1)

(a)The Mishnah is now about to record - the four testimonies of R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim.

(b)In his first testimony, he stated - that the Kohanim in the Beis-Hamikdash would never refrain from burning meat of Kodshim that had become Tamei via an Av ha'Tum'ah (and was now a Rishon) together with meat that had become Tamei via a V'lad ha'Tum'ah.

(c)By 'V'lad ha'Tum'ah' he meant a 'V'lad V'lad' (i.e. a Sheini).

(d)We might have thought that what the Kohanim did ought to be forbidden - because it raises the level of Tum'ah of Kodshim from a Shelishi to a Sheini.

2)

(a)Based on the Pasuk in Shemini (in connection with Tum'as Ochlin "Tamei Hu", the increase in Tum'ah even less than it initially appears - because we learn from there that min ha'Torah, food (e.g. meat) cannot be Metamei food, in which case the above increase in Tum'ah was only mi'de'Rabbanan.

(b)The Kohanim did not worry about causing Kodshim additional Tum'ah - since the meat had to be burned anyway.

3)

(a)R. Akiva goes one step further. According to him, the Kohanim used to burn Terumah-oil that had become Tamei via a T'vul-Yom in a lamp that had become Tamei via a Tamei Meis. The level of Tum'ah of ...

1. ... Terumah-oil that became Tamei via a T'vul-Yom (who is a Sheini) is - a Shelishi.

2. ... a lamp that became Tamei via a Tamei Meis is - an Av ha'Tum'ah.

(b)R. Akiva is talking about a metal lamp (in fact, a lamp made of anything other than earthenware).

(c)R. Akiva's testimony is more stringent than that of R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim in that a. he allows raising the level of Tum'ah from a Shelishi to a Rishon (and not just to a Sheini), and b. he allows it even though the higher level is d'Oraysa (and not just de'Rabbanan).

4)

(a)R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim testified - that he never saw the skin of a Tereifah Korban being taken to be burned (implying that the owner was permitted to benefit from it ...

(b)... even though the Korban had been a Tereifah before the skinning, and a Kodshim that is a Tereifah has to be burned.

(c)R. Akiva extrapolated from his words - that the same ruling would apply to the skin of a Bechor Ba'al-Mum nowadays that was being skinned and that turned out to be a Tereifah ...

(d)... even though, had it not been a Tereifah, the skin would have been forbidden, since the Torah only permits eating the Basar of a Bechor Ba'al-Mum nowadays (and no other Hana'ah).

5)

(a)The Chachamim rejected R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim's ruling, based on the principle - 'that not seeing something occur is no proof that it did not take place'.

(b)They hold that the skin must be burned - seeing as the the T'reifus preceded the skinning.

(c)The Halachah is like R. Akiva regarding a Bechor Ba'al-Mum - provided it was permitted by an expert.

(d)Regarding a Bechor Tamim however - the Halachah is like the Chachamim.

6)

(a)R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim also testified on a small village near Yerushalayim in a monetary issue - declaring legal the loans an old man used to document in his own hand-writing, because they were signed by two witnesses.

(b)When the Chachamim got to hear about it - they supported his opinion in this matter.

(c)One can learn from there - that a woman may write her own Get and the man his own receipt (see Tosfos Yom-Tov) ...

(d)... because the validity of a Get (as well as any other document [see Tosfos Yom-Tov]) depends on the signatures of the witnesses.

7)

(a)He further testified about a - (Tamei) needle that is found in the body of a Hekdesh animal.

(b)According to his testimony, both the knife and the hands - (i.e. the person who cut up tha animal)

(c)The Basar - is Tamei.

(d)He based his lenient ruling on the principle - 'Safek Tum'ah bi'Reshus ha'Rabim, Tahor' (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

8)

(a)The Basar becomes Huchshar Lekabeil Tum'ah - by virtue of the fact that it passed through a river shortly before arriving in Beis-Hamikdash (see Tosfos Yom-Tov), and it is still dripping water at the time of the Shechitah (Ibid.).

(b)The water with which they subsequently wash it in the Azarah does not qualify for that - because all the water in the Beis-ha'Mitbachayim is Tahor (and is not Machshir Lekabeil Tum'ah [[Ibid.]).

(c)The hands do not become Tamei due to the Din that Tamei food renders hands Tamei mi'de'Rabbanan - since the Tum'ah of 'S'tam Yadayim' does not apply in the Beis-Hamikdash.

