פירוש על כלים 7:7

הקלתות של בעלי בתים (the fire-place under a portable stove of householders) – a stand that is made for a portable stove with caves for two pots and the place of its sitting, which is called a קלת/fire-place.

The fire-basket of a householder which was lessened by less than three handbreadths is susceptible to impurity because when it is heated from below a pot above would still boil. If [it was lessened] to a lower depth it is not susceptible to impurity. The fire-basket referred to in our mishnah is a portable earthenware stove. The bottom was thick so that it could be placed on any surface. Coals would be placed inside and the pot would be placed on top. If the fire-basket was reduced, meaning the bottom was further from the top, but the reduction is less than three hand-breadths, it is still susceptible to impurity because it is still usable. However, if it was lessened more than three handbreadths, it is pure because the fire-basket is not usable.

שנפחתה (that was diminished) – its bottom. And the depth of the cavity was less than three handbreadths, the portable stove with caves for two pots/כירה receives defilement, for if he would heat with less from the bottom, the pot that is on the portable stove with caves for two pots would boil from above.

If subsequently a stone or gravel was put into it, it is still not susceptible to impurity. Putting stone or pebbles into the stove to fill in the gap does not restore the fire-basket to its original state and therefore it remains impure.

יתר מכאן – if the cavity was deeper than three handbreadths.

If it was plastered over with clay, it may contract impurity from that point and onwards. However, if he put in stones or pebbles and then plastered them over with clay, they again become susceptible to impurity.

טהורה – for the fire is further from the pot that is on the portable stove with caves for two pots and does not boil.

This was Rabbi Judah's reply in connection with the oven that was placed over the mouth of a cistern or over that of a cellar. This section refers to mishnah 5:6, where Rabbi Judah and the sages had a dispute concerning an oven placed over the mouth of a cistern or a cellar. According to Rabbi Judah the oven was not susceptible to impurity unless the fire in the pit could heat it sufficiently. According to our mishnah, he referred to the fire-basket to prove his point. The fire-basket is not impure unless the coals in the bottom are close enough to the top to heat up the pot.

נתן אבן או צרור – on the place of the cavity in order that the depth of the cavity would not be three handbreadths, it is pure, because it is not considered from the bottom of the portable stove with caves for two pots.

מרחה (if he plastered it) – to this stone with clay/plaster.

מקבלת טומאה – the portable stove with caves for two pots [is susceptible to receive defilement] from now on. For this stone is considered as from the bottom of the portable stove with caves for two pots, hence the depth of the cavity is not three handbreadths.

וזו היא תשובת רבי יהודה – when Rabbi Yehuda and the Sages disputed above in the Chapter “The Oven” (Chapter 5, Mishnah 6) that its beginning is four handbreadths.

בתנור שנתנו על פי הבור ועל פי הדות – from here, Rabbi Yehuda brought proof for his words. For just as that we require here that he heats from below and the pot cooks from above, so also we require it there (see Tractate Kelim, Chapter 5, Mishnah 6).

דכון (elevated spot in the kitchen for vessels/a stand fixed to the stove or portable oven) – it is the language of a place/stand, like “in a certain place/בדוך פלן” [Berakhot 18b]. And this is a place that projects/protrudes from the portable oven with caves for two pots/כירה, that when they remove the pot from the portable oven with caves for two pots, they set it down on this projection/protrusion but sometimes it has a receptacle for two or three pots.

Introduction Most of today's mishnah deals with a protrusion on the side of the oven used to store pots to keep them warm. It is called a "dachon" in Hebrew and is usually translated as a "hob" (a word that I will admit I have never used before).

טהור משום כירה – that if the portable oven with caves for two pots became [ritually] impure, it (i.e., the pot) did not become impure [on account of the portable oven]; alternatively, it does not defile what is attached like a portable oven with caves for two pots.

A hob that has a receptacle for pots is clean as a stove but unclean as a receptacle. The hob is not considered to be a part of the stove, and therefore if the stove is defiled the hob remains pure. However, it can become impure independently since it is a receptacle. This means that it will contract impurity if something impure enters its airspace.

הצדדים שלו – the walls of the stand fixed to the stove or portable oven that are not part of the portable oven.

