Machshirin 6:3 - 6:4

חוץ משל מוכרי משקה – because they come in contact with/touch them while the liquid is moist on their hands, but they are not strict on the staining/making palatable by moistening , for their shells (i.e., of the eggs) protect them.

ואם היו מוכרים עמהם פירות יבשים – because they dry their hands in order that they do not soil the fruits,, they dry their hands also prior to their touching the eggs.

כל הדגים בחזקת טומאה – because they are made susceptible [for ritual defilement] in the water, and that which is impure/unclean and that which is pure/clean touches it.

חתיכת האלתות (a piece of a large fish/Iltith)- a species of fish that is regularly sold piece by piece. And there is a place whose name is אלתות/Iltith, and there they hunt it and sell it.

ודג המצרין – a very small fish that they bring from it filled basket in Egypt.

וקולים האספנין (Spanish colias, a kind of tunny fish)- a species of fish whose skin is very soft and they call it אלשביט, and these three species, the water does not make them susceptible [for ritual defilement] like other fish, because they llive a long while after their being hunted, after they are made into food, that is, after their death, we don’t put water upon them, because the water causes loss to them. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

כל הציר בחזקת טומאה – for mere brine that upon which water is put and the hands touch them.

ועל כולם – whether eggs [or] whether fruit [or] whether brine, a common, uneducated person is believed to state that they were not made susceptible [to receive ritual defilement].

מפני שמפקידים אותן – for all the fruit they store them with a common, uneducated person, but if he is not trustworthy/reliable, how can they store them? But fish, they do not store with him, therefore, he is not trustworthy/reliable.

ציר טהור – that it is known regarding it that it was not made susceptible [to receive ritual defilement] through liquids.

שנפל לתוכו מים כל שהוא טמא – for any amount of water makes them susceptible [to receive ritual defilement], and once it is made susceptible, its presumption is that it is impure, for the hands handle them. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov

שבעה משקין הן- because it is stated regarding ritual impurity of foods (Leviticus 11:34): “As to any food that may be eaten, it shall become impure if it came in contact with water,” I have [established] only water, from where [do I learn] to include wine and [olive] oil, and milk and honey and blood and dew? The inference teaches us (Leviticus 11:34): “as to any liquid that may be drunk/וכל משקה אשר ישתה",” and if "וכל משקה"/as to any liquid, I might think, mulberry juice, pomegranate juice and the rest of all the fruit juices, the inference teaches us, “[if it came in contact with] water;” just as water is particular that it lacks an epithet, even wine and [olive] oil and milk and honey and blood and dew, lack an epithet, excluding mulberry juice and pomegranate juice and the rest of fruit juices that have an epithet, but bees honey lacks an epithet, for it is called merely honey. And further, we learned in the Tosefta of [Tractate] Shabbat in chapter 9 (Halakhot 24-28): From where do we learn [in the Torah] that blood is a liquid? As it states (Numbers 23:24): “And drink the blood of the slain.” From where [in the Torah] do we learn that wine is a liquid? As it states (Deuteronomy 32:14): “And foaming grape-blood was your drink.” From where [in the Torah] do we learn that honey is a liquid? As it states (Deuteronomy 32:13): “He fed him honey from the crag.” From where [in the Bible] do we learn that [olive] oil is a liquid? As it states (Isaiah 25:6): “A banquet of rich viands/liquid oils.” From where [in the Bible] do we learn that milk is a liquid? As it states (Judges 4:19): “She opened a skin of milk and gave him some to drink.” From where [in the Bible] do we learn that dew is a liquid? As it states (Judges 6:38): “He squeezed the fleece and wrong out the dew from the fleece, a bowlful of water.” From where [in the Bible] do we learn that the tears of the eye are a liquid? As it states (Psalms 80:6): “Made them drink great measures of tears.” From where [in the Bible] do we learn that the water of the nose is a liquid? As it states (Jeremiah 9:17): “That our eyes may run with tears, our pupils flow with water.”

דבש צרעים טהור (hornets’ honey) – that is not considered a liquid, for it doesn’t defile nor does it make susceptible to receive defilement.

ומותר באכילה – that you should not say that since the hornet is the creeping insect of the fowl and it is impure, the honey that comes from it would also be impure, for you might think that I would say that specifically the honey of bees is included by Scripture to be permitted, for it lacks an epithet, but the honey of hornets which has an epithet would not be permitted, it comes to teach us that the honey of hornets is pure and permitted, because of what they said: the honey of bees is permitted because they bring them into their bodies and they don’t furnish it from their bodies, the honey of hornets also brings them into their bodies but does not furnish it from their bodies.