תלמוד על מקואות 8:1

There⁷⁰Mishnah Miqwaot8:1. we have stated: “The Land of Israel is pure and its ritual baths are pure⁷¹There is a universal presumption that every Jewish congregation in the Land of Israel will see to it that its ritual baths are built according to the rules (in particular, that the water is natural, ground water or rain water, not from vessels, and that the amount of water is at last 40 seah(a Roman culleus, 20 amphorae) as required by rabbinic tradition. A visitor may use any such miqweh without first investigating its status. Cf. Berakhot3:4, Notes 164–166..” ⁷²Tosephta Miqwaot6:1.“The land of the Samaritans is pure; its ritual baths, and its dwellings⁷³Gentile dwellings and paths are impure even in the Land of Israel since one has to worry that Gentiles bury their stillborn in their dirt floors or on their paths. Anybody walking over such a spot would become impure by “tent impurity.” The opinion that Gentiles are not sources of “tent impurity” is not found in Yerushalmi sources (Babli Yebamot61a, attributed to R. Simeon ben Ioḥai.), and its paths are pure.” Its paths are pure; it is a presumption that they would not select a path unless it was pure⁷⁴They are assumed to be more strict in matters of impurity than rabbinic Jews.. And its ritual baths are pure; Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Yose⁷⁵The Tanna.: that is, to believe them that they are not from drawn water⁷⁶Which is a source of impurity., but not for the measure of forty; for they explain, only a spring or a cistern, a collection of water⁷⁷Lev. 11:36.,” just as a spring cleanses in any amount, any collection of water cleanses in any amount⁷⁸In Sifra Šemini Paraššah9(1) the argument attributed here to Samaritans (as Sadducees) is rejected only because of the rule that אַךְ “only” must indicate an exclusion. This characterizes the rule that flowing water purifies in any quantity but standing water only in 40 seah as rabbinical but in essence it is also found in the Damascus Document CD X 11...