Keilim, Chapter 26, Mishnah 4. This mishnah continues the chapter's discussion of leather articles and asks a question that runs through the whole subject: at what point does damage to an item cancel its status as a keli? Here the focus is footwear. A sandal, a slipper and a closed shoe each have parts that are essential to wearing them, and the Mishnah traces what happens to the tum'ah of the item when those parts tear off, when they are replaced, and when the replacements themselves are what is holding the item together. The mishnah closes with a related question about leather bottles that were repaired by tying rather than sewing.
One side flap tears and is repaired
The mishnah's first case: "Sandal shenifsekah achat me'oznav" - a sandal in which one of its "ears" gave way - "vetikenah" - and its owner then set it right - and the ruling is "tamei midras." The oznayim are the loops running along the sides of the sandal; the straps pass through them, and that is how the sandal is bound onto the foot. So one loop snapped off, it was afterwards mended, and the sandal goes on bearing tum'at midras.
The truth is that the repair is not what determines the ruling in this first clause. Even before it was fixed, the sandal had not lost its usefulness. With only one flap remaining, a person can still thread the strap through the flap that is left, wrap it around, and secure the sandal to his foot. Since it remains wearable, it remains a keli, and if it had already contracted tum'at midras it retains that tum'ah. The mention of the repair matters for what comes next.
The second flap tears and is repaired
Next: "Nifsekah sheniyah" - the loop that had been left then snapped as well - "vetikenah" - and this one too was mended - and now the verdict shifts: "tehorah min hamidras." The sandal has been released from its tum'at midras.
What makes this surprising is that the sandal never once became unusable along the way; at every stage it could be worn. The key lies elsewhere: whatever survives of the sandal as it originally was cannot serve as footwear on its own. Both loops on it at present are additions, one from the earlier mending and one from the later. Take those two mended loops away and what is left is the old sandal body with no side loops whatsoever, and nobody could fasten such a thing to a foot. An article that works only thanks to components attached to it after the fact has forfeited its former identity, and with that identity goes the tum'at midras it once carried. Before us stands a perfectly serviceable sandal, and yet its midras tum'ah has lapsed, since the parts that make it wearable are not the parts that were tamei.
But it is still tamei by contact
"Aval tamei maga midras." The sandal has dropped out of the category of av hatum'ah conferred by tum'at midras, yet it is not clean: it carries the weaker tum'ah of something that touched a midras, which leaves a keli a rishon letum'ah. To see how this comes about, retrace the stages one at a time.
- At the moment the first loop broke, the sandal could still be worn, so it kept its own tum'at midras.
- The replacement loop that the owner fastened on came up against a keli bearing tum'at midras, and through that contact the new loop turned into a rishon letum'ah.
- Afterwards the second loop broke and was likewise replaced, and at that point, for the reason described, the sandal's own midras tum'ah lapsed.
- The earlier replacement loop, however, retains its standing as a rishon, and it is fastened to the sandal. Since anything joined to a tamei object takes on tum'ah, the mended sandal as a single unit is tamei on account of that loop.
The result is that nothing here is fully tahor. The sandal has been downgraded from an av hatum'ah of midras to an item that is tamei through contact with a midras.
If the first tear was never repaired
"Lo hispik letaken" - he had not yet got around to mending - "et harishonah ad shenifsekah sheniyah, tehorah." Where the owner left the first loop unrepaired and in the meantime the second one broke too, the sandal is tahor. In that interval it stood with no loops whatsoever and could not be put onto a foot; its standing as a keli lapsed, and once that happens it is no longer susceptible to tum'ah.
Damage to the heel and the toe
"Nifsak akevo" - the piece at the back that cups the heel gave way; "nittal chotmo" - the front section over the toes was taken away; "o shenechlak lishnayim" - or the sandal came apart into two pieces. In all three the ruling is tahor. None of these sandals will hold to a foot any longer, so the purpose of the article can no longer be served, and something unable to serve its purpose is not a keli.
The solyam and the closed shoe
"Solyam shenifsak" - a solyam that gave way - "mikol makom, tahor." The solyam was a plain slipper in use in mishnaic times: little more than a sole beneath the foot, with material running up around the foot and ankle to keep it in place. Since the entire thing hangs on that wrapping, a break at any spot whatsoever leaves it impossible to wear, and it is consequently tahor.
"Min'al shenifchat" - a min'al, a shoe closed over the top of the foot, that has suffered damage - "im eino mekabel" - if it no longer takes in - "et rov haregel, tahor." The measure is how much of the foot the shoe still encloses. Should enough of the upper survive for the shoe to cover the greater part of the foot, it can still be worn and it stays tamei. Once the upper is torn to the point that the larger part of the foot lies uncovered, the shoe is tahor.
A shoe still on the mold
"Min'al she'al ha'imum" - a shoe resting on the imum, the foot-shaped block or last over which a shoe is stretched and formed while it is being made. The case concerns a shoe whose production has been finished but which has not yet been lifted off the block. "Rebbi Eliezer metaher": in his view a shoe not yet taken off the last does not count as a completed article, and for as long as it sits there it cannot take on tum'ah. "Vachachamim metam'in": the Chachamim hold that it does become tamei. To them the shoe is done, and its incidental position on the block changes nothing; being a finished item, it is susceptible.
Leather bottles closed with a knot
"Kol hachamotot tserurot tehorot." Leather bottles that developed a hole, and thereby became tahor because they could no longer hold their contents, and were then closed up by tying rather than by sewing, remain tahor and cannot receive tum'ah. Tying is a makeshift measure rather than a real repair: a knot is expected to be untied eventually, so the bottle is not considered restored to being a keli.
"Chutz mishel Arviyin." The exception is the knots used by the Arabs, which were tied extremely tightly and were very hard to undo, so that they functioned as permanent. A leather bottle that had broken and was closed with such a knot has become a keli once again and is capable of receiving tum'ah.
"Rebbi Meir omer" - Rebbi Meir moves the test away from the type of knot and onto the purpose behind it: "tseror sha'ah, tehorot." A bottle shut with a knot meant only for the time being, one that will shortly be opened again, is tahor even if it is of the Arab kind. Where the knot was made as a "tseror olam," meant to stay tied for good, the bottle is tamei even if the knot is an ordinary one.
"Rebbi Yose omer" - and Rebbi Yose rules without any distinction: "kol hachamotot tserurot tehorot." Every leather bottle that was sealed by tying stays tahor. No knot at all can give such a bottle back the standing of a keli. Because these bottles are properly closed by stitching and not by knotting, neither an Arab knot nor a knot tied with the intent that it never be undone counts as an authentic, lasting repair.
The thread running through the entire mishnah is one idea applied in many forms: tum'ah attaches to a functioning keli, and it is the item's own working parts, restored in its own normal manner, that keep it in that category.