Ask A Question on the daf

Previous daf

1) [line 1] HI GUFA TEICHUTZ - it itself (the barrel) should intervene

2) [line 1] KELI CHERES EINO METAMEI MI'GABO - earthenware utensils do not receive Tum'ah from their outside (TUM'AS KELEI CHERES)
(a) Klei Cheres are clay and earthenware utensils. They do not receive Tum'ah when an object of Tum'ah touches their outside. They only become Tamei when Tum'ah enters them (even though it does not touch them). Therefore, when they are covered with a Tzamid Pesil (a tight seal) they cannot become Tamei even if they are in the Ohel of a Mes, as is stated in Bamidbar 19:15. If they do become Tamei, they make any object that enters them Tamei, even if the object did not touch their inside surface.
(b) If the clay and earthenware utensils become Tamei, they remain so until they are broken beyond use. Immersing them in a Mikvah does not change their status.
(c) If the mouth of the utensil is so small that a person cannot insert his finger into it, it has no possibility of becoming Tamei through a Zav (see Background to Bava Metzia 105:30). However, these utensils can become Tamei in the Ohel of a Mes, as long as they do not have a Tzamid Pasil to entirely seal them. Similarly, they can become Tamei if they come into contact with a k'Adashah of a Sheretz (see Background to Bava Kama 25:18).
(c) For a further discussion of the principles of Tum'os and Taharos, see Background to Nazir 54:13.

3) [line 2] D'FUMA L'GAV - its mouth is pointing inward
4) [line 5] MATLONIYOS - strips of cloth; patches

5) [line 6] SHALOSH AL SHALOSH (TUM'AS MES)
(a) A cloth must be at least three Etzba'os square in order to become Tamei Mes (see Background to Bava Kama 105:13) or Tamei Sheretz (see Background to Bava Metzia 58:26), since it is still fit for use by the poor. One Etzba = approximately 1.9, 2.0 or 2.4 cm, depending upon the differing Halachic opinions. A cloth that is smaller than this is Tahor due to its insignificance.
(b) With regard to Tum'as Midras (see below, entry #17), the minimum size of a cloth must be three *Tefachim* square in order to become Tamei Midras. A cloth is the only material that has this distinction; the minimum sizes for all other materials are measured in Tefachim, whether for Tum'as Mes, Midras, etc. (The word "Etzba'os" is feminine; therefore the Gemara uses *Shalosh* for Etzba'os. "Tefachim" is masculine, therefore the Gemara uses *Sheloshah* for Tefachim.)

6) [line 7] HA'MEDULDALIN - that are hanging (i.e. the limb or the flesh have not yet been entirely severed)

7) [line 7] SHE'SHACHAN - that nested

8) [line 8] BEN SHEMONAH
(a) According to Chazal, a woman can give birth to a viable child only from a seven-month or a nine-month term of pregnancy. The child that is born from an eight-month term will not be viable. Even if he appears normal upon birth it is assumed that he will not survive and will die from a birth defect shortly.
(b) The Amora'im argue as to whether the child born at the beginning, but before the end, of the ninth month ("l'Mekuta'in") can be viable. According to all opinions, however, a woman who gives birth before the end of the seventh month of pregnancy can bear a viable child. (For example, Shmuel ha'Navi was born after six months and two days, as mentioned in Yevamos 42a, based on the verse in Shmuel I 1:20).
(c) If the features of a baby born in the eighth month (especially the hair and nails) are fully developed, he is deemed by Rebbi to have developed in seven months, but to have lingered in the womb until the eighth month (Yevamos 80a). Therefore, he is considered a viable child. However, some rule that his viability is in question until he lives thirty days (or twenty years, according to Rashi -- see Insights to Yevamos 80:1).

9a) [line 10] SHELEG - snow
b) [line 10] BARAD - (O.F. glace) - hail
c) [line 10] GELID - ice; sleet
d) [line 11] KEFOR - (O.F. gresel) hoarfrost

10) [line 12] CHAZU LI'VEHEMTO - are fit for [consumption by] his animal
11) [line 12] AFRAZTA - a plant that is poisonous to cattle, possibly hypericum or St.-John's-wort, a large and widely distributed genus of herbs and shrubs (family Guttiferae) that are characterized chiefly by their pentamerous and often showy yellow flowers. Hypericism is a severe dermatitis of domestic herbivorous animals due to photosensitivity resulting from eating hypericum.

12) [line 13] KASHU LA'KOSEL - are harmful to a wall (since the grass roots tunnel into the wall and cause it to crumble)

13) [line 16] KERI'A DI'LEVUSHA - [as a patch] for a tear in a garment
14) [line 17] SEMICHTA - a very thick [piece of cloth]
15) [line 17] UMNA - a blood letter
16) [line 17] RISKA - a very rough [piece of cloth]

