Что касается [сосуда, который имеет две секции, в которых можно измерить] рову [конкретную меру объема, четверть бревна ] и половину ровы , если рова [секция] была сделана нечистой, то половину ровы [секция] не становится нечистым; если половина ровы была очищена, рова не очищена. Они [то есть студенты] говорили перед раввином Акивой: «Поскольку пол Рова является внешней частью Ровы , не должна ли быть нечистой внешняя сторона сосуда, чья внутренняя часть была сделана нечистой? Он сказал им: «Разумеется, это первая категория? Или, может быть, Рова - это внешняя сторона половины Ровы , и что касается сосуда, внешняя сторона которого была сделана нечистой, то его внутренние поверхности не стали нечистыми!»
Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
הרובע וחצי רוצע – as for example, a piece of wood that is thick and long, and it has two measurements engraved one next to the other, one holds a quarter and the other holds half-a quarter, and there is a wall that separates between this one and that one.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
If [in a measure consisting of] a quarter [of a log] and half a quarter [of a log] the quarter measure contracted uncleanness, the half-quarter measure does not become unclean, and if the half-quarter contracted uncleanness the quarter does not become unclean. Today's mishnah deals with a measuring vessel that has two measures built into one vessel one that measures a quarter-log of liquid (about 1/2 a liter) and the other that measures a half-quarter of a log (about 250 ml). There is a partition that separates the two sides of the vessel. According to the first opinion, which later will be identified with Rabbi Akiva, both sides are basically considered to be independent vessels. If one measure becomes unclean, the other measure remains clean. In other words, one vessel is not the inside vessel and the other the outside.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
כלי שנטמא תוכו – in astonishment! For if a vessel whose inside was defiled, its outsides were not defiled., but why does it teach in the Mishnah that one-half of the quarter was not defiled? For isn’t its outside the quarter?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
They argued before Rabbi Akiva: since the half quarter measure is the outer part of the quarter measure, should not the outer side of the vessel whose inner side contracted uncleanness become unclean? Some other figures, whose names are not mentioned, argue in front of Rabbi Akiva. These are probably students, as can be sensed from the way that Rabbi Akiva addresses them. In any case, they argue that since the main measuring cup is the half-quarter log, it should be considered the "inner" vessel. So if the inner, half-quarter log is defiled, the outer measure, the quarter-log, should also be considered impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Kelim
[שלות] קודמין היא (is this the class of those that takes precedence?) – each one of them, takes precedence over its partner, meaning to say, that none has precedence over the other. And just as you say that one-half of a quarter of its backsides to a quarter, so you should say that the quarter is backsides to one-half of quarter. And when the quarter is defiled, its backside of the one-half quarter is defiled but not its insides. But the reading of my teachers/Rabbis is that each group/band takes precedence, because the groups of the students would sit before him (i.e., the teacher) in rows, he asked to them this question already which was asked of me by the group of students that sits in the first row, and such is how I responded them, or perhaps [the quarter’s backside to the half-quarter], etc.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Kelim
He answered them: Are you sure that it belongs to the category [of vessels] that have inner [and outer] parts? Perhaps the quarter is to be regarded as the outer side of the half quarter and, surely, the inner side of a vessel does not become unclean if the outer side contracted uncleanness. Rabbi Akiva responds by noting that their assumption that the half-quarter is the inner vessel may not be correct. Rather, the half-quarter might be the outer vessel, in which case the other side is pure. Therefore, we have to treat each side as if it might be the outside, in which case no matter which side is defiled, the other side remains pure.
