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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
כל שהוא יד (whatever -part of the fruit- serves as a handle -of the stem) – the wood that is attached to the fruit, and a person holds it at the time that he eats the fruit, as, for example, the peduncle/point of the apples, grapes and pears, are called ידות/handles. And similarly, a bone that has at its head/top meat/flesh, and a person holds the bone in order to eat the meat at its head/top, the bone is a handle to the meat/flesh.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
That which serves as a handle but does not protect, both contracts uncleanness and conveys uncleanness; but it is not included. If the stem of a piece of produce serves as a handle by which to hold the produce, but it doesn't protect the produce from spoiling, then it is considered part of the produce for issues of impurity. If the stem is defiled so is the produce and vice versa, if the produce is defiled so is the stem. However, when determining the size of the piece of produce, this stem doesn't count. So if the produce is less than the size of an egg, it cannot be defiled (see Toharot 2:1).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ולא שומר (and not as a protector – as the shell of a nut) – to exclude the portion of the peduncle/point that touches the fruit and is attached to the globule/the stone or kernel of a stone fruit, that this part is a protector to the fruit (see also Tractate Taharot, Chapter 10, Mishnah 5 – describing the "חותם"/the oblate side of a berry to which the stalk is attached).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
If it protects but is not a handle, it contracts and conveys uncleanness and is included. If it protects the produce even if it doesn't serve as a stem, then it counts as part of it for all matters, even to be including in reckoning its size.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
מיטמא – the handle is defiled, and even though it is not appropriate for consumption, if the defilement touched the food, the handle is considered as a connector/junction to the the food, and it is as if it is one body.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
If it neither protects nor serves as a handle, it neither contracts nor conveys uncleanness. If it neither serves as a handle nor protects the produce, then it is not part of it for any issue of impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ומטמא – if the defilement touched the handle, the food is defiled, even though the defilement did not touch the food. And our Rabbis learned this from the Scripture, as it is written (Leviticus 11:37-38): “If such a carcass falls upon seed grain that is to be sewn, [it is pure; but if water is put on the seed and any part of the carcass falls upon it,] it shall be impure for you,” for everything that is in your needs, meaning to say, every thing that requires food is susceptible to receive ritual defilement like it, and it is impure and defiles with it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ולא מצטרף – if the food was less than the bulk of an egg, for there is no defilement of food with less than an egg’s bulk, for this handle of the food does not combine with it to complete the requisite measurement.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שומר אע"פ שאינו יד – as, for example, the shell of a fruit that protects it that it not be suffer loss/become damaged.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
מיטמא ומטמא ומצטרף – as it is written (Leviticus 11:37): “upon seed grain that is to be sown,” and what is “that is to be sown” – in the manner that people bring them out for sowing, wheat in their shells, and barley in their shells, that is with their protectors. For what purpose is the Biblical verse? If it is defiled and defiles, now the handle of the fruit is defiled and defiles as we derive from [the word]: "לכם"/for you – for all that are your needs, a protector is necessary, but the Biblical verse does not come other than to join with it, for a handle does not combine with it, while a protector combines with it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
וכל שאינו יד ולא שומר – like the hair that is on the fruit.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
לא מיטמא ולא מטמא – and there is no need to say that it doesn’t combine/join.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והקפלוטות (leeks with a head, torret) – leeks, a חציר /leek (Numbers 11:5) in the language of Scripture, KORAHT in Arabic, and the foreign language PORUSH.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Roots of garlic, onions or leeks that are still moist, or their top-parts, whether they are moist or dry, also the central stalk that is within the edible part, the roots of lettuce, the radish and the turnip, the words of Rabbi Meir.
Rabbi Judah says: only the large roots of the radish are included, but its fibrous roots are not included.
The roots of the mint, rue, wild herbs and garden herbs that have been uprooted in order to be planted elsewhere, and the spine of an ear of grain, and its husk.
Rabbi Elazar says: also the earth covering of roots;
All these things contract and convey impurity and are included.
Today's mishnah discusses what parts of certain types of produce are considered to be part of the plant.
Sections one through four: In these four sections, various tannaim determine what parts of certain types of produce, specifically the roots and the spines/stalks of root vegetables, count as being part of the produce. In general roots are part of the plant if they will either be eaten or if they will be used for replanting. Inedible roots are not part of the produce. So too other parts of the produce, and even the dirt accompanying the produce according to Rabbi Elazar, count with the produce if they are necessary to it. I think that most of these are fairly clear from the translation, so I won't explain each one on its own.
