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המקדש -the waters of lustration (i.e., sin-offering. A person who comes to place from the ashes of the heifer/cow into the water. This is the קידוש/mixing that is stated through our Tractate.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with various situations in which some of the ashes fall out of the hand of the person who is about to mix them in with the water.

או על הצד – on the side of the vessel.

If one was about to mix the ashes with the water and the ashes fell upon his hand or upon the side of the trough and then fell into the trough, the mixture is invalid. In all of these cases the mixture is invalid because the ashes must be put by a person directly into the water. The fact that there is something intervening (his hand or the side of the trough) renders the mixture invalid.

ואחר כך נפל לשוקת – on the water that is within the trough, those waters are invalid for sprinkling, as it is written (Numbers 19:17): "ולקחו [לטמא מעפר שרת החטאת] ונתן [עליו מים חיים]/”[Some of the ashes from the fire of purification] shall be taken [for the impure person, and fresh water] shall be added to them [in a vessel].” Until the ashes would be would bring within the water from the power (i.e., direct actions) of the person.

If they fell from the tube into the trough, the mixture is invalid. The ashes were put into a tube for storage (see 5:4). If they fall directly from the tube into the water, the mixture is invalid.

נטל מן השפופרת וכיסה – he took the ashes from the tube/reed and covered the tube/reed prior to his mixing it, that is prior to his putting the ashes in the water.

If he took the ashes from the tube and then covered it, or shut a door, the ashes remain valid but the water becomes invalid. Here he takes some ashes from the tube. He then covers up the tube or closes a door before he puts the ashes into the water. The ashes remain valid and can be put into some other water. But the fact that he did "work" while occupied with the red cow ritual renders the water invalid, as we learned in 4:4. He will now have to get new water to put the ashes in.

או שהגיף את הדלת (or shut the door) – prior to his mixing [the ashes in the water].

If he put it up erect on the ground, the water becomes invalid. If in his hand, the water is valid, since it is impossible [otherwise] Similarly, if he stands the tube up on the ground, this counts as work and the water is invalid. However, if he simply stands the tube up in his hand so that the ashes don't fall out, the water is still valid because he has no choice but to do this, or something like this. This is considered "work necessary for the mixing" and such work does not render the water invalid.

הקידוש כשר – that is the ashes that are in his hands, because the work does not invalidate the ashes, as we have stated (see also the end of Chapter 4).

והמים פסולים – that work was done with the water, and above [at the end] of the Chapter פרת חטאת/the cow of purification (chapter 4) we taught that the work [done by those involved in the ritual] renders the water unfit until they put the ashes into it/"והמלאכה פוסלת במים עד יטילו את האפר".

זקפה בארץ – after he took the ashes from the tube/reed, he placed the read in the ground prior to placing the ashes in the water.

פסול – the filling/drawing, that is the water, because he performed the task with the water. But if he placed the tube/reed in his hand and covered his hand upon it in order that the ashes don’t scatter that are within it and afterwards placed the ashes on the water, the filling/drawing, that is, the water, is not considered labor/work.

לפי שאי אפשר – to preserve the ashes that are within the reed/tube if he will not cover his hand on its mouth, for he is not able to restore the stop-gap/stopper on its mouth until he mixes [the ashes in the water]. Another explanation"זקפה בארץ"/he placed the ashes in the ground, the ashes are invalid, as it is written (Numbers 19:9): “[A man who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a pure place,] to be kept for water of lustration for the Israelite community,” [but in the ground, it is not kept/preserved]. But if he placed the ashes into his hand, it is fit/appropriate, for it is possible to protect it, and it is well that we call it [in the Torah] "למשמרת" – and for that reason, we have the reading, "לפי שאפשר"/because it is possible [to do so without distractions].

היה קדוש צף על פני המים – that he placed upon the water many ashes. And the ash itself is called קידוש/putting ashes in the water of lustration.

If the ashes floated on the water: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon rule: one may take some of them and use them in another preparation; But the sages say: with any ashes that have touched water no other mixture may be prepared from them. According to Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon if there are some ashes that are floating on the water after he has mixed them in, one can take those ashes and reuse them with other water to make more hatat waters. Think of it as red cow recycling. The other sages say that after the process has been performed once with some ashes, it cannot be performed again with the same ashes.

נוטל – he takes from that ash.

If he emptied out the water and some ashes were found at the bottom: Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Shimon rule: one may dry them and then use them for another preparation; But the sages rule: with any ashes that have touched water no other mixture may be prepared. This is basically the same dispute as in section one, except here ashes have settled to the bottom of the vessel into which they were mixed.

ומקדש – [and mixes it] in other waters, and even with that (i.e., the ashes) that touched the water, he mixes and returns and mixes several times, but he dries them off.

זלף את המים (if he used all the water for sprinkling) – he sprinkled from the water that were mixed upon a person and upon vessels until all the water was completed, and the ashes remain in the rim at the bottom o fthe vessel.

וחכמים אומרים וכו' – And the Halakha is according to the Sages in both of these things (i.e., whatever ash has touched the water, they do not mix [another preparation] with it and whatever has touched he water, they do not mix with it.).

טפי (vessel with a narrow neck/dripper) – a small flask/jar (with a narrow neck) whose mouth is narrow and the water that descends from it goes down drop by drop.

