MISHNAH: All spittle¹Any impurity caused by a human body itself, such as in a person afflicted by gonorrhea, is a source of severe impurity, and all his body fluids are sources of severe impurity. In any place other than Jerusalem, one must assume that spittle was ejected by an impure person whose impurity was caused by his body (cf. Mishnah Ṭahorot4:5). By rabbinic usage, all Gentiles are considered to be in this category. In Jerusalem, where people are used to eat sancta the entire year according to R. Meןr, or on the holidays according to R. Yose, one may assume that impure people are careful not to contaminate their pure neighbors. This is a reconstruction by authors living two generations after the destruction of the Temple. found in Jerusalem is pure except on the Upper Market²A Gentile neighborhood., the words of Rebbi Meןr. Rebbi Yose says, on all other days of the year, those in the middle of the road are impure, and those on the sides pure. On holidays, those in the middle of the road are pure and those on the sides impure since the minority will remove themselves to the sides.
All implements which are found in Jerusalem on the road descending to the place of immersion are impure, on the way ascending they are pure since they were brought down on a way different from that on which they were brought up, the words of Rebbi Meןr. Rebbi Yose says, all are pure except the bag and the rake¹⁵As the Halakhah shows, a word “the hoe” is missing here, found in B and the independent Mishnah mss. set apart for graves.
If a knife was found on the Fourteenth²¹The 14^th of Nisan, the day of slaughter of the Pesaḥ sacrifice. Even though the previous Mishnah stated that all implements found in Jerusalem are presumed to be pure, for use on sancta one is restrictive and requires immersion in a miqweh and waiting for the following sundown. The only time this requirement is waived is the 14^th of Nisan, the day of mass slaughter, where it is presumed that every knife which is qualified to be used for ritual slaughter was immersed in a miqweh the previous day., one may slaughter with it immediately; on the Thirteenth one has to repeat and immerse²²Since all knives are immersed on the 13^th of Nisan, one has to assume that this particular knife was lost on the way to the miqweh.. A dagger²³Which is not usable for slaughter and therefore not necessarily immersed in a miqweh. in either case one has to repeat and immerse. If the Fourteenth falls on a Sabbath, one may slaughter with it immediately²⁴Since one may not immerse on that day, certainly the knife had been immersed on the 13^th.; on the Fifteenth one may slaughter with it immediately²⁵Since the 15th of Nisan is a holiday where immersion is not done, and the knife was purified for the 14th, the presumption of purity extends to this case.. If it²⁶The dagger. was tied to a knife its status is that of the knife.

HALAKHAH: “All spittle,” etc. Rebbi Abbin in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: A Gentile fortification³Reading קצטרן, “their castra”. The Babli text reads קצרן “their laundry”. was there. Rebbi Ḥanina said, they were stabbing wild donkeys in Jerusalem and the feet of the pilgrims were immersed in blood up to their knee joints⁴As explained in the next paragraph, while carcasses of four-legged animals are a source of impurity (Lev. 11:26–28), this does not extend to their blood, which does not cause impurity. Gentile circus games have no impact on purity in Jerusalem (except for the removal of the carcasses which must be done by Gentiles.) Babli Menaḥot103b.. [They came before the Sages who did not tell them anything.]⁵Corrector’s addition from B, correct but unnecessary. Rebbi Simeon bar Abba in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina: A Gentile fortification was there.

⁶The text was copied more or less in Chapter 3:2, Notes 40 ff. The full explanation is given in Šabbat8, Notes 51–62. Rebbi Simon in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: It happened that a mule of Rebbi’s household died and they declared its blood pure regarding the carcass. Rebbi Eleazar asked Rebbi Simon, how much? He did not take notice of him. He asked Rebbi Joshua ben Levi who told him, it is pure up to a quartarius. More than that is impure. Rebbi Eleazar felt badly that Rebbi Simon had not repeated the tradition to him. Rav Bevai was sitting stating this occurrence. Rebbi Isaac bar Bisna asked him, is it pure up to a quartarius; more than that impure? He was unfriendly to him. Rebbi Zeriqa asked him, because he asked you, you were unfriendly to him? He answered him, because my mind was not clear, as Rebbi Ḥanin said, ⁷Deut. 28:66.your life will hang far from you, that is one who buys a year’s supply of wheat, you will be fearful night and day, that is one who buys from the Saracen, and you will not believe in your survival, that is one who buys from the retail store, and I am dependent on retail stores. What about it? “Rebbi Joshua ben Bathyra testified about blood of carcasses that it is pure.⁸Mishnah Idiut8:1.” What means pure? It is pure in that it does not prepare, but for impurity it makes impure. There, we have stated “The blood of a crawling animal is like its flesh, it makes impure but does not prepare. Nothing else is like this,⁹Mishnah Makhširin6:5.” in the amount needed for impurity but its blood makes impure like its flesh. Rav Joseph said, he who says “impure” follows Rebbi Jehudah; he who said “pure” follows Rebbi Joshua ben Bathyra. Rav Eudaimon the emigrant said to him, this is correct. Rebbi Jehudah was the instructor of the Patriarch.

Did not Rebbi Abbahu say in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina, they did not decide about spittle in Jerusalem¹⁰Nobody required that heave and other sancta be considered potentially impure because they touched spittle of unknown provenience, in contrast to all places in the Holy Land outside of Jerusalem (Mishnah Ṭahorot4:5), since the number of people whose impurity is caused by their own body is minuscule. Then why is the Upper Market in Jerusalem excluded? Babli Pesaḥim19b.? [Was it not said]¹¹Corrector’s addition from B, in Babli terminology. about this, Rebbi Abbin in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: A Gentile fortification³Reading קצטרן, “their castra”. The Babli text reads קצרן “their laundry”. was there¹²One must assume that the spittle is a Gentile’s, automatically impure by rabbinic standards.? In the remainder of the days of a year the impure ones are walking on the path¹³A form of שביל “path”, not “ear of grain”. and the pure ones are walking on the shoulder. The pure ones walk without saying anything, the impure ones tell them, keep apart. During a holiday¹⁴When practically everybody was pure as long as the Temple existed. the pure ones are walking on the path and the impure ones are walking on the shoulder. The impure ones walk without saying anything, the pure ones tell them, keep apart.

But did not Rebbi Abbahu say in the name of¹⁶Missing in B. Rebbi Joḥanan, they did not decide about vessels in Jerusalem¹⁷In contrast to all other places in the Holy Land, one does not have to presume that vessels found in Jerusalem be impure. Then why does R. Meןr declare some vessels impure?? Since they were found on the road descending to the place of immersion, it is proof¹⁸These must be presumed impure unless the opposite is proven..

Abba Shaul used to call it¹⁹The word for “hoe” missing in the Mishnah. The word מְרִיצָה is a hapax and according to the second opinion used exclusively for the gravedigger’s (or burial cave excavator’s) hoe. “fingernail” since it is shaped like a fingernail. He who said מְרִיצָה because it quickly dispatches the stone [to the cemetery.]²⁰Corrector’s addition from B; questionable since the text seems to refer to excavating burial caves (impossible in the Iraqi plain.)