Section five: All of the parts of produce that are listed above do three things: they contract impurity if the rest of the piece of produce was defiled. If they are defiled they convey their impurity to the other part. Finally, they are reckoned with the remainder of the produce to constitute the requisite amount to become impure.
Rabbi Judah says: only the large roots of the radish are included, but its fibrous roots are not included.
The roots of the mint, rue, wild herbs and garden herbs that have been uprooted in order to be planted elsewhere, and the spine of an ear of grain, and its husk.
Rabbi Elazar says: also the earth covering of roots;
All these things contract and convey impurity and are included.
Today's mishnah discusses what parts of certain types of produce are considered to be part of the plant.
Sections one through four: In these four sections, various tannaim determine what parts of certain types of produce, specifically the roots and the spines/stalks of root vegetables, count as being part of the produce. In general roots are part of the plant if they will either be eaten or if they will be used for replanting. Inedible roots are not part of the produce. So too other parts of the produce, and even the dirt accompanying the produce according to Rabbi Elazar, count with the produce if they are necessary to it. I think that most of these are fairly clear from the translation, so I won't explain each one on its own.
Section five: All of the parts of produce that are listed above do three things: they contract impurity if the rest of the piece of produce was defiled. If they are defiled they convey their impurity to the other part. Finally, they are reckoned with the remainder of the produce to constitute the requisite amount to become impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והפטמא שלהן (and their protuberance on the blossom-end of fruits – having the appearance of a pestle seated in a mortar – the upper portion of the fruit/top-piece) – like a kind of top-piece of a pomegranate that is at their top. And it is a protector and it combines.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והעמוד שהוא מכוון כנגד האוכל (the scape/central stalk as far as it is surrounded by the edible part, the scape within the bulb) – which is the heart that is in the onion, that the seed is born at its end.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שרשי החזרים – the root of lettuce, which is חסא in the language of the Gemara and also in Arabic, and LETUGA in the foreign language.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והנפוס (a kind of radish, resembling the carrot as to foliage, and the radish as to taste, or a turnip) – It is a kind of radish, but its leaves are similar to the leaves of the turnip.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והסיב שלו (and the fibrous root of the radish) – Maimonides explained that on the side of the top of the radish are born thin sinews like threads, and the sellers sever/cut them by hand at the time that they sell them, and what remains of them are called סיב/fibrous roots of the radish.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והמיתנא (and the mint) – such is its name in the foreign tongue MUNTA, and NANA in Arabic.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והפיגום (rue) – RUDA in the foreign tongue, and in Arabicv SARAV.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שעקרן (which were uprooted)- in order to plant them in another place.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והשדרה של שבולת (and the spine of an ear of corn) – the middle thread, that the threads are attached to it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והלבוש שלה (the husk of the wheat grain) – and the skin/membrane that is upon the seed of the wheat, and all of these are protections for the fruit.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
הסיג של רצפות (the cobweb-like covering of fruits) – dust that is attached on the heads of vegetables and joined closely on them like the spider’s web. ASnd it also is considered a protection to the fruit. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
מיטמאים ומטמאים ולא מצטרפים – because they are handles only, and do not protect the food.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Introduction
Today's mishnah lists part of produce that are considered part of the produce for matters of defiling and being defiled. If they are defiled, the rest is defiled and vice versa. But they do not join together to make up the requisite minimum because they are not food.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ויד הפרכיל (the handle, stem of a vine) – when the grapes are cut with the vine-shoot/rod, they are called פרכיל/handle, stem of a vine. The language of (see Tractate Betzah 30b and Tractate Sukkah 10a) twigs with grapes.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
The following are both defiled and defile, but do not join together [together with the rest]: Roots of garlic, onions or leeks when they are dry, the stalk that is not within the edible part, the twig of a vine a handbreadth long on either side, the stem of the cluster whatsoever be its length, the tail of the cluster bereft of grapes, the stem of the ‘broom’ of the palm-tree to a length of four handbreadths, the stalk of the ear [of grain] to a length of three handbreadths, and the stalk of all things that are cut, to the length of three handbreadths. Most of the items listed here can be used to hold the produce but are not edible. Thus they are considered "handles" to food but are not "food". They are defiled and defile but since they are not "food" they are not reckoned to reach the requisite minimum needed to be susceptible to impurity. I will explain just a few of these things that are unclear: The "broom of the palm-tree" is the part of the tree that has the dates on its end. It is a "handle" for the dates. Stalks are not eaten but are used to handle grains. It's only necessary to have about three handbreadths so only three handbreadths counts as a handle. Beyond that, the stalk is impervious to impurity and doesn't convey impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
טפח מכאן וטפח מכאן – the vine-shoot that is cut and the clusters [of grapes] are suspended/hang on it, a handbreadth from the vine-shoot from the right of the cluster and a handbreadth from the left, is considered a handle, but not more.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
In the case of those things not usually cut, their stalks and roots of any size whatsoever. If produce is generally not "cut," meaning it is not harvested with something like a scythe, then any sized stalk or root could be used as a handle. Since these parts will not usually be attached, if he leaves them attached then he must have intended them to be used as a handle.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
יד האשכול – the peduncle/point of the cluster [of grapes] is suspended/hanging from the vine-shoot/rod, which is the handle of the cluster.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
As for the outer husks of grains, they defile and are defiled, but do not join together. The outer husks of grains are not edible but they are "handles."
