פירוש על שבת 21:2

מטה על צדה – incline the barrel on its side if it is necessary to take from the wine and stone falls, but he he should not take it with his hands.

Introduction This mishnah deals with retrieving things that have on them something that is muktzeh.

היתה בין החביות – and he is afraid that the stone won’t fall on the barrels and break them, he should lift the entire barrel and remove it from among the barrels and there tilt/incline it on its side.

If a stone is on the mouth of a cask [of wine], one tilts it to its side and it falls off. She can’t just pick up the stone because it is muktzeh. However, she can tilt the cask of wine and thereby cause the stone to fall off.

נוער את הכר והן נופלות – when he needs the cushion, but he doesn’t need the place of the cushion. But if he needs its place, he lifts the cushion with the coins that are upon them, and we don’t say other than that other than when he forgot the coins on the cushion from the Eve of the Sabbath but he intentionally placed them there, the cushion becomes the basis for a prohibited thing and it is prohibited to carry it nor to shake the coins that are upon it.

If it [the cask] is [standing] among [other] casks, he lifts it up, tilts it on its side, and it falls off. In this case she is afraid that if she tilts the cask the stone may fall off and break the other cask. Alternatively, there may not be room to tilt the cask to the side. In such a case she can pick the cask up and then let the stone fall off.

לשלשת – a matter of filth such as spittle, secretion or excrement.

If money is lying on a cushion, one shakes the cushion, and it falls off. Money is muktzeh since it cannot be used on Shabbat. As an aside, the reason that it can’t be used on Shabbat is lest one write a receipt or an account of the money spent. To move the money one merely tilts the cushion and the money falls off. Again, we see that if something which is “muktzeh” rests on something that is not muktzeh, the bottom item may be moved to get the muktzeh item to fall off.

בסמרטוט מקנחת – but he should not put water upon it, for a mere cushion is of cloth and cloth is soaked in water which is its cleansing/washing.

If snot is on it, one wipes it off with a rag; “Snot” may alternately be translated as “feces”, or some other type of disgusting material. This “snot” is on a cushion which she wants to use. To clean it off she must wipe it with a rag. She can’t pour water over it because this is prohibited due to “laundering.”

היתה – on the cushion.

If it is on leather, one pours water over it until it disappears. However, if the snot is on leather, she may pour water over it, because putting water over leather is not considered “laundering”. However, to actually launder the leather is prohibited.

של עור – which is not washed/cleansed – he puts waster upon it until it (i.e., the dirt) is gone and the secretion goes away, but no actual cleansing, for since mere cushions and pillow cases are soft and require cleanings with soft leathers; but however, soaking is their cleansing.