the sheretz is not in their air-space.

היא טמאה – if the unclean reptile/insect is in the upper [saucepan], foods that are in the lower one are clean/pure, for the All-Merciful stated (Leviticus 11:33): “And if any of those falls into an earthen vessel/כל אשר יפול אל תוכו” and not "אל תוך תוכו"/within that which it is into, but the unclean insect/reptile that is in the upper [saucepan] is within that which it is into – of the lower [saucepan]. But if the unclean insect in the lower [saucepan], the foods that are in the upper [saucepan] are not are not made impure, for the All-Merciful stated (Leviticus 11:33): "כל אשר בתוכו/everything inside it [shall be impure and -the vessel -itself you shall break],” but not that which is within it.

If the sheretz was in the uppermost one and the lowest projected above it, any one that contained dripping liquid becomes unclean. This section seems to be some sort of later addition to the mishnah which relates to that which was immediately stated before. When it was stated in section three that the middle pans are pure, that was true only if they were dry. If they were moist with dripping liquid, then the liquid is unclean and it in turn defiles the pan.

היו בכונס משקה ([if] they were [so damaged] that liquids could penetrate) – meaning to say, perforated so that liquids could penetrate that is, in order [to preserve] their ritual purity, for tightly covered pots are made for liquids and food-stuff, and we place upon them for stringency when liquids penetrate.

השרץ בעליונה – that is, the inner [saucepan].

כולן טמאות – for we see the unclean insect as if it is each one [of the pans], since they are perforated where the liquids penetrate.

בתחתונה – which is the outer [saucepan].

היא טמאה וכולן טהורות – for the defilement does not enter through its rims. But however, if there were food and liquids in the inner [saucepan], they were defiled, since the incision was not plastered over as is it is proven above in Chapter 8 [Mishnah 2]. And this is the reason, because he made a perforation in order [to preserve] its ritual purity, it is considered like the airspace of the outer vessel, and food-stuffs and liquids are made ritually impure from the airspace of an earthenware vessel, and neither people nor vessels are defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels.

השרץ בעליונה – now we are speaking about complete stew-pots.

היא והתחתנה טמאה – since it is like as if it is placed within it since it (i.e., the bottom saucepan) exceeds [the others in height], but the middle one is ritually pure, for a utensil does not become defiled through the airspace of an earthenware vessel.

כל שיש בו משקה טופח טמא (each one in which here is moist liquid is unclean) – the moist liquid that is within the middle vessel is defiled from the airspace of the earthenware vessel, and the liquid returned and defiled the utensils. For the Rabbis decreed on liquids that it would defile a utensil, as a decree because of the liquid of a man with gonorrhea and a woman with a flux . And the same law applies where one is able to inform us of this novel [concept] of moist liquid in the first clause [of the Mishnah] that the unclean insect in the upper and lower [saucepans] exceeds [the others] and there is moist liquid in the middle [pan].