1)

(a)The Mishnah declares gravy, a bean-stew and milk, a Rishon upon contact with Tum'ah (even if it is a Sheini) - provided they are sufficiently wet for someone who touches them to become wet enough to make whatever he touches wet (Tofe'ach al-M'nas le'Hatfi'ach [see Tos. Yom-Tov]).

(b)They become a Sheini once they congeal - because they are considered to be food that touched a Tamei liquid.

(c)Should they then melt, they ...

1. ... remain Tahor - provided they measured no more than a k'Beitzah.

2. ... revert to their original status of Rishon - if they measured more than a k'Beitzah ...

(d)... since the first drop that melts becomes a Rishon (seeing as it had contact with a Sheini food), and subsubsequently renders Tamei the remaining liquid as it melts.

2)

(a)R. Meir rules - that oil is always a Rishon (even if it is congealed).

(b)The Chachamim add honey - R. Shimon Shezuri adds wine.

(c)The Halachah is - like R. Meir and the Chachamim (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

3)

(a)The Tana now discusses a clump of Tamei olives that fell into an oven. If it measures exactly a k'Beitzah, the oven remains Tahor - because there is not a k'Beitzah of food to render it Tamei (as we learned in the previous Mishnah).

(b)If the clump measured more than a k'Beitzah, it would become Tamei - via the k'Beitzah that remains (as we explained there).

(c)If the olives were not stuck together (see Tos. Yom-Tov) - the oil would remain Tahor ...

(d)... because even a Sa'ah (or a hundred) loose olives do not combine to make up a k'Beitzah.

4)

(a)the Mishnah declares Tahor a k'Beitzah of grapes or olives that a T'mei Meis (see Tos. Yom-Tov) is squeezing - provided he is careful not to touch the liquid.

(b)It is Tahor only as long as he uses a flat wooden vessel (which is not subject to Tum'ah).

(c)The liquid does not become Tamei via the skin - because the moment the first drop emerges, the grapes or the olives measure less than a k'Beitzah, and less than a k'Beitzah of food cannot make something else Tamei.

(d)The liquid will become Tamei however, even if the T'mei Meis is careful not to touch the liquid - if he is pressing more than a k'Beitzah (via the skin, which now measures a k'Beitzah).

5)

(a)If a Zav is squeezing even one grape or one olive, the liquid will become Tamei - because a Zav is carrying it ...

(b)... and the Tana issues the same ruling with regard to the milk, in a case where a Zav (see Tos. Yom-Tov) is milking a goat.

6)

(a)The Mishnah declares Tahor a k'Beitzah of food or a k'Zayis of Meis or of Neveilah that one placed in the sun and it shrunk.

(b)For the same Din to apply to a piece of Sheretz, it would it have to comprise - a k'Adashah (the size of a lentil).

7)

(a)In the event that one places any of the above in the rain and they expand to their original size - it will become Tamei again (even though the Shi'ur includes rain [see Tos. Yom-Tov]).

(b)The Tana adds rules that if someone eats Pigul, Nosar or ...

1. ... Cheilev that shrunk in the same way - he is not Chayav (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

2. ... Tamei (see Tos. Yom-Tov DH 'Mishum Pigul') that swelled in the rain - he is Chayav.

(c)We learn from the latter set of rulings - that there is no Dichuy regarding Isurim (i.e. an Isur that becomes rejected will regain its status of Isur, once the cause of the rejection is removed).

8)

(a)When the Tana says 'Kol ha'Tum'os ke'Sha'as Metzi'asan ...

1. ... Im Temei'os, Temei'os; Im Tehoros, Tehoros', he means - that if for example, someone touches a Sheretz during the night, and he doesn't know whether it is alive or dead, then one goes by how one finds it in the morning; if it is dead, then we assume that it was already dead when he touched it (as we will learn later in Perek 'ha'Sheretz').

2. ... Im Mechusos, Mechusos; Im Megulos, Megulos', he means - that if a K'li Cheres lying in a room is found to have a sealed lid after a Meis is removed from it, then we assume that it was also sealed whilst the Meis was still in the room, and vice-versa.

(b)This principle will not apply however - if the Sheretz or the K'li Cheres are not in the same location where they were seen the first time.

