We now move on to Mishnah 3. It too deals with glass vessels, except that here we are speaking of a glass goblet - a drinking cup made of glass. Suppose that most of the circumference of the cup broke off: the entire vessel is not susceptible to tumah, since it is considered a fragment of a vessel rather than a vessel.
One break or several breaks:
The commentators suggest adding a word here. If there was one continuous break - for example, the circumference of the cup is three inches, and the break measures an inch and three quarters from end to end, which is the majority of the circumference - it is obvious that the vessel is tahor. But suppose there are three breaks adjacent to one another, and when you measure from the edge of the first break to the edge of the last one they cover the majority of the circumference - it too is tahor and not susceptible to tumah, because this is a broken vessel. According to the Tanna Kamma it makes no difference that the vessel can still hold some of the water, since the water does not leak out through the three separate cracks.
The view of Rabbi Shimon:
Rabbi Shimon is the exception here. In many mishnayos we have followed him and found that in various disputes he takes the lenient position, and here it turns out that he too can be stringent. In his view, only if most of the water spills out - then and only then is the vessel tahor, not susceptible to tumah and considered broken. But if it has these three breaks and it still holds a little water and does not allow most of the water in the vessel to spill out, it remains tamei, meaning that it is susceptible to tumah. This is the approach of most of the Rishonim; the Rambam has a different approach, and we have followed what appears to be the view of the majority of the Rishonim in understanding this portion of the Mishnah regarding the broken glass.
A cup that was punctured and repaired:
Suppose a hole developed in the glass cup, and its owner repaired it. The word "ve'asa'ah" does not mean making, but rather repairing and setting right. He sealed the hole in the glass - "bein be'va'atz bein be'zefes" - whether with lead or with pitch - and nevertheless the vessel is tahor. Sealing a hole in glass with any material whatsoever is not sufficient to restore the vessel's status, and the glass is still considered broken. The reason, at least according to the Tanna Kamma: lead and pitch do not adhere well to glass, and therefore the vessel is still considered broken and is not susceptible to tumah.
The view of Rabbi Yosi:
"Be'va'atz - tamei" - he sealed the hole with lead: this is an effective seal and a useful closure, and therefore the vessel is considered to have been restored to being a functioning glass vessel, and it is susceptible to tumah.
"U've'zefes - tahor" - he sealed the hole with pitch: this is not considered a sealing material, and therefore the glass is still considered broken, and the vessel is not susceptible to tumah.
Rabbi Yosi is consistent with his own view:
Many say that Rabbi Yosi in our Mishnah - the second to last Mishnah in the entire tractate - is consistent with the position he took back in Chapter 3, Mishnah 7. There we learned: "A kettle that was punctured and he repaired it with pitch" - a kettle made of earthenware that was punctured, and its hole was sealed with pitch - and about this the Mishnah said: "Rabbi Yosi declares it tahor." And why? "Because it cannot hold hot water the way it holds cold water." A whole earthenware vessel can contain very hot water, and a kettle is of course used for hot water; and if he sealed its hole with pitch alone, the pitch will melt from the heat of the contents of the vessel, and this is not a functioning kettle.
The explanation of the Vilna Gaon:
This, says the Vilna Gaon, is the basis for Rabbi Yosei's view here in Mishnah 3 of chapter 30: a glass cup is meant to hold hot tea, and if its hole was sealed with pitch, the pitch will not withstand the heat of the tea; it will melt and dissolve into the tea itself, and who would want to drink tea like that? Therefore Rabbi Yosei says that the halachah is that one who seals it with pitch leaves it tahor. Ba'atz (lead), by contrast, withstands heat and does not melt from hot tea or from anything else; and therefore if the hole was sealed with ba'atz, the vessel is susceptible to tumah, while if it was sealed with pitch, it is tahor and is not susceptible to tumah.
With this we have completed Mishnah 3 of chapter 30.