Mishnayos Taharos Perek 4 Mishnah 11
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טהרות פרק ד׳ משנה י"א
"If there is doubt concerning the hands as to whether they have contracted uncleanness, have conveyed uncleanness or have attained cleanness, they are deemed clean." "Any doubt that arose in a public domain is deemed clean. "A condition of doubt concerning an ordinance of the scribes": [For instance, he is uncertain whether] he ate unclean food or drank unclean liquids, whether he immersed his head and the greater part of his body in drawn water, or whether there fell on his head and the greater part of his body three log of drawn water, such a condition of doubt is deemed clean. But if a condition of doubt arose concerning a father of uncleanness even though it was only rabbinical, it is deemed unclean.
סְפֵק יָדַיִם לִטָּמֵא וּלְטַמֵּא וְלִטָּהֵר, טָהוֹר. סְפֵק רְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים, טָהוֹר. סְפֵק דִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים, אָכַל אֳכָלִים טְמֵאִים, שָׁתָה מַשְׁקִים טְמֵאִים, בָּא רֹאשׁוֹ וְרֻבּוֹ בְמַיִם שְׁאוּבִין, אוֹ שֶׁנָּפְלוּ עַל רֹאשׁוֹ וְרֻבּוֹ שְׁלשָׁה לֻגִּין מַיִם שְׁאוּבִים, סְפֵקוֹ טָהוֹר. אֲבָל דָּבָר שֶׁהוּא אַב הַטֻּמְאָה וְהוּא מִדִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים, סְפֵקוֹ טָמֵא:
Bartenura
ספק ידים ליטמא. מי שהיו ידיו טהורות וספק נגע באוכלים טמאין או במשקין טמאין ונטמאו ידיו, ספק לא נגע ולא נטמאו ידיו:
ולטמא. היו ידיו טמאות, ספק נגע באוכלים ומשקין וטמאן, ספק לא נגע:
וליטהר. היו ידיו טמאות וטיהרן, ספק נטהרו כראוי אם לאו. בכל הספיקות הללו, ספיקן טהור:
ספק רשות הרבים. ספק טומאה ברשות הרבים, טהור, שכן מצינו ציבור עושים את הפסח בטומאה, אם טומאה ודאית הותרה לצבור, קל וחומר ספק טומאה:
ספק דברי סופרים. כגון כל הנך דחשיב, דכולהו משמונה עשר דבר שגזרו בו ביום, ומפורשין הן במסכת שבת פרק קמא:
אבל דבר שהוא אב הטומאה והוא מדברי סופרים. כגון דם תבוסה, ונכרים שעשאום כזבים, וכיוצא באלו, אם נסתפק אם נגע בהן אם לא נגע:
ספיקו טמא. ומיהו אב הטומאה מדברי סופרים שהוא עצמו מספק, כגון בית הפרס דאיכא ספיקא אם יש בו עצם כשעורה אם לאו, בהא תנן לעיל דעל ודאי מגען שורפין, ועל ספק מגען אין שורפין, דהוי ספק ספיקא:
ספק ידים ליטמא - a person whose hands were ritual pure and it was doubtful if they touched ritually impure foods or ritually impure liquids and his hands were defiled, and it is doubtful if he didn’t touch and his hands were not defiled.
ולטמא – his hands were ritually impure, it is a matter of doubt if he touched foods and liquids and defiled them, and it is doubtful that he did not touch them.
וליטהר- his hands were ritually impure and he purified them, it is doubtful if they were purified properly or not, in all of these matters of doubt, their doubt is deemed ritually pure.
ספק רשות הרבים – it is matter of doubt of defilement in the public domain, they are considered ritually pure, for such we found concerning a community that makes the Passover sacrifice in ritual defilement, if it is definitive defilement, it was permissible to the community, as an a fortiori inference it a manner of doubt of defilement.
ספק דברי סופרים - as for example, all of these that are considered, and all of them are from the eight things that they (i.e., the Sages) decreed on that day (i.e., the day when Rabban Gamaliel was deposed as head of the Sanhedrin -see Tractate Berakhot 28a, and they are explained in Tractate Shabbat in the first chapter [Mishnah 4 – see the Bartenura commentary).
אבל דבר שהוא אב הטומאה והוא מדברי סופרים – as for example, דם תבוסה/blood that flows from a person at the time of his death or afterwards (the legal status of this blood is that of a corpse itself and is therefore an ultimate primary source of ritual impurity) and heathens that made themselves like those with gonorrhea, and similar things to this, if there is a doubt if he touched them or did not touch them.
ספיקו טמא – but however a primary source of ritual impurity that is from the words of the Scribes (i.e., Rabbinic) that it itself is from doubt, as for example the בית הפרס/area in which uncertainty exists concerning the location of a grave or corpse (i.e., a field containing a grave that was unintentionally plowed and the bones may have been strewn throughout the field, and a grave containing a grave the location of which is unknown), if there is in it a bone the bulk of a barleycorn or not. In this, it is taught in the Mishnah above (see Mishnah 5) that when their contact is definite, we burn them, but on their doubtful contact we don’t burn them, for this is a ספק ספיקא/compound uncertainty [which is ruled with leniency].