פירוש על טהרות 1:6

(all of these sections/segments are simple.) And every place where I am able to suspend that there is the bulk of an egg, it is the more severe of this one and that one, we follow after the more severe/stringent. But if not, we follow after the lenient/lighter.

Introduction This mishnah continues yesterday's mishnah which discussed quantities of food that have different levels of impurity that were mixed together.

An egg's worth of food that has second degree uncleanness and an egg's worth of food that has third decree uncleanness that were mixed together are regarded as having second degree uncleanness. If they were then divided, each part is regarded as having only third degree uncleanness. If each part separately fell on a loaf of terumah they do not render it invalid. But if the two fell together they convey to it third degree uncleanness. This section is the same as the last section in yesterday's mishnah, only here the two pieces of food have second and third degree impurity. Food with third degree impurity does not invalidate terumah. But food with second degree impurity does invalidate terumah, although it doesn't defile it.

An egg's worth of food that has first degree uncleanness and an egg's worth of food that has third degree uncleanness that were mixed together are regarded as having first degree uncleanness. If they were then divided, each part is regarded as having only second grade uncleanness, for even the third grade that touched the first has become only a second grade. In this case one piece has first degree and one piece has third degree. When the piece with third degree touches the piece with first degree, it now has second degree impurity. This now becomes a case of one piece with first degree and one piece with second degree, the same case as we had in yesterday's mishnah.

If two eggs worth of food that have first degree uncleanness and two eggs worth of food that have second degree uncleanness were mixed together they are regarded as having first degree uncleanness. If they were then divided, each part is still regarded as having first degree uncleanness. But if they were divided into three or four parts, each is regarded as having second grade. Here there are two eggs with first degree and two eggs with second degree. The difference between this situation and the previous ones is that even when the piece is divided into two, it still has first degree impurity because there is still an egg's worth that has the higher degree. The pieces go down to the lower degree of impurity only if they are further divided up into three or four pieces.

If two eggs worth of food having second degree uncleanness and two eggs worth of food having third degree uncleanness were mixed together, they are regarded as having second degree uncleanness. If they were then divided, each part is still regarded as having second degree uncleanness. But if they were divided into three or four parts, each is regarded as having only third degree uncleanness. The same situation as in section three only the two pieces have second and third degree impurity and not first and second.