The Mishnah Mishnah Mikvaot 6

English · Joshua Kulp

Anything which is joined with [the water of] a mikveh is like a mikveh. One may immerse in holes of a cavern and in crevices of a cavern just as they are. The pit of a cavern, one may not immerse in it unless it had a hole as big as the tube of a water-skin. Rabbi Judah said: when [is this the case]? When it stands by itself; but if it does not stand by itself, one may immerse in it just as it is.

2

English · Joshua Kulp

If a bucket was full of utensils and they were immersed, they become clean; But if [the bucket] was not immersed, the water in the bucket is not considered as joined [with the water of the mikveh] unless it be joined [by means of a hole in the bucket which is as big] as the tube of a water-skin.

3

English · Joshua Kulp

Three mikvehs, two of which held twenty seahs [of valid water] and the third held twenty seahs of drawn water, and that holding drawn water was at the side: If three persons went down and immersed themselves in them and [the water of the three mikvehs] joined, the mikvehs are clean and they that immersed themselves become clean. If the one holding the drawn water was in the middle and three persons went down and immersed themselves in them and [the water of the three mikvehs] joined, the mikvehs continue as they were before and they that immersed themselves are as they were before.

4

English · Joshua Kulp

If a sponge or a bucket containing three logs of water fell into a mikveh, they do not make it invalid, because they have only said: "if three logs fell in."

5

English · Joshua Kulp

A chest or a box which is in the sea: one may not immerse in them unless they have a hole as large as the tube of a water-skin. Rabbi Judah says: in the case of a large vessel [the hole should be] four handbreadths, and in a small one [the hole should be as large as] the greater part of it. If there was a sack or a basket [in the sea], one may immerse in them as they are, since the water is mixed together. If they are placed under a water-spout, they do not make the mikveh invalid. And they may be immersed and brought up in the ordinary way.

6

English · Joshua Kulp

If there was a broken [earthenware] vessel in the mikveh and utensils were immersed in it, they become clean from their [former] uncleanness but are again rendered unclean because of the earthenware vessel. But if water flowed above it in any quantity, they are clean. If [water of] a spring flowed forth from an oven and a man went down and immersed himself in it, he is clean but his hands become unclean. But if [the water was as] high above the oven as the height of his hands, his hands also are clean.

7

English · Joshua Kulp

Mikvaot can be joined together [if their connection is as big] as the tube of a water-skin in thickness and in space, in which two fingers can be fully turned round. If there is a doubt [whether it is as big] as the tube of a water skin or not, it is invalid, because [this is a mitzvah] from the Torah. The same applies also to the olive's bulk of a corpse and the olive's bulk of carrion and the lentil's bulk of a sheretz. Anything which remains in [the space measuring] the tube of a water-skin lessens [its measure]. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: if it is any water creature whatsoever, [the mikvaot] remain clean.

8

English · Joshua Kulp

Mikvaot may be made clean [by joining drawn water from] a higher [mikveh to valid water] from a lower [mikveh or drawn water from] a distant [mikveh to valid water] in a [mikveh] near at hand. How so? One brings a pipe of earthenware or of lead and puts his hand beneath it till it is filled with water; then he draws it along till [the two waters] touch even if it be by a hair's breadth it is sufficient. If in the higher [mikveh] there were forty seahs and nothing in the lower, one may draw water and carry it on the shoulder and place it in the higher [mikveh] till forty seahs have flowed down into the lower [mikveh].

9

English · Joshua Kulp

If a wall between two mikvaot had a perpendicular crack, [their waters] may be reckoned together; [If it was cracked] horizontally, they cannot be reckoned together, unless there is at one place [a hole as big] as the tube of a water-skin. Rabbi Judah says: the rule is reversed. If there is a breach from one [mikveh] to the other, [they can be reckoned together] if the height is as [the thickness of] the skin of garlic and the breadth like the tube of a water-skin.

10

English · Joshua Kulp

The outlet of a bath-basin: if it is in the center, it renders [the bath] invalid [as a mikveh]; but if it is at the side, it does not render it invalid, because then it is like one mikveh adjoining another mikveh, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: if the bath- basin can contain a quarter-log of [water] before it reaches the outlet, it is valid; but if not, it is not valid. Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says: if the outlet can contain any amount of [water], it is invalid.

11

English · Joshua Kulp

The ‘purifier' in the bathhouse: the bottom was full of drawn [water] and the top full of valid [water], if [the space] in front of the hole can contain three logs it is invalid [as a mikveh]. How large must the hole be to contain three logs? 1/320th of the pool, the words of Rabbi Yose. But Rabbi Elazar says: even if the bottom [pipe] was full of valid [water] and the top [pipe] full of drawn [water] and by the hole's side were three logs, [the bath is] valid, for they have only said: "if three logs fell in."

Mishnah Mikvaot 6

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