Tum'at Okhalin - Chapter 5

The term yad when used in connection with food refers to the thin stems that are close to fruit from which the fruit hangs from the tree, e.g. the stems of figs and pears and the edges of a grape cluster. In a similar category are included seeds and other entities required by the foods and any shomrim for foods, i.e., the shell over the foods that protects it. Similar laws apply to all analogous substances.

Any substance that is a yad, but not a shomer is susceptible to impurity, imparts impurity, but is not considered as part of the food. Any substance that is a shomer, even though it is not a yad is susceptible to impurity, imparts impurity, and is combined together with the food. Any entity that is not a shomer, nor a yad, is neither susceptible to impurity, nor does it impart impurity. Needless to say, it is not considered as part of the food.

What is meant by saying "it is susceptible to impurity, imparts impurity, but is not considered as part of the food"? If impurity touched the yad, the food suspended from it becomes impure. If impurity touched the food, the yad becomes impure. The yad is not combined with the food to comprise an egg-sized portion or a half a pras. If, however, an entity is a shomer it is considered as part of an egg-sized portion or a half a pras.

Just as there is a concept of a yad with regard to contracting impurity, so too, there is a concept of a yad with regard to making foods susceptible to impurity through exposure to liquids. If the yad was exposed to a liquid, all of the food hanging from it is susceptible to impurity.

The concept of a yad applies even though the fruit is smaller than an olive-sized portion and the concept of a shomer applies even though the fruit is smaller than a bean. When a shomer is divided, it no longer is combined with the food.

What is the source that teaches that the shomerim of food contract impurity together with the food when they are connected to it? Leviticus 11:37 states: "On any type of kernels of seed that will be sown." Implied is that the kernels are considered in the form which people use to sow, e.g., wheat in its coating, barley in its shell, lentils in their coverings. Similar laws apply to other shomerim.

What is the source that teaches that the yadot of food are susceptible to impurity and impart impurity when they are connected to foods? It is written ibid.: 38: "They shall be impure for you," included is anything necessary for you so that the food can be eaten.

When a person harvests grapes for a winepress, there is no concept of yadot, for he has no need of the yad, because it absorbs the liquid.

When one harvests produce to use as a covering for his sukkah, there is no concept of yadot, for he has no need of the yad.

Whenever the yadot of food were crushed in the granary, they are pure.

When a sprig of a cluster is stripped of its grapes, it is pure. If one grape remained, it is considered as a yad for that grape and it is susceptible to impurity. Similarly, if a stalk from a date palm was stripped of its dates, it is pure. If one date remained, it is impure. Similarly, if a pod of legumes was emptied, it is pure. If one legume remained, it is susceptible to impurity.

There can never be a concept of a shomer for a shomer. Only the protective covering that is closest to the food is considered as part of it.

There are three peels to an onion: the inner peel, whether it is whole or cut, it is combined with the food. When the middle peel is whole, it is combined. If it is cut, it is not combined. The outer peel is pure in both instances.

All shells become susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, and are combined together with the food because they are shomerim. When the pods of beans and vetch are discarded, they do not become susceptible to impurity. If they were saved to be served as food, they do become susceptible to impurity. If food remains inside them, they are susceptible to impurity regardless.

Cucumber peels are susceptible to the impurity of foods, even though they are not connected to the cucumber at all. When barley kernels are dry, their shell is included with them. If the kernels are fresh, the shells are not included with them. The shells of wheat kernels are included with them in all instances.

All seeds become susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, but are not combined together with the food with the exception of a fresh date seed. The seed of a dried date, by contrast, is not combined with the food.

The covering of a fresh date seed is not combined with the fruit. The covering of a dry date seed, by contrast, is combined with the fruit. Since it cleaves to the fruit, it is considered as part of the fruit.

When a portion of a date seed projects outside the fruit, the portion that has food around it is combined with it. The portion that projects beyond it does not.

Similarly, when there is a bone with meat on it, any portion of the bone that has meat around it is combined with the meat. If it has meat on it only from one side, only the portion of bone under the meat is combined with it and only the upper portion of the bone until its cavity. If a bone does not have a cavity, we consider it as the thickness of a hyssop stem. Only that portion is combined with the meat; the remainder is not combined. The rationale is that the bones are considered like shomerim for the meat.

A thigh bone that has meat - even a mere bean-size portion - upon it causes the entire bone to be included in the reckoning for impurity.

Even if olive and date seeds were cooked to be eaten they are not susceptible to impurity.

Even though one collected carob seeds with the intent of eating them, they are not susceptible to impurity. If one cooked them with the intent of eating them, they are susceptible to impurity.

The following are susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, and are combined together with the food: the roots of garlic, onions, and leek, when they are fresh, their protuberance, whether fresh or dry, their stalk which is opposite the food, the roots of lettuce and Israeli radishes, and the main root of large radishes are combined with the food. The thin roots of large radishes, by contrast, are not combined. The roots of mint and rue and the roots of wild vegetables that were uprooted with the intent of replanting them, the center stalk of grain and the husks of its kernels, the stems of figs, dried figs, thin figs, and carobs are susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, and are combined together with the food.

The following are susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, but are not combined together with the food: the roots of garlic, onions, and leek, when they are dry, stalks growing from them that are not opposite their central portion, the mila'in of grain stalks, i.e., the dark hairs on top of a grain stalk that resemble the teeth of a saw, the stems of pears, small pears, quince, and crabapples, the handbreadth of the stem of squash that is closest to the vegetable itself, a handbreadth of the stem of an artichoke, and similarly, a handbreadth from either side of a branch from which a twig of a grape vine grows. From the twig of a grape vine grow many clusters. This same ruling is applied to the stem of a cluster regardless of its size. The yad of the tail end of the shoot of the cluster from which the grapes were removed and that of a branch of a date palm is four handbreadths long. The term branch refers to the red branch that the stalks hang from; the dates hang from the stalks. Three handbreadths of the stem of the grainstalk are considered as a yad. Similarly, three handbreadths of the stem of all plants that are reaped are considered as a yad. If plants are not reaped, their stems and roots are considered as yadot regardless of their length.

All of the aforementioned are susceptible to impurity, impart impurity, but are not combined together with the food, because they are yadot.

The following are not susceptible to impurity, do not impart impurity, and are not combined together with the food: other stems, the roots of cabbage heads, the roots of beets, the roots of turnips - this refers to the deep roots that remain when the cabbage and turnips are harvested from which the plants grow a second time - and all the roots that are cut off when they are uprooted together with the food.

The button of a pomegranate is combined together with the fruit. The buds that grow from it are not combined.

When part of a pomegranate or a watermelon decomposed, the remainder is not considered as joined to the part that decomposed. The remainder of the peel is not combined with the fruit, for its protection of the fruit is of no benefit. Similarly, if such fruit was intact on either side, but rotten in the center, the portions of fruit on the sides are not considered as joined to each other, nor is the peel combined with the food.

The green leaves of vegetables are combined with the foods. The white leaves are not, because they are of no benefit.