Em relação às folhas de cebola e às ramificações das cebolas, se houver umidade, elas são medidas como são [por questões de impureza]; se eles contêm espaços vazios dentro deles, deve-se aplainar as cavidades [e depois medi-las]. Pão esponjoso é medido como é; mas se contiver alguma cavidade, é preciso aplainá-la [e depois medi-la]. A carne de um bezerro que se expandiu [durante o cozimento], ou a carne de um [animal] velho que encolheu, são medidas como estão.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
בני בצלים ( central sprouts of onions) – the middle pillar which is like the heart (green) and from it, they grow the onions, to this they call בני בצלים/central sprouts of onions.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Introduction
This mishnah deals with foods that have an empty space in them, or that might have an empty space. Does the empty space count as part of the volume of the food?
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
אם יש בהן ריר (if there is juice/sap in them) – that they are filled with moisture, and there is no empty space/cavity in them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Onion leaves or the offshoots of onions, if there is moisture in them they are to be measured as they are; if there is empty space within them, it must be squeezed tightly together. "Onion leaves" probably refers to leaks. "Offshoots of onions" are small onions that sprout from larger onions. In either case, if they are still moist, then they are measured for matters of impurity as they currently are. However, if they have dried out and the inner part is not full of moisture, then we squeeze the air out of them before measuring them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
משתערין כמו שהן (they are measured as they are) – when we come to measure if there is within them edible parts of an egg’s bulk, the measurement of receptibility to defilement, we measure them with the juice/sap and we don’t crush/press down on their empty space/cavity. But if there is in them a cavity, we press down on their empty space and afterwards measure for an egg’s bulk.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Spongy bread is measured as it is, but if there is empty space within it, it must be pressed firmly. The same is true for spongy bread. If it is moist, it is measured as it is, but if there is an empty space in it, the empty space is squeezed before it is measured.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ספוגנית (spongy [bread]) – it is made soft like a kind of sponge, but it is not tread upon nor stamped upon.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
The flesh of a calf which had swollen, or the flesh of an old [beast] that has shrunken in size, are measured in the condition they are in. The swelling or shrinking of this meat is after cooking. The mishnah basically teaches that if meat either expands or shrinks when cooked, its volume is measured as it is, and not as it was.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
משתערה כמות שהיא – without being crushed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
בשר העגל שנתפח (meat of a calf that is swollen) – it is the manner of calf meat that is swollen that it increases when it is cooking, whereas the meat of an old bull diminishes.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
בכמות שהן – if it is the meat of cooked bull that diminished and stood on less than that of an egg’s bulk, we don’t say that when it was living there was in it an egg’s bulk [of meat] or more, and it would become defiled even though that now it lacks according to the measurement. And similarly, if it was the calf meat that had become swollen and increased, and there is within it in order to defile, we don’t say for since when it was alive there wasn’t in it sufficient to defile, even now it doesn’t defile.