As to its sides, whatever touches them does not become unclean as if the hob had been a stove, The outer edges of the hob which are not connected to the stove are not considered part of the stove. Thus if the stove is impure and food touches them, the food remains pure.

הרחב שלו (its wide side) – this is the wall of the portable stove with caves for two pots itself to the side of the receptacle of the stand fixed to the stove/portable oven. But because the stand fixed to the stove/portable oven continually widens to the side of the portable oven, it is called רחב/its wide side.

But as regards its wide side: Rabbi Meir holds it to be clean But Rabbi Judah holds it to be unclean. The rabbis argue with regard to the wide side that is attached to the stove. Rabbi Meir says that the part of the earthenware that faces the hob is clean, although the part that faces the stove is unclean. Rabbi Judah says that this entire piece of earthenware is used for the stove therefore it is all unclean.

רבי מאיר מטהר – for it is not considered like the portable oven with caves for two pots (see Tractate Kelim, Chapter 6, Mishnah 3).

The same law applies also where a basket was inverted and a stove was put upon it. The same rule as above applies to a situation where a person took a basket, and turned it over and used the bottom as a base for the stove. He then left part of the bottom as a hob. The hob itself is not subject to the impurity of the stove. The dispute is concerning the wall of the stove facing the hob part of the basket: is it part of the hob (Rabbi Meir) or not (Rabbi Judah)?

ורבי יהודה מטמא – that it is considered like the portable oven with caves for two pots. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

וכן הכופה את הסל – and built the portable stove with caves for two pots on its back/on top of it (i.e., the basket), and it protrudes beyond the portable stove. But the basket is what defiles because it is a wooden utensil, but when he built upon it the portable stove and the width of the basket protrudes beyond the walls of the portable stove and they place the pots on that protrusion, the law is like the stand fixed to the stove/portable oven.

כירה שנחלקה לארכה טהורה – a portable stove with caves for two pots that opened for two pots. But when it is divided lengthwise, the two placings on/over the fire were eliminated, but if it was divided widthwise, the two placings over the fire remain, this one alone and that one alone.

A double stove which was split into two parts along its length is clean. Through its breadth is unclean. A single stove which was split into two parts, by its length or by its width, it is not susceptible to impurity. If a double stove was split lengthwise it is rendered unusable since each opening is cut in half. Therefore it is pure. However, if it split by its breadth, it is pure because it is still usable. In contrast, a single stove is rendered useless if it split, no matter how it is split. Therefore, in all cases it is pure.

כופח – a place where there is an opening for one pot. But whether it is cracked lengthwise or whether it is cracked widthwise, all of the place where the pot is placed on/over the fire is eliminated.

As to the extension around a stove, whenever it is three fingerbreadths high it contracts impurity by contact and also through its air-space, but if it is less it contracts impurity through contact and not through its air- space. The "extension" is an earthenware base that surrounds the stove. Occasionally pots were placed on the extension. If it is three fingerbreadths high, the minimum height of a stove, then it is subject to impurity through contact and through airspace. This means that if a defiling agent enters the stove's airspace or touches the inside of the stove, the extension is also impure. If it is less than three fingerbreadths high, then it is impure only if the stove is defiled by touching and not by airspace. It seems that in this case the extension is not a vessel in and of its own right, but only a "yad" an "appendage" of the stove. A "yad" cannot be defiled through airspace.

חצר הכירה – like a kind of large, earthenware pan [without a lid] and the portable oven with caves for two pots sits in the middle attached to the courtyard.

How is the air-space determined? Rabbi Ishmael says: He puts a spit from above to below and opposite it contracts impurity through the air-space. The mishnah questions how we determine the airspace of the extension. This is a problem because the extension surrounds the stove which is much higher than the extension. Rabbi Ishmael says that we take a spit and lay it diagonally from the top of the stove to the top of the extension. If a defiling agent enters its airspace below this diagonal line, it transmits its impurity.