17) [line 19] ARBA'AH AL ARBA'AH (TUM'AS MIDRAS)
(a) A Zav (see Background to Bava Kama 24:5), Zavah (see Background to Bava Kama 24:2), Nidah (see Background to Kidushin 80:2b) or Yoledes (see Background to Kidushin 13:16), can cause objects (other than Klei Cheres - earthenware objects) that are *under* them to become Avos ha'Tum'ah whether they touch them or not. The objects become Tamei Midras (lit. an object that is treaded upon), otherwise known as Mishkav or Moshav ha'Zav, ha'Zavah, etc. (or the *Tachton*, of a Zav, etc.). An object that is under these people becomes a Midras only if it was made for lying, sitting, or leaning upon.
(b) The Mishnah (Keilim 27:2) states that an item of clothing can receive Tum'as Midras if it is the size of Sheloshah Al Sheloshah (three Tefachim by three Tefachim). If it is smaller than that, it is not suitable for a Zav to sit upon and does not become Tamei through Midras. The minimum size for pieces of sack material (such as the Riska of our Gemara) is four square Tefachim. Leather (Or) and mats woven of reeds (Mapatz) have bigger minimum sizes (five and six square Tefachim, respectively). As mentioned above (entry #5:b), the sizes for sack material, leather and mats are for all Tum'os.
(c) A person who *touches* (Maga) or *carries* (Masa) either a Midras or a Zav or Zavah themselves gets the status of Rishon l'Tum'ah, and so do the clothes he is wearing and other utensils (except for earthenware utensils) that he is touching at the time.
(d) Utensils or clothes that lie *above* the Zav or Zavah also get the status of a Rishon l'Tum'ah, whether he touches them or not. These are called the *Elyon* of a Zav or Zavah.

18) [line 21] ARKA V'AZLA - it will run away
19) [line 22] PASIK, SHADI LAH LI'CHELAVIM - [he can] cut it (the limb or the flesh) off and throw it to the dogs

20) [line 25] KALNISA - a very small, lean bird
21) [line 26] YENUKA - a child
22) [line 26] B'MESARET - [we are dealing with a bird] that scratches
23) [line 27] ASI CHAVREI SHARI LEI - his friend may come and set him free
24) [line 28] CHAVUSHEI MALCHUS - a prisoner of the king
25) [line 29] DARYA LEI - she will carry him asay
26) [line 30] SHOCHAH ALAV - leans over him (the eighth-month baby)
27) [line 31] MERIRASA - bitter [salt]
28) [line 31] CHAZYA L'OROS - it is fit for [tanning] hides
29) [last line] D'YASVA A'CHASPA - it is lying on a potsherd
30) [last line] TEICHOTZ - should intervene

31a) [line 1] CHERES, KEDEI LITEN BEIN PATZIM L'CHAVEIRO - [in order to be liable for the Melachah of Hotza'ah (see Background to Bava Kama 117:4) with regard to] a piece of earthenware, [the minimum size required is] (a) big enough to act as spacers between the upright slats of a window; (b) big enough to act as spacers between straight window-frame slats so that they do not warp, when storing them in a pile (RASHI to Shabbos82a); (c) big enough to use as filler pieces when using more than one slat of wood to complete a window or door frame (when the thickness of the window is greater than the width of a single slat), in order to make the resulting frame even (RASHI to Beitzah 39a)
b) [line 2] PATZIM - a window or door frame

32) [line 2] MITANAF - it is disgusting
33) [line 4] BALUY - it is worn out
34) [line 6] REVAV - oil, fat [in which to dip one's bread]

35a) [line 7] MELACH SEDOMIS - salt from the Dead Sea that is very fine b) [line 7] MELACH ISTEROKNIS - coarse desert-salt or fossil salt that is mined (The RASHASH to Beitzah 39a cites the ARUCH who writes that Isterokan is the name of a place. The Rashash claims that this salt is obtained from *Astrakhan'*, located in the Caspian Depression, to the north of the Caspian Sea, which is a saltwater lake.)

36) [line 9] SHNEI TZEVOREI MELACH - two piles of salt
37) [line 14] TIRYA - vibrations
38) [line 15] ISTEROBIL - the lower millstone, surrounded by a wooden frame (O.F. cerche - the wooden framework surrounding a millstone)

39) [line 16] KELAS - (O.F. tremuie) the grain hopper, the large funnel through which the grain reaches the grinding area

40) [line 23] MA'AZIVAH - (O.F. estrich) - a mixture of mud and sand or stone chips, etc., that covers a ceiling and serves as a floor for the upper story

41) [line 28] REFES BAKAR - a cowshed
42) [line 28] B'EMES - (lit. in truth) it is an accepted Halachah. (According to the Yerushalmi (Shabbos 1:3), "b'Emes Amru" translates as "it is a Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai." From the Rambam's introduction to Perush ha'Mishnayos, though, it may be inferred that this is true only when "b'Emes Amru" is stated in a Mishnah (as in our Mishnah), but not when it is mentioned in a Beraisa. Rashi to Sukah 38a DH b'Emes Amru applies the Yerushalmi's translation even to a "b'Emes Amru" that is mentioned in a Beraisa. Accordingly, it could mean "it is *as clear as* a Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai" - see MAHARATZ CHAYUS to Beitzah 17a.) See Background to Bava Metzia 60:11.

43) [line 32] KIRAH D'NACHTOMIN - a baker's stove (that is constantly fueled)

44) [line 35] ACHSADRAH - a structure that is covered by a roof and is enclosed on three of its sides

45) [line 41] KUTRA DI'SHERAGA - the smoke of an oil lamp
46) [line 42] ASPASTA - any plant especially adapted for use as animal fodder; grass

47) [line 47] PATISH - a hammer

Next daf