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Week 5 - THURSDAY - 30 Dec. 1999

SHABBAT: CHAPTER 9: MISHNA 1

Rabbi Akiva said, Whence do we learn that an idol imparts uncleanness by carrying as a menstruant? Because it is written. You shall put them far away as an unclean woman, you shall say to it: 'Get you hence.' (Isa. 30:22) just as a menstruant imparts uncleanness by carrying, so, too, an idol imparts uncleanness by carrying.

Kehati

Following the conclusion of the preceding mishnah, the first four mishnayot of this chapter set out various teachings, all of which begin with the question, "Whence?", and which bring Biblical texts as an asmakhta (Biblical support for a teaching), i.e., these texts do not constitute decisive proofs, but rather are allusions to the teaching. This mishnah is taught in Avodah Zarah (3:6), where it is prefaced by the opinion of the First Tanna, that if the wall of a place of idolatry was destroyed, its stones, lumber, and dirt impart uncleanness as an unclean reptile, i.e., by touch, but not by carrying; whilst Rabbi Akiva holds that they also impart uncleanness by carrying.

Rabbi Akiva said: Whence do we learn that an idol imparts uncleanness by carrying - i.e., one transporting it is unclean, even if he did not touch the idol when he carried it as is the halakhah regarding a woman who is a menstruant?

Because it is written - in connection with idols. You shall put them far away as an unclean woman - as a menstruant, you shall say to it: 'Get you hence' - Rabbi Akiva sees in this verse an allusion that in the law of uncleanness, an idol is similar to a menstruant, just as a menstruant imparts uncleanness by carrying - for it is written regarding her, "And whoever touches any thing that she sits upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the15:22). Hence we know that she imparts uncleanness to an object which bore her, even if it did not touch her. Thus, if there were ten objects, one on top of the other, all of them would be included in the category of "that she sits upon" (Rashi),

so, too, an idol imparts uncleanness by carrying - i.e., by carrying as, well as by touch. The halakhah does not follow Rabbi Akiva.

SHABBAT: CHAPTER 9: MISHNA 2

Whence that a ship is clean? Because it is written, "The way of a ship in the midst of the sea" (Prov. 30:19). Whence that one may sow five seeds in a garden bed that is six by six fefahs, four on the four sides of the bed and one in the middle? Because it is written, "For as the earth brings forth her growth, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth" (Isa. 61:11) "its seed" is not stated, but "the things that are sown in it."

Kehati

Whence that a ship is clean - i.e., that it is not susceptible to uncleanness? Because it is written, “The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” – “in the midst of the sea" indicates that for the law of uncleanness a ship has the same legal status as the sea: just as the sea does not become unclean, so is a ship not rendered unclean. The Gemara quotes a baraita, that according to the opinion of Hananiah, the law of a ship regarding uncleanness is deduced from the category of sack in the verse, "... it shall be unclean: whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack" (Lev. 11:32). Hence that a wooden vessel can become unclean only when it is similar to sack: just as sack is movable when filled as when empty, so too anything that is movable when filled as when empty. The Tanna of this mishnah teaches, however, that even if a ship is made of pottery, it does not become unclean contrary to the opinion of Hananiah, who holds that a ship made of pottery is susceptible to uncleanness, because only vessels of wood, or raiment, or skin, which were mentioned in this verse, are compared to sack. Alternatively, the Tanna of this mishnah teaches that even a Jordan boat is not susceptible to uncleanness though it is small and movable when filled as when empty (it is loaded on dry land and is let down into the water), for in regard to uncleanness all ships have the same legal status as the sea.

Whence, that one may sow five - different species of vegetable seeds in a garden bed that is six by six tefahs - and the law otkilayim is not transgressed, four species on the four sides of the bed - i.e., one species on each side in the width of one tefah, excluding the corners, for an area of one tefah by one tefah in each corner must be left free, and one - a fifth species of seed, in the middle. Because it is written, “For as the earth brings forth her growth, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth” - “its seed” is not

stated, but rather "the things that are sown in it” implying many seeds (Jer. Talmud). The Gemara (84b) explains the verse as follows: “brings forth” one species; “her growth” one species; “the things that are sown in it” two species (the minimum plural is two); "to spring forth" one species, making a total of five species. The Sages had a tradition that five species within a garden bed of six by six tefahs, when they are planted in the above manner, are not nurtured by one another, and are not considered kilayim, a mixture. It follows that only five species may be planted in such a garden bed. More than five species however, may not be planted in it, even if the statutory distance of one and one-half tefahs is left between the species because more than five species in a garden bed such as this would appear to be sown in a mixture (for a detailed explanation of the garden bed in this connection, see our commentary to Kil. 3:1).

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