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
כל שהוא – even if it is very long.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
זנב האשכול – the end of the cluster [of grapes]
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שריקנו (the skeleton of a cluster of grapes which one has stripped – of its grapes) – that were loosened from it the globules/stone, kernel of a stone fruit, even that it is the handle to the grapes at its head/top, that we hold it by its ail. And even its measurement is whatever the amount, and even very long.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והמכבד של תמרה (the fan-shaped twig of the palm tree/the broom of the palm tree) – the fan-shaped twigs of the palm trees and upon them are palms, the measurement is the length of their handle to include the defilement of four handbreadths, but not more.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ומלעין של שבלים (the outer husk of grains/glume) – upper beard of the ear of corn that extended on its head, like a kind of hair of a beard.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
אלו לא מטמאין – that they are not considered either a protection or a handle.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
The following neither defile nor can they be defiled and they do not join together:
The roots of cabbage-stalks,
Young shoots of beet growing out of the root, and [similar] such turnip-heads,
[And produce whose roots] that are ordinarily cut off but in this case were pulled up [with their roots].
Rabbi Yose declares them all susceptible to contract uncleanness, but he declares insusceptible cabbage-stalks and turnip-heads.
Today's mishnah lists parts of produce that are neither edible nor used as a handle. Therefore, they are not susceptible to impurity nor do they count as part of the volume. Most of the mishnah should be self-explanatory, so I have only explained some sections.
Section two: Cabbages are held by the cabbage itself. The roots are neither eaten nor used to hold the cabbage.
Section three: These parts too are not eaten nor used as handles.
Section four: If it is typical to cut off the vegetable and leave the roots in the ground, but for some reason in this case, he uprooted the roots with the vegetable, the roots are not part of the vegetable.
Section five: Rabbi Yose says that all of the above are indeed handles to the vegetable, the only exceptions being the roots cabbage-stalks and turnip heads.
The roots of cabbage-stalks,
Young shoots of beet growing out of the root, and [similar] such turnip-heads,
[And produce whose roots] that are ordinarily cut off but in this case were pulled up [with their roots].
Rabbi Yose declares them all susceptible to contract uncleanness, but he declares insusceptible cabbage-stalks and turnip-heads.
Today's mishnah lists parts of produce that are neither edible nor used as a handle. Therefore, they are not susceptible to impurity nor do they count as part of the volume. Most of the mishnah should be self-explanatory, so I have only explained some sections.
Section two: Cabbages are held by the cabbage itself. The roots are neither eaten nor used to hold the cabbage.
Section three: These parts too are not eaten nor used as handles.
Section four: If it is typical to cut off the vegetable and leave the roots in the ground, but for some reason in this case, he uprooted the roots with the vegetable, the roots are not part of the vegetable.