One who mixes the water in a trough while a bucket was in it, even though its neck was narrow as can be, the waters in it are prepared. If there is a bucket in the trough when he adds in the hatat ashes, the water in the bucket is also prepared for the sake of sprinkling. The bucket is a vessel and the water in it is considered to be connected to the rest of the water in the trough.

אע"פ שפיו צר – less than the tube (i.e., mouthpiece) of the leather bottle.

If there was a sponge in the trough, the water in it is invalid. However, if there is a sponge in the trough, the water in the sponge is not valid for use because the sponge is not a vessel. Furthermore, the water in it is not considered to be connected to the water in the trough. This prevents the rest of the water in the trough from being immediately invalidated.

המים שבתוכו מקודשים – and are appropriate/fit to sprinkle even though nothing came in there from the ashes of the cow/heifer at all, for they were as if they were attached to the water in the trough.

What should he do? He should empty out the water until he gets to the sponge. This section explains how he should avoid the problem of invalid water from the sponge spilling into the valid water that remains in the trough. What he should do is pour all of the water into another container, thereby preserving its validity. He can then remove the sponge.

היה ספוג – if at the time of the filling the sponge was in the trough, the water that was absorbed in the sponge are invalid, for we require “fresh water shall be added to them in a vessel” (Numbers 19:17), but the sponge is not a vessel.

If one touched the sponge, however much the water that washes over it, the water becomes invalid. However, if he touches the sponge at all, we must be concerned lest some got squeezed out into the other water and therefore all of the water would be invalid.

יזלף עד שהוא מגיע לספוג – when he comes to take the water and to put them into a bottle with a wide belly and a narrow neck/flash, he pours all the water until it reaches the sponge, but he should not pour from the water that is in the sponge at all, in order that the waters that are in the sponge don’t mix which are invalid with the waters that are in the trough that are fit/appropriate and all of them will become invalid.

נגע בספוג – the waters of the sponge were wrung out into the trough and the invalid ones were mixed up with the fit/appropriate ones, and all of them were invalidated.

נתן ידו או רגלו [under running water] – behold that the spouting forth/continuous flow descends rapidly from the curve, but it doesn’t descend into the jar when he wants to fill it for mixing [with the ashes], but if he placed his hands above at the tope of the mountain to make it like a kind of spout/duct in order that the waters would pass through his hand to the jar of mixing of waters and ashes. And similarly, the vegetable greens which are appropriate for eating and are susceptible to receiving ritual defilement.

Introduction Our mishnah teaches that if one causes water to pass from a spring into a jar by using a conduit that is receptive to impurity, the water is invalid. The water must either be filled straight into the jar, or at least go through or over something that does not receive impurity.

פסולים – the waters [are invalid]. As we derived in the second chapter of [Tractate] Zevakhim (folio 25b) from what is written (Leviticus 11:36): “[However, a spring or cistern] in which water is collected shall be pure, [but whoever touches such a carcass in it shall be impure],” they will be through purity (i.e., in their original status), and even though that this Scriptural verse is written concerning a Mikveh/ritual bath, we derive from it all the possibilities. And this is the implication of the Scriptural verse, that will be with all the waters that purify, that through purity it will be, whether one brings them to become a Mikveh or the filling of water that will be through something that is not susceptible to receive ritual defilement.

If he placed his hand or his foot or leaves of vegetables in such a manner as to enable the water to run into a jar, the water is invalid. Hands, feet and leaves of vegetables are susceptible to impurity. Therefore, the water that has passed over them has been invalidated.

If he used leaves of reeds or leaves of nuts the water is valid. However, leaves of reeds or nuts are not susceptible to impurity, therefore, the water remains valid for use.

This is the general rule: [water passing over] that which is susceptible to uncleanness is invalid, but [water passing over] that which is not susceptible to uncleanness is valid. This is the general rule that explains the distinction between section one and two.

המפנה את המעין לתוך הגת (he diverts/empties the spring into the wine vat) – that he made a trench from the spring until the wine vat in order that the he could divert there the waters of the spring, and afterwards stop them.

One who diverts a spring into a wine vat or into pools, the water is invalid for zavim and metzoraim. In this situation, a person diverts water from a spring into a wine vat or into some pools and after the vat or pools are full, he stops the connection with the spring such that the water is no longer connected to its source. Zavim people with abnormal genital discharge, cannot use this water because they need living water. For metzoraim, people with skin afflictions, they slaughter a bird above living water and sprinkle him with the water. This also requires living water.

גת – a cistern that they make in front of the wine vat to receive the wine which is called a גת/marked off space for serving as a wine vat.

And also for the preparation of the hatat water. It is also not valid for the preparation of hatat water.

גבים (cavity for collecting water, cistern) – it is the language of “This wadi shall be full of pools,” that is stated in the [Second] Book of Kings [Chapter 3, Verse 16]. And it is a pool/diluvium of water.

Because it was not drawn into a vessel. This is the reason why this water cannot be used for any of these three rituals. The water in the vat or pools is no longer live water as it was when it was in the spring. And, the water is also not considered to be in a vessel for vats and pools are not vessels. Therefore, this water is invalid for any ritual requiring "living waters."

פסולים- for those with gonorrhea for ritual immersion, for they are not fresh water.

ולמצורעים – that we require fresh water to sprinkle upon him with the blood of the bird.

ולקדש מי חטאת – that we require fresh water, and these since they have been stopped up are not fresh water. And that which is taught in the Mishnah because they were not filled up by means of a utensil, in order to invalidate them for mixing in every matter even if he came to mix within the vat or within the pools of water themselves.