העיד רבי יהושע על דם נבילות שהוא טהור – from being made impure like a carrion in an olive’s bulk, and it defiles with a quarter [of a log]. For you do not have anything whose blood will become defiled like its skin other than for a reptile alone. And above [at the beginning of Chapter 5 of Tractate Eduyot] where it is taught in the Mishnah: that the blood of carrion – the School of Shammai declares clean and the School of Hillel declares unclean, but not like the carrion which defiles through an olive’s bulk, but through a quarter [of a log].

שנגע טמא במקצתו שטימא את כולו – they made a preference with Holy things and with the ashes of the sin-offering, for even thouh they themselves are divided if we place them within one utensil and comes in contact with something that defiles holy things in part, all were defiled, for the utensil combines them to be considered as if they are one body, and support is brought for it from the Biblical verse, as it is written (Numbers 7:14,20,26,32,38,44,50,56,62,68,74,80): “One gold ladle of 10 shekels, filled with incense,” as the Biblical verse made all of what is in one ladle.

הוסיף ר' עקיבא – for whereas from the testimony of Rabbi Shimon ben Beterah, we did not hear other than on that which is impure, and Rabbi Akiva came and added that even one who immersed himself on that day – but is not completely pure until sunset which does not defile but is invalid alone, if it came comes in contact with part of it, it invalidates all of it. And Maimonides explained, that from the testimony of Rabbi Shimon, we did not hear that it combines other than a utensil that has an inside [receptacle] but a vessel that does not have an inside [receptacle], we did not hear that it combines, but Rabbi Akiva came and added that even sifted fine flour and incense and frankincense and coals that are not within the utensil, but are collected and placed on a board or plank which has no inside [receptacle], they are considered as if placed within the utensil, and are made as if they are one substance.

והגחלים – those that the High Priest on Yom Kippur takes out in a pan, if a person who immersed himself on that day – but is not completely pure until sunset touched part of them, all of them are made in valid, and a preference was made with them, for the coals are not receptacles for defilement.

קטנה בת ישראל – and she is an orphan a has been explained at the end of the chapter above (i.e., Eduyot, Chapter 7, Mishnah 9), and he adds here that when she came to get married even though she had not yet engaged in sexual relations, because from the testimony of above (i.e., Eduyot, chapter 7, Mishnah 9), we did not hear/learn that she eats Terumah/priest’s due [if she married a Kohen] other than after she had engaged in sexual relations.

שהורהנה – that she had been deposited as a pledge with idolaters.

ועדיה – those who testified that she had been deposited as a pledge.

האמינו שלא נסתרה ושלא נטמאה – and specifically to this one that her witnesses testify about her that she had been defiled, It is this that the Rabbis said that they believed her, for not according to the law did the members of her family distance her from them. But if she doesn’t have witnesses, any woman detained through money at the time when the idolaters are in power, she is prohibited for a Kohen to engage in sexual relations with her. There is no difference whether she was deposited as a pledge or whether she had been detained/imprisoned.

אלמנת עיסה – one family that was mixed up with someone who was doubtful for the priesthood on account of his father’s illegitimate connection. All the children of that family are doubtful if he was that doubtfulness that was mixed up with them or not. And a woman who married one of the children of that family, and her husband died, is called the widow of one belonging to a family suspected of containing an alien admixture, that is like the examined and mixed family [suspected of containing an alien admixture], so too this particular woman is mixed from doubts – doubt if her husband was that doubtful one for the priesthood on account of his father’s illegitimate connection, according to the truth. Rabbi Yehoshua validates her for the priesthood, because there is here a compound uncertainty and is judged leniently. But Rabban Gamaliel holds that even though generally, a compound uncertainly which is judged leniently, here is different, for they made a preference for pedigrees.

העיסה כשרה לטמא ולטהר – that is to say, that a family that became mixed through someone doubtful for the priesthood on account of his father’s illegitimate connection, behold, she is presumption of being fit like the rest of the families of legitimate descent, and like that the rest of the families say: “this one is ritually impure” and distance themselves from her, and “this one is pure” and they draw her close, so is this family that had become mixed up beyond recognition as a result of someone doubtful for the priesthood on account of his father’s illegitimate connection, and we cannot say for since that it become so mixed up beyond recognition, we don’t any longer to check when women marry -which one was defiled and which one is pure, in order to distance the impure one and to draw close the pure one.

קבלנו עדותכם – you are believed in our eyes and we believe that such is what you heard.

שלא להושיב ב"ד על כך – to permit the widow of one belonging to a family suspected of containing an alien admixture ab initio.

הכהנים שומעים לכם לרחק – if you would say that she is forbidden.

אבל לא לקרב – if you would say that she is permitted. And the Legal decision is that a woman who married one of that family, and her husband died, is called the widow of one belong to a family suspected of containing an alien mixture, and she is forbidden to marry into the priesthood ab initio, and if she married, she cannot be divorced.

איל קמצא – a form of locust. The Aramaic translation of “like locusts” is “like a species of locusts.”

