Possiamo santificare con tutte le navi, anche con navi fatte di feci, navi di pietra e navi di terra. E possiamo santificare in una barca. Non santificiamo con i lati delle navi [rotte], né nelle fessure di un machatz [una grande brocca usata per attingere acqua, che aveva fessure vuote], né con un coperchio a botte [che aveva rientranze vuote per le impugnature], né con le mani a coppa; poiché riempiamo, santifichiamo e spruzziamo solo acqua chiacchierata in una nave. [Allo stesso modo] un sigillo stretto salva [dall'impurità il contenuto di] navi [ma non salva il contenuto di cose non considerate navi]; e solo le navi possono salvare [dall'impurità delle] navi di terracotta [in cui sono contenute]. [Le navi di terracotta hanno la proprietà di poter diventare impure solo dal loro interno, tuttavia se qualcosa di impuro è posto in una tale nave, qualsiasi altra cosa all'interno della nave e la nave stessa diventano impure. Tuttavia, se una nave che non può diventare impura o una nave di terracotta è strettamente dotata di una copertura, o di una "tenuta stagna", l'interno è considerato protetto dall'esterno e quindi le cose all'interno non possono diventare impure. Allo stesso modo, se una nave sigillata si trova all'interno di una nave di terracotta, nonostante il fatto che un oggetto ritualmente impuro collocato nella nave di terracotta renda tutto al suo interno impuro, il contenuto di una nave ermeticamente sigillata che è incapace di diventare impuro rimane comunque puro. La nostra mishnah afferma che, affinché queste applicazioni di "tenuta stagna" possano essere applicate, il container deve essere qualificato come nave.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
בכל הכלים מקדשים – whether of wood, whether of bone, whether of glass, and even with vessels of dung, that are not considered a vessel in regard to defilement, not from the words of the Torah nor from the words of the Scribes, as I is written (Numbers 19:17): “And fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel,” but it is not written, “to the vessel.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with what vessels can used for making the hatat waters.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
מחץ (ladle) – a large earthenware vessel that they call ALMAKHDIR in Arabic. And on one end of it is made in the form of a handle and it the sides of a broken ladle. Such is how Maimonides explained it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
They can make the mixture in all kinds of vessels, even in vessels made of cattle dung, of stone or of earth. All vessels can be used for mixing in the water and ashes, even vessels that cannot become impure, such as those made of dung, stone or earth. We might have thought that something that cannot become impure wouldn't count as a "vessel" and the Torah states that the water must be put into a vessel. Our mishnah counters that notion.[Hard to imagine them actually using vessels made of dung for this ritual, but theoretically, it's possible].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
ואין מזין אלא בכלי – meaning to say, that the water must be in the vessel at the time of the sprinkling.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
The mixture may also be prepared in a boat. So too a boat cannot become impure. Nevertheless, one can, at least theoretically, put the ashes and water in there.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
אין מצילין – all what is inside it [is protected] from the defilement of the tent of corpse through a tightly fitting cover, except [whole] vessels.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
It may not be prepared in the walls of vessels, or in the sides of a large jug, or in the stopper of a jar, or in one's cupped hands, for one does not fill up, or mix in, or sprinkle the hatat with anything but a vessel. However, there are things that can hold water that don't count as vessels. The first is the wall of a broken vessel, or the side of a large broken jug. Even though these pieces of earthenware can hold water, they cannot be used because they are not considered vessels. The stopper of a jar cannot be used even if it has a receptacle (see 9:1) because it is not considered a vessel. Finally, one's hands do not count as a vessel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שאין מצילין מאויר כלי חרס אלא כלים – that if a creeping reptile would fall into the airspace of an earthenware vessel, everything that is within it is impure even though it did not come in contact with them, except for utensils that are not defiled from the airspace of an earthenware vessels, as it is written (Leviticus 11:33-34): “[And if any of those falls into an earthen vessel,] everything inside it shall be impure…as to any food that may be eaten,” food and liquids become defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels, but utensils/vessels are not defiled from the airspace of earthenware vessels.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Parah
Only on a vessel does tightly fitting cover afford protection, for only in vessels is protection afforded against uncleanness within an earthen vessel. Earthenware vessels that have a tightly fitting lid protect their contents from impurity. For instance, if a vessel with food in it is in an oven with an impure thing such as a sheretz, the food remains pure (see Kelim 8:3). However, this only applies if the food is in a vessel. Non-vessels do not protect their contents in the same way.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Parah
שאין מצילין – like, and they do not protect/ואין מצילין , and an example of this is at the beginning of the first chapter of [Tractate] Betza [8a] that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is prepared, and Rabbah stated in the Gemara (Tractate Betza 8a), that this is what he said, that the ashes of a portable stove on feet with caves for two pots is ready/prepared.
