Uktzin, Chapter 1, Mishnah 5. Maseches Uktzin sorts the various inedible parts attached to produce into categories. Some serve as a shomer, guarding the food from spoiling. Some serve as a yad, a handle by which the food is held, lifted or carried; a yad becomes tamei when the food does and conveys tumah to the food when it is touched, though it is never counted toward the kabeitzah needed for the produce to be metamei anything further. Our mishnah presents the third category: parts that are attached to the vegetable and yet serve no purpose at all, neither as protector nor as handle.
The opening words lay out three exemptions in a row: "Eilu lo mitam'in", such parts do not contract tumah; "v'lo metam'in", they do not transmit it; "v'lo mitztarfin", and their bulk is never added to that of the food. Physically they are still fastened to the vegetable, yet halachah refuses to view them as belonging to it. Let tumah strike the vegetable, and they remain tahor; let tumah reach them, and the vegetable is untouched by it.
The list
- "Shoroshei kulsei hakrov": the root ends of cabbage stalks.
- "V'cholfos teradin": the offshoots that sprout from beets.
- "V'halefes": and the same in turnips.
"Asher darkan ligzoz": these are things that are normally trimmed away and discarded. "V'ne'ekru": and the mishnah speaks of a case where they were pulled up out of the ground together with their roots. Even so they do not enter into the laws of tumah, for the simple reason that people do not use them to take hold of the produce, and they likewise offer the vegetable no protection.
The view of Rabi Yosi
"Rabi Yosi mitamei b'kulan": Rabi Yosi rules that all of these items are subject to tumah. In his view, since a person may in fact end up holding a vegetable by its roots, they inevitably qualify as a yad, and so they are drawn into the tumah of the produce and convey tumah to it in return.
"U'metaheir b'shoroshei kulsei hakrov v'halefes": Rabi Yosi does concede two cases, the root ends of cabbage stalks and those of turnips. There nobody grips the vegetable in such a spot, so no din of a yad applies to them and they stay tahor.