שלש אצבעות – that the walls of the courtyard are three fingers high. For just as the measure of the portable stove with caves for two pots, is three fingers at the outset, as is it is taught above in the Mishnah (Tractate Kelim, Chapter 5, Mishnah 2) in the Chapter “The Oven.” So as well is the measurement of the courtyard of the double stove, its height is not less than three fingers, but less than three [fingers], its airspace is not considered important. However, according to the Rabbis it defiles through contact. Alternatively, because there is something like a handle for the double stove, and the handle has contact, but not airspace.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: if the stove contracted impurity the extension is also unclean, but if the fender contracts impurity the stove does not become unclean. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov considers the extension to be an appendage to the stove. Hence, if the stove becomes defiled, its extension is always impure, even if the stove contracted impurity through its airspace and the extension is less than three fingerbreadths high. However, an appendage cannot transmit impurity to the main vessel and therefore if the extension contracts impurity, the stove remains pure.

כיצד משערין אותה – because a portable stove with caves for two pots is a great deal higher than the courtyard and we must measure what is considered the airspace of the courtyard.

נותן את השפוד – one end on the lowest wall of the courtyard and the other end on the highest wall of the double stove, and everything that is below from the spit, if one suspended there an unclean reptile, even though it is a above from the walls of the courtyard as if it is suspended below, for all of this is considered the airspace of the courtyard.

לא נטמאת הכירה – for the court [of the stove] is subsidiary to the portable stove with caves for two pots, but the portable double stove is not subsidiary to the court [of the stove]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov.

היתה מופרשת – that the artisan did not build from the outset the court/fender[of the stove] and the portable stove with caves for two pots being attached together, but rather, the one is on its own and the other is on its own.

If it [the extension] was detached from the stove, whenever it was three fingerbreadths high it contracts impurity by contact and through its air-space, If it was lower or if it was smooth it is clean. If the extension that surrounds the stove was not attached to the stove, it is susceptible to impurity only if it is three fingerbreadths high. This means that if the stove contracts impurity through its airspace or by contact, the extension will also be impure. If, however, the extension was less than three fingerbreadths high, or it had no rim (it was smooth), then it is considered separate from the stove and if the stove becomes defiled the extension remains pure.

חלקה (smooth) – without a receptacle at all. It is taught this, but you don’t have to mention that.

If three props on a stove were three fingerbreadths high, they contract impurity by contact and through their air-space. If they were lower, all the more so they contract impurity, even where they were four in number. Some commentators explain that the three props form a tri-pod for the pot to rest on the stove, while others explain them as serving as a base for the stove itself. If they are no more than three fingerbreadths above the stove, then they are considered part of the stove and the impurity of the stove contracted either by contact or through its airspace will similarly defile the props. If the props are closer to the stove, they are all the more so susceptible to impurity. This is true even if there were four of them, meaning that one was superfluous. However, if there were five or more props, they are not considered to be part of the stove and if the stove is defiled the props remain clean.

פטפוטי כירה (clay pins forming a sort of tripod for the double stove) – the feet of the portable stove with caves for two pots, which are three feet, and they are three fingers high, and they are considered like the double stove, and become susceptible to [ritual] defilement through contact and through airspace like the double stove itself. And all the more so if they are less than three fingers, they are judged like the portable stove with caves for two pots/כירה.

ואפילו הן ארבעה – [four] feet. They are judged lie the portable stove with caves for two pots.

נטל אחד מהן – there were three [legs/props] and one of them was taken from them, they still appear partially able to place the cooking vessel over or by the fire and it is considered as chipped off/torn down and [also] not as chipped off/torn down. Therefore, it becomes susceptible to being defiled through contact does it does not become defiled through airspace.

Introduction This mishnah contains four debates between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon concerning the purity of the props used to support either the stove or the pot that rests on top of the stove. The basis for this debate seems to be the same in all four cases. If the props are not considered to be attached to the stove, Rabbi Meir holds that they are still susceptible to the stove's impurity, but just to a lesser extent. Rabbi Shimon holds that the props are not susceptible at all.

ורבי שמעון מטהר – for Rabbi Shimon would state that all of the pins forming a sort of tripod for the support of a portable stove with caves for two pots that are not susceptible to being defiled through airspace are not made unclean through contact. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

If one of them [i.e. the props] was removed, the remaining ones contract impurity by contact but not through air-space, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that they are clean. If one of the props is removed, leaving two props, Rabbi Meir holds that they are still susceptible to impurity but only through contact and not through airspace. This means that if the oven is defiled through its airspace, the props remain pure, but if the oven is defiled by contact, the props are impure. In contrast, Rabbi Shimon considers the props to be separate from the stove and therefore pure even if the stove contracts impurity through contact.