(d)R. Chanina S'gan ha'Kohanim declared even the Basar Tahor - in the event that the needle is found in the dung (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

9)

(a)R. Yishmael testified three things before the Sanhedrin in Kerem be'Yavneh, so-called - because they used to sit in rows like a vineyard.

(b)The first of the three things was that a beaten (see Tiferes Yisrael) egg that is poured on to a vegetable of Terumah is considered joined to it - in which case if a T'vul-Yom (a Sheini le'Tum'ah who is not Metamei Chulin), touches the egg, the vegetable will become Tamei.

(c)He did not consider them joined however - in the event that they formed a sort of bubble on the vegetable (see Tiferes Yisrael) ....

(d)... seeing as it does not actually touch it at the point where the T'vul-Yom touches it.

10)

(a)The second of R. Yishmael's testimonies concerns a stalk (or stalks ; Tiferes Yisrael]) of corn who's tip reaches the standing corn - which he exempts from Shikchah, provided it was harvested together with the it.

(b)And the third testimony concerns a small garden surrounded by an 'Aris' - five vines that are supported by a trellis or leaning on a wall.

(c)The root of the word is - 'Eres' (a bed [as in the Pasuk in Tehillim "al Eres Yetzu'i"]).

11)

(a)To allow planting vegetables in the garden, it must be sufficiently large - to allow a person who is harvesting the grapes to stand in the middle with his basket and pick the grapes (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

(b)The minimum space that must one leave between the vines and the vegetables is - six Tefachim (the Shi'ur of Avodas ha'Kerem).

(c)Despite the fact that one is anyway obligated to leave the required six Tefachim, one is nevertheless forbidden to plant in the middle, if the garden does not meet the above measurements - because under these circumstances, the vines and the vegetables give the appearance of being mixed.

12)

(a)They cited three issues in front of R. Yishmael, which R. Yehoshua ben Masya needed to explain - because R. Yishmael declined to.

(b)Two of them concerned Hilchos Shabbos, the first in connection with bursting a boil, which R. Yehoshua ben Masya ...

1. ... forbade - if one's intention is to create an opening (see Tosfos Yom-Tov), but ...

2. ... permitted - provided one's intention is to remove the pus.

(c)The reason for ...

1. ... forbidding it is - because creating an opening in a boil is a considered 'Boneh' (building [see Tosfos Yom-Tov]).

2. ... permitting it is - because it is a 'Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah' (since the Melachah involves making an opening), which is only Asur mi'de'Rabbanan, and the Rabbanan did not decree in a case of pain (see also Tosfos Yom-Tov).

13)

(a)The second Halachah in connection with Shabbos concerned trapping a snake, which R. Yehoshua ben Masya ...

1. ... permitted - provided his intention is merely to prevent it from biting him, but ...

2. ... forbade - if he wanted to use the snake for medicinal purposes (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

(b)The reason for permitting it is - because (like in the previous case) it is a 'Melachah she'Einah Tzerichah le'Gufah'.

14)

(a)The third issue that was said in front of R. Yishmael concerned the Tum'ah of 'Lefasin Iraniyi'os' - closed earthenware pots made in town, that still need to be cut in half.

(b)R. Yehoshua ben Masya declared them Tahor be'Ohel ha'Meis - because they are entirely closed (and earthenware vessels can only receive Tum'ah through Maga and through Ohel from the inside).

(c)And he declared them Tamei be'Masa ha'Zav - because they are subject to Tum'ah through Masa or Heset (carrying or moving) even if they are sealed shut.

15)

(a)R. Elazar ben Tzadok disagrees with R. Yehoshua ben Masya's latter ruling - (declaring them Tahor) because they are not yet completely finished.

(b)We rule like the latter however - because we consider heating in the furnace to be the final stage of manufacture.

16)

(a)The first of three things that were said before R. Yishmael, with which R. Akiva disagreed, concerned garlic that one crushed before nightfall (on Friday afternoon). The other two things are - 'Boser' (unripe grapes) and 'Melilos'.

(b)'Melilos are - unripe ears of corn.

(c)R. Yishmael permitted - using the juice on Shabbos, even though it continued to flow after Shabbos came in.

(d)One subsequently - uses the juice as a dip.

17)

(a)In the equivalent case, the juice that flows from fruit on Shabbos - is forbidden ...

(b)... for fear that one may then squeeze the fruit to hasten the process of extracting the juice.

(c)R. Yishmael nevertheless permits the juice in our case - because, unlike fruit (which involves an Isur d'Oraysa) even if one were to squeeze these three commodities on Shabbos, it would only be an Isur de'Rabbanan.