דכן – it is clean and permitted to eat.

ועל משקה בית מטבחייא – the blood in the slaughterhouse of the Temple courtyard.

דאינון דכיין – there is one who says that they are completely pure, for the defilement of liquids is not from the Torah but rather the Rabbis are those who decreed upon them defilement, and on these they did not decree. And there is another opinion that these are pure from making others impure, but they are impure of themselves and there is, from the Torah, defilement for liquids, to become defiled and the Rabbis were not able to make pure what the Torah had defiled.

ועל דיקרב למיתא מסאב – this is how it should be understood (Talmud Avodah Zarah 37b), that whomever definitely touches a corpse is unclean. But there is a doubt, even a grave defilement of the dead is pure, and all the more so, defilement [via a contact with] a reptile is light. And a doubtful impurity in the public domain comes to permit. And even though a doubtful impurity in the public domain is pure according to the Torah, for prohibition of doubtful defilement we derive from the Sotah/suspected adulterous woman, for the Bible derives it with the language of defilement (Numbers 5:13): “and she keeps secret the fact that she has defiled herself, the Biblical verse informs us that on that which is doubtful, she is prohibited, and just as the case of the Sotah/suspected adulterous woman is in the private domain, and there is no hiding in the public domain, so doubtful defilement is not other than in the private domain, nevertheless before Yosi ben Yoezer came, they would say, it is the Halakha but we don’t teach thus. And he came and testified that we do teach as such ab initio, to make pure all doubtful defilement in the public domain.

וקרי ליה יוסי שריא – because he permitted three things that they (i.e., the Rabbis) would practice a prohibition on them. For any Jewish court that permits three things where their permit is not simple, they would call it, a permitting/absolving Jewish court.

שמשיאין האשה ע"פ עד אחד (this section of the Mishnah is also taught at the conclusion of Tractate Yevamot, Chapter 16, Mishnah 7) – a woman whose husband went abrought and one witness came and said that he died. We marry off his wife through his word.

כדיר העצים – a chamber where they gather all the wood of the altar of the Temple. And it was in the north-east corner of the Women’s compartment [of the Temple court] and they found there the bones of the dead. But the Sages said that they should collect bone by bone and everything is ritually pure. And we should not suspect lest they humans and utensils were defiled by them because in the Women’s compartment has the law of the public domain, and this is doubtful defilement in the public domain, for its doubtfulness makes is pure. And in the Tractate Zevahim in the last chapter (chapter 14) [ page 113a], the Gemara brings that they (i.e., the Sages) wanted to decree defilement on all of Jerusalem because of those bones that were found in the shed for the wood, but that Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: No: It is a shame and disgrace for us that we should decree defilement on the city of our forefathers.

שמעתי שמקריבים אף על פי שאין בית – [since] the holiness that Solomon sanctified the Temple, he sanctified for its time and he sanctified it for the future. And similarly, the holiness of Jerusalem was sanctified forever. But the sanctification of the rest of the Land of Israel, he did not sanctify during the first conquest other than for its time [alone] until those who came up from Babylonia returned and they sanctified it a second time, and that sanctification was sanctified for the future.

הלכה למשה מסיני – For the Holy One, blessed be He showed Moses at Sinai, each generation and its expounders, and showed him that Elijah does not come to make impure or to make pure, to distance or to bring close, to verify [doubtful] families mixed up (i.e., lost to the priesthood as they had been mixed with Israelites beyond traces of genealogical disabilities) beyond recognition; who had been mixed up beyond recognition and who had not been mixed up beyond recognition, but he should leave them and they will be valid in the future to come, for the Halakha is that a family that had mixed up beyond recognition remains mixed up beyond recognition.

אלא לרחק המקורבים בזרוע – for everyone presumes them as invalid, but that they were brought close by force, but a family which had been mixed up beyond recognition on account that it was not known that its defilement was unknown, should be left in its fitness.

בית הצרפה – such is the name of the family.

ורחקה – he announced concerning them that they are invalid.

בן ציון – he was a strong man and a violent person.

ועוד משפחה אחרת היתה שם – that was invalid.

וקרבה בן ציון בזרוע – and he announced concerning them that they are valid to marry with them, and the Tanna/teach of the Mishnah had consideration on the honor of human creations and did not mention the name of the invalid family that Ben Zion drew close forcefully, like he had mentioned the name of the fit/valid family, to teach you how much a person has to be careful not to recount of the denigration of his fellow and to be able to hide degradation. If such is the case with those who are invalid, all the more so regarding those who are valid.

כגון אלו – who validity and invalidity were known but that they were distanced by force and brought closer by force.

לקרב אבל לא לרחק – the valid family that had been distanced by force, he brings close but he does not distance that which had been brought close by force.

שנאמר והשיב לב אבות על בנים – that will be said in the future with the Holy Spirit that this because of the children’s children of this one. And according to the words of Rabbi Shimon, the fathers are the Sages and the children are the students, so that the heart of all of them will be equivalent and dispute will not fall between them.