Keilim 14:8 - 15:1

מפתח של ארכובה (a key with a joint – broken at the joint) – that is scraped/cut at the knee/joint with the leg, that is made like our bent [letter] Nun. And most of the keys that are in the Land of Israel are like this.

רבי יהודה מטמא – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

ושל גם – like the Greek [letter] gamma which is like the inverted [letter] Nun.

היו בו חפין (if it had teeth – of the bit) – when it was broken within its junction, if there remained in it teeth of the bit and gaps/holes, the חפין are the teeth, the gaps/holes are what the teeth of the lock enter into, that sometimes the key has teeth and they enter into the gaps of the lock and open up [the door], and sometimes there are holes in the key and he brings those gaps/holes into the teeth of the lock and opens up [the door].

או שפרצו זה לתוך זה (or merged one into the other) – that the teeth were not removed and the gaps/holes were not blocked, but rather that they merged, as for example, when the teeth were curved or the gaps/holes widened and they touched each other.

מסננת של חרדל (mustard mixture in the strainer – see also Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 20, Mishnah 2) – a kind of metal winnow that the mustard is placed in it and it strains and collects the refuse.

מלמטן – in the rim of the strainer from when three holes merged and all three of them became one hole/gap, more than this, it is not appropriate to filter/strain in it.

אפרכס (clepsydra) – a vessel of the millstone that is wide from above and gradually narrows from below, and we place it wheat in it and it issues them bit by bit in the millstone.

כלי עץ – this Mishnah is taught above in Chapter 2 [of Tractate Kelim, Mishnah 1], and it teaches it once again here because of the law of wooden vessels/utensils and leather vessels/utensils that is necessary to teach about them in this chapter.

השידה (chest/strong box) – like an ark/chest.

והתיבה – the chest of the money-changers.

והמגדל (and the tower/turret/cupboard) – a wooden treasure/store house, ARMREEOV in the foreign language and ALMNSAR in Arabic.

כוורת הקש (receptacle made of straw or weeds) – it is considered like a wooden vessel, because it is made from the tails of ears of grain which are hard.

ובור ספינה אלכסנדרית (tank of sweet water in Alexandrian merchantmen) – a large ship that sets sail on the Mediterranean Sea which is called the Alexandrian ship, because one does not set sail on the sea from the land of Israel to Alexandria other than in a large ship. But because the waters are salty, and are not appropriate for drinking, they make a kind of wooden tank on large ships and fill it with sweet water that is appropriate for drinking.

שיש להם שולים – that their bottoms are not sharp from the bottom, but rather wide and sits on the ground.

כורים – sixty Seah.

ביבש – as for example grain and rows of plants in one bed/seeds and produce.

טהורין – and there is an analogy made [based upon being in close proximity in the same verse – see Leviticus 11:32) regarding wooden vessels and leather vessels, to a sack that is carried full or empty, and this is not carried full, because it is too large, for if it were carried full, it would break.

בין מקבלים בין שאינן מקבלים – whether they hold more than forty Seah, whether they don’t hold other than less [than forty Seah].carry

דרדור עגלה (a water tank on wheels) – a round wooden barrel that is made in tablets, like those that they make in the land of Rome. But even though it is large, since it is for a wagon, it is carried full or empty, for this Tanna/teacher (i.e., Rabbi Yehuda) holds that carrying by bulls/oxen is called carrying.

וקסטות המלכים (the provision boxes of kings) – like a kind of wooden turret/chest made into various rooms, and they place in it kinds of foods and drinking vessels. And the kings bring it on the wagon tat they travel in.

ועריבת העבדנים (trough used by tanners) – a wooden trough that the tanners soak in it their skins.

אע"פ שמקבלין טמאים – that is to say, even though it holds forty Seah or more.

טמאין, they are ritually impure. As it explains the reason that they do not carry other than what is within them, when they are full, it is their custom to be carried.

עריבת בעל הבית – according to Rabbi Meir it is ritually impure, for it is considered ritually pure, to state that these are specifically pure, but the rest are ritually impure. According to Rabbi Yehuda, they are ritually pure, for Rabbi Yehuda considers them impure, to say that these specifically are impure, but the rest are ritually pure. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.