Section five: Rabbi Yose says that all of the above are indeed handles to the vegetable, the only exceptions being the roots cabbage-stalks and turnip heads.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
קולסי כרוב (cabbage-heads/stalks) – Maimonides explained, the heads of the cabbage where sinews that surround them extend out from them (one needs to say, entangled), and it the manner of cabbage sellers that they cut them and cast them off.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
וחליפות התרדים (and the young shoots of beets) – the roots of the beets that remain in the ground when they cut the beats in order to exchange and others will rise up in their place.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
את שדרכן ליגזז – the things where the practice is to cut them not to uproot them with their roots, if to uproot them, the roots do not defile, because they are not either a handle nor a protection.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ר' יוסי מטמא בכולן – for all of them are considered a handle for food except for the cabbage-heads/stalks and the turnip, for those sinews that surround (that are entangled) are not considered either a handle or a protector. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שבססן (tread, stamped/packed in the barn/threshing floor) – that he threshed them with the feet of the animal or with sticks/staffs with the grain. And [the word] "ובססן" is the language of (Isaiah 63:18): “Which Your holy people possessed but a little while.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Stalks of all foods that have been threshed on the threshing-floor are clean. Rabbi Yose declares them unclean. Once produce has been threshed, the edible part has been detached from the stalk. Therefore the stalks no longer serve as handles and they are clean meaning they are not susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Yose disagrees and says that they are still susceptible.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ורבי יוסי מטמא – because/since they are fit/worthy to be turned over/up with a shovel with the grain. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
A sprig of a vine when stripped of its grapes is clean, but if one grape alone is left on it, it is unclean. A twig of a date-tree stripped of its dates is clean, but if one date remains on it, it is unclean. Similarly, with beans, if the pods were stripped from the stem it is clean, but if even one pod alone remains, it is unclean. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah declares [the stalk] of the broad bean clean, but declares unclean the stalk of other beans, since it is of use when [the pulse] is handled. There are three sections here that all basically teach the same thing. Once a grape, date or bean has been removed from that which was holding it, the handle is no longer a handle and it is pure. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah agrees with most of these scenarios but disagrees with regard to the stalk of most types of pulse since these are used when the pulse is picked up.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
פסיגה של אשכול – a sprig of a vine [when stripped of its grapes] – it is the manner of a vine/cluster of grapes to depart from its stem like small vines/clusters and those vines are called פסיגי ענבים/sprig of grapes.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שריקנה (when stripped/emptied of its grapes) – that were stripped/emptied from the springs that are on it, meaning to say that they removed from it the small sprigs and they remained empty.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שייר בה גרגיר אחד טמאה – all of it became a handle to that berry.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
שרביט של תמרה שריקנו (a twig of a date tree that was stripped of its dates) – that he removed the dates and there remains the empty twig.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ור' אלעזר בן עזריה מטמא בשל פול – became they are large beans and they don’t require a twig, for even if they combine with chips/refuse , it is pleasant to pick at them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ומטמא של קטניות - for it is a protection, because they are thin and one is not able to pick at them when they are combined with chips/refuse, and it is appropriate for it that they would be on the same twig in order to be able to handle them and to carry them on that twig. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והכלוסין – a species of pulse/beans.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Introduction
Today's mishnah is that which gives our tractate its name it deals with stems (oktzim).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ומצטרפים – for sometimes they are consumed with the fruit.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Stems of figs and dried figs, kelusim, and carobs are both defiled and defile, and they join together. Rabbi Yose says: also the stalks of the gourd. The stems of these fruits can be eaten. Therefore they are fully considered part of the fruit. Rabbi Yose says that the stem of the gourd is edible, but the other sages hold that while it is a handle, it is not edible.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ר' יוסי אומר אף עוקץ הדלעת (Rabbi Yossi says: even the peduncle of gourds/pumpkins) – because it is boiled with it. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
The stems of pears and krutumelin pears, quinces, and crab-apples, the stalks of the gourd and the artichoke [to the length of] one handbreadth. Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says: two handbreadths; [All] these are defiled and defile; but do not join together. These stems are used as handles but they are not edible. Therefore, they defile and can be defiled but since they are not food they don't add to the requisite amount.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
אגסים- in Arabic AGAS and in the foreign tongue PEARS.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
As for other stems, they are neither defiled nor do they defile. The stems of other types of produce are not used as handles nor are they eaten. Therefore, they are not susceptible to impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
קרוסטמלין (Crustumenian pear – red on one side) – small apples that are similar to gall-nuts. They are called MILIN.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
פרישין (quince)- in Arabic SPARGIL and in the foreign language KODONAISH.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
עוזרדין (sorb-apples, medlars, crab-apples) – in Arabic ZAROD and in the foreign language SORBASH.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
טפח - it refers to the peduncle/stalk of the Greek gourd, but not to the others that are taught in the Mishnah as they peduncles are small.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
קונדס (artichokes) – bitter vegetables, and we sweeten them through the hot flame. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar b’Rabbi Tzadok.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
לא מיטמאין ולא מטמאין – and it is not necessary to state that they don’t combine.
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