עשה שנים – the artisan from the outset made the portable stove with caves for two stoves with two legs/pins.

If originally he made two props, one opposite the other, they contract impurity by contact and through air-space; the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that they are clean. If he originally made two props but he made them opposite each other so that he could rest a pot on them, Rabbi Meir holds that they are fully susceptible to impurity, both through airspace and contact. We should note that there is a variant reading of this section, according to which these props are susceptible to impurity only through contact and not through airspace (making this section consistent with the others). Rabbi Shimon considers this to be the same as the previous case, and the props are pure.

מיטמאים במגע ובאויר – that they are like two stones that were made into a portable stove with caves for two pots, as it is taught in the Mishnah above (see Tractate Kelim, Chapter 6, Mishnah 1), that it is impure.

If they were more than three fingerbreadths high, the parts that are three fingerbreadths high and below contract impurity by contact and through air-space but the parts that are more than three fingerbreadths high contract impurity by contact and not through air-space; the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that they are clean. In yesterday's mishnah we learned that if the props were less than three fingerbreadths high, they are susceptible to the stove's impurity. If they are more than three fingerbreadths high, then according to Rabbi Meir we draw an imaginary line three fingerbreadths over the stove. Above this line the props are susceptible to the impurity of the stove, but only if the stove contracts impurity through contact. Below the line, the props are fully susceptible. Rabbi Shimon considers these oversized props to be independent of the stove and therefore any part above three fingerbreadths is completely unsusceptible to impurity.

היו גבוהים – the legs/pins.

If they were withdrawn from the rim [of the stove], the parts which are within three fingerbreadths contract impurity by contact and through air-space, and those parts that are removed more than three fingerbreadths contract impurity by contact but not through air-space, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon says that they are clean. If the props were moved away from the stove by a distance of less than three fingerbreadths they are still fully susceptible to impurity. If they were removed by a greater distance, Rabbi Meir holds that they are still susceptible but only through contact and not through airspace. Again, Rabbi Shimon holds that since these props are considered to be unattached from the stove, they are pure.

ור' שמעון מטהר – that surplus above the three fingers and above, whether through contact or – thorough airspace. For every leg/pin that is above three fingers [in height] is not considered like a portable stove with caves for two pots.

היו משוכים מן שפה (if they were withdrawn from the lip/rim) – like projections made in the body of the portable stove with caves for two pots. And from those projections, their legs/pins are stretched/conducted which are the feet of the portable stove with caves for two pots, and no, the legs/pins are found outside from the rim, but what there is of them that are within three [fingers] of the rim are considered like the portable stove with caves for two pots itself and become defiled through contact and through airspaces, but what there is of them outside of/beyond the three [fingers] is what Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon dispute. And in all of them, the Halakha is according to Rabbi Meir.

כיצד משערין אותם – because the legs/pins are far from each other, and when an unclean reptile is found between them, we are not able to know if it is within the three [fingers] to the rim/lip and impure, or beyond the three [fingers] to the rim and pure for airspace for Rabbi Meir and for Rabbi Shimon, whether for contact and/or for airspace, therefore, one measures to this leg/pin three fingers from the rim/lip and similarly to the second and placer the cubit and draw [tracing] lines of the boundaries between them from one to the other, and this is called a כנה/putting a ruler between, measuring a straight line (or putting the base of the stone between them) and he draws lines, and from the tracing lines and inward is impure, that is, the place of the straight/ruled line, and from the tracing lines and outward is pure.

How do we measure them? Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: he puts the measuring-rod between them, and any part that is outside the measuring-rod is clean while any part inside the measuring-rod, including the place of the measuring-rod itself, is unclean. Today's mishnah asks how we measure the three fingerbreadths separating the stove from the three props. The prongs themselves can simply be measured from the edge of the stove, but we need to figure out what is considered to be inside the airspace of the area that is not directly corresponding to the prongs. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says that he uses a measuring rod to form a straight line from prong to prong, thereby creating a triangle around the stove. Anything outside of this triangle is not susceptible to impurity, and anything inside the triangle is susceptible.