| מסכת כלים פרק ב משנה ז | |
| הטמאין שבכלי חרס | The earthenware utensils that are [able to become] tamei [are]: |
| טבלא | a tray |
| שיש לה לזבז | that has a rim; |
| ומחתה שלמה |
and a fireplace shovel that is complete (i.e. it has a rim that goes around its entire edge). |
| וטבלא | And a tray |
| שהיא מלאה קערות |
that is filled with bowls (i.e. it has multiple walled off sub-sections, some say these were side-by-side, others say they were in concentric circles), |
| נטמאה אחת מהן | if one of them (the sub-sections in the tray) becomes tamei |
| בשרץ | with a sheretz (by the sheretz entering its airspace), |
| לא נטמאו כולם | all of them do not become tamei, |
| אם יש לה | [but] if it has |
| לזבז עודף | a rim that extends [above the tops of the tray's sub-sections] |
| נטמאה אחת מהם | if one becomes tamei |
| נטמאו כולן | all of them become tamei; |
| וכן | and similarly (with regard to the following items, if there is a rim around and above all sections, only then, if one section became tamei, the rest would become tamei) |
| בית תבלין של חרס | an earthenware spice container (which was of a single piece with multiple compartments, open at the top, to hold different spices separately), |
| וקלמרים המתאמות | and doubled inkstands (another earthenware item with multiple compartments open at the top to hold quills, ink, sand and glue). |
| ובית תבלין של עץ | And a wooden spice container (which did not have a rim around all of its separate compartments) |
| שנטמא אחד במשקה | one of which's [compartments] became tamei via a liquid (a rabbinical level of tumah), |
| לא נטמא חברו | its fellow [compartments] did not become tamei (a characteristic unique to this type of rabbinical tumah). |
| רבי יוחנן בן נורי אומר |
Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri (who disagrees with the first opinion in this mishna, which rules the entire top surface of the walls of the tamei compartment to also be tamei,) says, |
| חולקין את עוביו | we split its thickness [at the top surface of the compartment walls shared by the tamei and tahor compartments], |
| המשמש לטמא | that [half of the top of the wall] which serves the tamei |
| טמא | is tamei |
| המשמש לטהור | and that which serves the tahor |
| טהור | is tahor. |
| אם יש לו | If it [the wooden spice container] has |
| לזבז עודף | a rim that extends [above the tops of the compartments] |
| נטמא אחד מהם | if one becomes tamei [from a liquid] |
| נטמא חברו | its fellows become tamei. |
|
פרק ב משנה ח |
|
| הלפיד טמא | A torch (an earthenware bowl made to hold the flammable item, and which has a pointed bottom for insertion into a pole to that it can be held aloft and illuminate greater distances) is tamei |
| ובית שקעו של נר | and a lamp-holder (an earthenware vessel with a relatively shallow bowl, made to hold an oil lamp and to catch oil that drips from the lamp) |
| מטמא באויר |
becomes tamei through [a tamei substance entering its] airspace. |
| המסרק של צרצור |
The comb of a tzartzur (this was a vessel with a net-like filter embedded in its neck, above which the walls of the container split into separate comb-like teeth, used to either spread out or further strain the liquid when poured), |
| רבי אליעזר מטהר | Rabbi Eliezer ruled tahor (if something entered only the airspace enclosed by the comb-like projections, and remained above the filter lower down in the neck of the vessel) |
| וחכמים מטמאין | and the Sages ruled it tamei. |