Menachem b. Signai ha testimoniato sull'orlo della vasca delle caldaie delle olive che è tamei; e dei tintori, che è tahor. Perché c'erano quelli che dicevano il contrario. [Le caldaie per olive e le tintorie erano solite disporre di vasche di grandi dimensioni sui cui bordi mettevano un bordo di argilla per contenere l'acqua quando ribolliva. Quello (cioè il bordo) delle caldaie per olive era tamei perché quell'aggiunta era necessaria per la nave e veniva usata; e la Torà dichiarò rispetto a un forno o una stufa (Levitico 11:31): "Saranno impuri per te"—"a te", a tutto ciò di cui hai bisogno; cioè, la cosa nella nave di cui hai bisogno e che usi—è ciò che è suscettibile di tumah. ("e dei tintori, che è tahor" :) I tintori non fanno uso di quell'aggiunta, perché hanno paura che rovinino la loro tintura.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
מוסף היורה של שולקי זיתים – it is the manner of those who seethe olives and dyers who have large boilers and make for them additional plaster on their rims so that they will bring forth water at the time of their boiling. That of those who seethe olives is ritually impure, because that supplement is necessary for the utensil and it is used, and the Torah stated concerning the oven and portable stoves on feet (Leviticus 11:35): “an oven or stove shall be smashed. They are unclean and unclean they shall remain for you.” And they (i.e., the Rabbis) expound upon the word לכם/”for you,” everything that they need, that is a substance from the utensil that one you need it for and use it – that it receives defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Introduction
Olive-boilers and dyers would both use large metal cauldrons for boiling. In order to prevent the water from spilling out they would put a plaster ledge around the sides of the cauldron. The question in our mishnah is: are these plaster ledges receptive to impurity? In other words, are they considered “vessels” which receive impurity or raw material which does not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
ושל צבעים טהור – for dyers do not use the same supplement since they are fearful lest they lose their color.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
Menahem ben Signai testified concerning the ledge attached to an olive-boiler’s cauldron, that it is [liable to become] impure; and concerning that of dyers, that it is not [liable to become] impure, whereas they used to say the reverse. According to Menahem ben Signai, the ledge attached to the olive-boiler’s cauldron can become impure. This is because it is necessary for the proper use of the cauldron; it allows the olive-boiler to fill the entire cauldron with water. The ledge that the dyer uses cannot become impure because the dyer is careful not to fill the cauldron up to the top with water so that it might boil over. Previously people reasoned the opposite. Evidently they thought that the dyer’s made more use of the ledge than did the olive-boilers. The principle, however, remains the same. If the ledge is normally used to keep the water in, than it receives impurity. Unfortunately, I must admit, never having boiled olives or dye, that I cannot fully understand the reason why people would change their minds about which is a “vessel” and which is not.