9)

(a)The Mishnah also rules - that a ('Tamei') rusty or a broken needle that one finds - is Tahor.

(b)'Rusty' means - that the rust impedes the stitching.

(c)The ramifications of this ruling are - that we do not assume that the Tum'ah preceded the rust, in which case, the moment the rust is removed, the old Tum'ah will return.

(d)The underlying principle of this ruling is - that 'All Tum'os go according to the time that one finds them'.

10)

(a)The Mishnah now discusses a 'Chashu' (a Cheresh, Shoteh or Katan) or a Pikei'ach in a Mavoy that contains Tum'ah. Assuming that the Pikei'ach does not know whether he touched the Tum'ah or not, the Tana declares him Tamei - because a Mavoy is a Reshus ha'Yachid, and we have a principle 'Safek Tum'ah bi'Reshus ha'Yachid, Tamei.

(b)Nevertheless, the 'Chashu' is Tahor - because the principle is confined to a person who has the Seichel to respond to a question (e.g. 'Are you Tamei or Tahor?'), which a Chashu cannot.

(c)We learn this from the two Pesukim in Tzav "ve'ha'Basar Asher Yiga be'Chol Tamei Lo Ye'achel" - implying (Vaday, but) that if it (the meat [see Tos. Yom-Tov] is a Safek Tamei, one may eat it) and "Kol Tahor Yochal Basar" - implying (Vaday, but) that a Safek Tamei may not eat it.

(d)We learn from the discrepancy - the distinction between 'Yesh bo Da'as Lisha'el' and 'Ein bo Da'as Lisha'el', as we just explained.

11)

(a)The Mishnah now rules in a case where ...

1. ... a small child is discovered beside a Beis-ha'Kevaros holding roses that grew inside the Beis-ha'Kevaros - that he is Tahor.

2. ... they find a donkey actually wondering around inside the Beis-ha'Kevaros with Keilim strapped to its back - that the Keilim are Tahor, too.

(b)We would have thought that the Keilim are Tamei - because it may have walked over a grave (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)We declare Tahor ...

1. ... the child - on the assumption that somebody entered the Beis-ha'Kevaros, picked the roses and brought them out to him.

2. ... the Keilim on the donkey - assuming that the donkey walked along the paths without walking over the graves.

(d)The basis for this leniency is the principle that we just learned in the previous Mishnah (seeing as a small child is a Davr she'Ein bo Da'as Lisha'el').

12)

(a)R. Meir declares Tahor a small Tamei child who is playing next to a large dough (see Tos. Yom-Tov), holding a small piece in his hand. According to the Chachamim - he is Tamei ...

(b)... in spite of the fact that a small child is classified as 'Ein bo Da'as Lisha'el' - because small children tend to play with dough, and they go after the majority (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

(c)R. Meir says Tahor - because he contends with the minority, (which he adds to the Chazakah, thereby weakening the majority, as we shall now see). Consequently, he assumes that this child did not play with the dough, but rather that a Tahor person handed him the dough (see Tos. Yom-Tov), adding this assumption to the Chezkas Taharah of the dough (see Tos. Yom-Tov DH R. Meir Metaher), to dispel the Chachamim's majority.

13)

(a)The Mishnah now discusses a case where there is a dough that has been hen-pecked lying in the vicinity of a room containing Tamei liquid. The dough is Tahor - provided there is sufficient distance between the liquid and the dough for the chicken to peck at the ground, as it generally does, before it reaches the dough.

(b)In the case of a dough on which there are visible teeth-marks of ...

1. ... a cow or a dog - the distance must be sufficient for the animal to lick its lips, whereas with ...

2. ... other animals - it is far enough for the liquid around their mouths to dry by itself.

14)

(a)R. Eliezer ben Ya'akov disagrees with the Tana Kama's ruling regarding the dog. In his opinion - the dough is Tahor under all circumstances ...

(b)... because a dog, he maintains, is clever, and will not drink until it has eaten its fill ...

(c)... in the knowledge - that water is always available, whereas food is more scarce.

(d)The Halachah is like R. Eliezer ben Ya'akov (see Tos. Yom-Tov).