Zavim 3:1 - 3:2

הזב והטהור. או באסדא – large pieces of wood tied together and they place them on the sea or on the river and place upon them a banner/flag and leads/carries them by wind to the harbor of their desire. And in the language of Scripture, they are called דוברות: (I Kings 5:23 – the text citation in Bartenura is incorrect): “and at the sea I will make them into floats”/"ואני אשימם דברות בים". And they are also called רפסודות/floats: (II Chronicles 2:15): “and deliver them to you as rafts by sea to Jaffa; [you will transport them to Jerusalem].”/"ומביאם לך רפסדות על-ים יפו [ותה תעלה אתם ירושלם]" (see also Tractate Berakhot, Chapter 4, Mishnah where the term אסדא /raft is also used).

או שרכבו על גבי בהמה – an undefined bent animal underneath the rider, therefore, it doesn’t matter whether it cannot endure pressure nor if it can endure pressure. The ritually pure person and his clothing are defiled. But that which the animal is shaking with its foot, is not shook on account of the rider, unless it cannot endure pressure, as is brought in the last (i.e., 18th) chapter of [Tractate] Ahilot [Mishnah 6].

אע"פ שאין בגדיהן נוגעים – the clothing of the ritually clean person does not touch the clothing of the person with gonorrhea, nevertheless, they are ritually impure imparted through treading, that the small ship is similar to a raft and they sink, for sometimes, that the person with gonorrhea outweighs the clean person and his clothing and they are defiled through movement/shaking (without actually coming in contact with it, like by means of a lever). And we derive the defilement of movement/shaking from what is written (Leviticus 15:11): “If one with a discharge [without having rinsed his hands in water], touches another person,”/"וכל אשר יגע-בו הזב" and it is written (Leviticus 6:21): “An earthen vessel in which it was boiled shall be broken; [if I was boiled in a copper vessel – the vessel – shall be scoured and rinsed with water].”/ "וכלי-חרש אשר תבשל-בו ישבר [ואם-בכלי נחשת בשלה ומרק ושטף במים]." Just what is stated further on from the hollow/airspace of the vessel, even here [also] in the hollow/airspace of the vessel, for an earthenware vessel is not defiled through the contact of a person with gonorrhea unless he came in contact in it from its hollow/airspace, but if he came in contact with it from behind it he did not defile it, and since after we learned that he (i.e., the person with gonorrhea) does not defile it other than from its airspace/hollow, what does the inference teach us [from the Biblical text]:"אבל נגע בו" /”that it touches another person” (Leviticus 15:11), contact with it is like all of it, this is shaking/movement of it. For we have learned that that a person with gonorrhea defiles through movement/shaking. But if it was ritually pure on one end of the board and the person with gonorrhea shook/moved the board on the second edge until it shakes/moves the pure person that is on the first edge, the pure person has already been defiled through shaing/movement, and his clothing has been ritually defiled through treading if they are clothing appropriate for lying and sitting.

הגשיש של מטה (the frame on which the couch is spread) – they are like long pieces of wood that they place on the bed of sections, and through them the parts of the bed strike against each other and is connected to the, and therefore, these pieces of wood are called frames/גשישין. Another explanation: pieces of wood that they place under the legs of the bed so that they are not lost due to the moistness of the ground.

שהן מחגירין – like a lame person who is not able to move his two feet at the same time. Such are those when people sit upon them, they tilt this way and that way, and through this, it is found that the person with gonorrhea leans upon the pure person and the pure person upon the person with gonorrhea.

באילן שכוחו רע (on a shaky tree) – and in what case is a tree shaky? All that its root is not wide and thick in order to make hollow a quarter of a Kab.

או שוכה- that is, the bough of a tree.

שכוחה רע – and in what case is a bough shaky? All that is hidden in its being held, that a person who grabs hold of it hides it in the palm of his hand.

על אילן יפה – even the bough stands on a firm tree. And all these that are bent underneath them and the weight of the upper part is upon the bottom part and leans upon it. And whether the person with gonorrhea is the one that leans upon the pure person, or whether the pure person is the one that leans on the person with gonorrhea, he is impure.

שאינו קבוע במסמר – and because of this, it is bent.

על הכבש – on the bridge.

שאינו עשוין בטיט טמאין – because they are bent.

ור' יהודה מטהר – but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

מגיפין – they (i.e., the ritually pure person and the person with gonorrhea/the Zav) close the door.

או פותחין – [open] the door together – the person with gonorrhea/the Zav and the ritually pure person.

עד שיהא זה מגיף – after all there is no defilement here, until there would be this one pull to open [the door] and that one pull to close it, that we don’t allow them each to do it to the other [for it would cause defilement through movement/shaking].

עד שיהא הטהור מעלה את הטמא – for then the clothes of the ritually pure person would be impure through treading, for the weight of the impure person would be greater than that of the pure ofperson and he would be leaning upon him. And the clothing of the pure person would be impure through treading. But if the impure person raises the pure person [from the pit], the impure person does not lean upon the ritually pure person, and the clothing of the pure person is not impure through treading. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

מפשלין בחבלין (twisting ropes) – the person with gonorrhea/the Zav and the ritually pure person together are plaiting/twisting a rope. And even if both of them are doing it from one side.

זה מושך הילך וזה מושך הילך – this one stands to the east and pulls towards him and the other stands to the west and pulls towards him.

בין עומדין – there are things that are woven while standing and there are those [that are woven] while sitting, and the ritually impure person and the ritually pure person weave together, or grind [wheat].

ר' שמעון מטהר בכולן – but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

בזמן שמשאן כבד טמאים – for perhaps through the heaviness of the load, the person with gonorrhea leans upon the ritually pure person and it is found that the pure person shakes/moves him or the pure person is moved by him (i.e., the person with gonorrhea).

וכולן – even if their load is heavy.

טהורים לבני הכנסת – that is to say, to those who eat their non-holy produce in a state of ritual purity, for this is not a complete shaking, and all the more so, that there is a doubt [of shaking].

וטמאים לתרומה – from according to the Rabbis, and even with doubt.