(d)R. Akiva - rules that the juice is forbidden to eat on Shabbos (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

(e)The Halachah - is like R. Yishmael.

18)

(a)They said two things before R. Akiva in the name of R. Eliezer - and one in the name of R. Yehoshua.

(b)R. Eliezer permitted a woman to walk in the street wearing an Ir shel Zahav - a golden tiara in the shape of Yerushalayim.

(c)We might have thought that it is forbidden to do so - because we are afraid that she will take it off to show her friends and carry it four Amos in the street (like we are in the case of other ornaments).

(d)R. Eliezer permits it - because, as the Tosfos Yom-Tov explains, it is only an important woman who wears an Ir shel Zahav, and important women do not tend to remove their ornaments (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

19)

(a)R. Eliezer also - disqualifies 'Mafrichei Yonim' (people who indulge in pigeon-racing) from testifying in Beis-Din.

(b)'Mafrichei Yonim' might also mean - people who train pigeons to coax other pigeons to leave their nests and fly to their's.

(c)This is forbidden - because of Gezel de'Rabbanan (due to Darkei Shalom).

20)

(a)R. Yehoshua ruled that if a weasel holding a dead Sheretz in its mouth that passes over loaves of Terumah - the loaf remains Tahor ...

(b)... because as long as the Tum'ah is moving, its Safek remains Tahor.

21)

(a)The Mishnah states - that the Chachamim agreed with two of the three things on which R. Akiva testified, but disagreed with the third.

(b)They agreed with his ruling that a Sandal shel Sayadin - (a wooden shoe [see Tosfos Yom-Tov] ...

(c)... which is worn by cement-mixers to prevent their feet from being burned) is Tamei Medras (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

22)

(a)They also conceded to him that the minimum Shi'ur (in height) of a broken oven (to retain its Tum'ah) is four Tefachim. The Mishnah is talking about - a large oven (see Tosfos Yom-Tov) which has no legs and is cemented to the ground, which actually serves as its base.

(b)The Chachamim previously gave the minimum Shi'ur - three Tefachim (Ibid.).

(c)The third testimony of R. Akiva was that if two of the boards that make up a chair's seating section (see also Tiferes Yisrael) are removed, it still remains Tamei (as a K'li Kibul) - since it is still fit to hold pomegranates.

(d)The Chachamim disagree with him - seeing as it is no longer fit to sit on, the purpose for which it was originally made.

23)

(a)R. Akiva listed - five things that a son 'inherits' on the merit of his father (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

(b)The first three things are good looks, strength and wealth, the last two - wisdom (Ibid.) and long life.

(c)By wisdom, R. Akiva means - straight logic (common sense).

(d)The difference between wealth and the other four is - that the latter one merits at birth, the former, only when his father dies (depending on what his father owns at the time).

24)

(a)When R. Akiva says 'ha'Av Zocheh la'Ben ... ', he might also mean - that it is the father who merits to have a son with these attributes (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

(b)Sometimes, he adds, a father merits for future generations before Him (see Tosfos Yom-Tov), based on a balance between years and generations. The example he gives for this - is that of Avraham, whom Hash-m promised that his children would be slaves in a strange land, for four hundred years, and that the fourth generation would return to Eretz Yisrael.

(c)We see from there that Hash-m balances years and generations to bring about the conclusion that He promised (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).

25)

(a)R. Akiva refers to the judgement of the Dor ha'Mabul (see Tosfos Yom-Tov), of Iyov (see Tosfos Yom-Tov) and of the Egyptions (see Tosfos Yom-Tov) - all of which lasted twelve months.

(b)He included - another two items in his list of five.

(c)The fourth item is the judgement of Gog and Magog (see Tosfos Yom-Tov DH 'Mishpat' & DH 'Gog u'Magog'); the fifth, based on the Pasuk in Yeshayah "Ve'hayah Midei Chodesh be'Chodesh ... " (see Tosfos Yom-Tov) - is the Din of the Resha'im in Gehinom.

(d)What the Pasuk then means is - that when the month in which the Rasha entered Gehinom comes round again he is permitted to exit.

26)

(a)R. Yochanan ben Nuri disagrees with R. Akiva in this last point. Based on the continuation of the Pasuk "u'Midei Shabbos be'Shabbato", he maintains - that the Resha'im languish in Gehinom between Pesach and Shavu'os ...

(b)... since, in connection with the Sefiras ha'Omer, the Torah writes "u'Sefartem lachem mi'Mochoras ha'Shabbos ... ad mi'Mochoras ha'Shabbos ha'Shevi'is ... " (see Tosfos Yom-Tov).