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DAAT · LEVEL 3 — SYNTHESIS

Siman 201 — Level 3 · Synthesis: the mikveh arranged by mechanism

Seventy-five seifim, nine mechanisms, and a table that keeps the order of the book

יורה דעה · סימן ר״א

דיני המקוה ומימיו

✨ Synthesis level · חזרה וסיכום

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A siman of seventy-five seifim is not revised by reading it from 1 to 75: one is lost by the twentieth. It is revised by mechanism — the water, the measure, the vessel, drawing, channelling, contact, flowing away, immersion, doubt — while keeping beside it a table that preserves the order of the book, so that a seif can be found by its number when needed.

Source: שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן ר״א — ע״ה סעיפים

Compilation: הרב יוסף חיים סממה
DAAT · daattorah.com

1. The master table — the seventy-five seifim in the order of the book

It keeps the order of the Shulchan Arukh: one enters by the seif number and leaves with the mechanism it belongs to. This is the table to consult when asking “where was that again?”.

Seif	What it decides	Mechanism
1	what makes an immersion: forty se’ah, and the whole body at once	The requirement — forty se’ah and the whole body
2	spring and rainwater: זוחלין against אשבורן	Where the water comes from — spring, rain, flowing, gathered
3	the forty se’ah must not be drawn water	Where the water comes from — spring, rain, flowing, gathered
4	a mikveh kept by a non-Jew, and the twenty-one se’ah	Where the water comes from — spring, rain, flowing, gathered
5	the seas have the status of a spring; the wave torn off	Where the water comes from — spring, rain, flowing, gathered
6	one does not immerse in a vessel	The vessel and the passage of the water
7	the large vessel perforated and fixed in the ground	The vessel and the passage of the water
8	the spring that pours into a vessel	The vessel and the passage of the water
9	immersing vessels inside another vessel	The vessel and the passage of the water
10	the spring channelled into a pool: when it remains a spring	The vessel and the passage of the water
11	the little of the spring purifies the much of drawn water	The vessel and the passage of the water
12	the spring passed over the backs of vessels	The vessel and the passage of the water
13	the spring that descends drop by drop	The vessel and the passage of the water
14	turning dripping water into flowing water: on what, and on what not	The vessel and the passage of the water
15	forty se’ah and a spring: drawing as much as one wishes; and the three log	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
16	the sponge and the bucket: three log that did not all come out	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
17	drawn water beside the mikveh	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
18	two pools one above the other and the hole between them	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
19	a log and a half here, a log and a half there	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
20	the cistern through which a channel passes	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
21	adding does not erase; mixing purifies	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
22	“its full measure and more”	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
23	three log invalidate only if they are water and look like water	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
24	the liquids that invalidate and those that do not complete	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
25	change of appearance: what invalidates a complete mikveh	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
26	forty se’ah with the appearance of water	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
27	appearance changed of itself	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
28	a spring is not invalidated by a change of appearance	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
29	three log of wine, and the השקה at the place of the wine	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
30	snow, hail and frost: an entire mikveh made of snow	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
31	the drawn mikveh that froze	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
32	water and soft mud	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
33	whatever has its origin in water	Drawn water — three log, mixtures, appearance
34	what is a vessel that invalidates by drawing	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
35	the board under the spout	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
36	the gutter and the hollow carved in it	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
37	the roof-tiles	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
38	the sack and the basket under the spout	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
39	the hand of man: what falls of itself and what he put in	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
40	perforating the bucket: the vessel that ceases to be a vessel	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
41	vessels set under the spout, and “the binding of the clouds”	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
42	the jars left to dry on the roof	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
43	the plasterer’s pot forgotten in the mikveh	What a vessel is — receiving, being fixed, filling by intent
44	המשכה: drawn water made to flow along	המשכה and the channelling of water
45	the measure of the המשכה: three handbreadths	המשכה and the channelling of water
46	over what the המשכה works	המשכה and the channelling of water
47	the mikveh filled from beneath the ground from drawn water	המשכה and the channelling of water
48	channelling water not by means of what receives impurity	המשכה and the channelling of water
49	channelling from a spring or from a mikveh	המשכה and the channelling of water
50	the breached wall and the water that leaves: the return of זוחלין	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
51	the mikveh that seeps drop by drop	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
52	joining two mikvaot: כשפופרת הנאד	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
53	a hairbreadth השקה: making a drawn mikveh valid	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
54	the cracked wall between two mikvaot: warp and weft	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
55	three mikvaot, and the place of the drawn one	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
56	two mikvaot of twenty se’ah brought into contact	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
57	everything joined to the mikveh is as the mikveh	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
58	the cavities and cracks of the cave	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
59	the pit dug within the mikveh	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
60	three hollows in the wadi: passing water does not join	Flowing and joining — זוחלין, the wineskin-neck, השקה
61	one who binds his hands and feet in the water-channel	The immersion itself
62	exactly forty se’ah: do not jump, do not immerse twice	The immersion itself
63	the thick garment and the cauldron: how to lower them, how to raise them	The immersion itself
64	the mattress and the cushion	The immersion itself
65	the mikveh presumed to diminish: when one must immerse again	The immersion itself
66	the mikveh whose water spreads: gathering the water, and the required depth	The immersion itself
67	a doubt concerning drawn water is pure	Doubt, and the end of the siman
68	“he has something to which to attribute it”	Doubt, and the end of the siman
69	left empty, found full	Doubt, and the end of the siman
70	when the invalid is manifest: הפסול מוכיח	Doubt, and the end of the siman
71	the impure remains in his presumption	Doubt, and the end of the siman
72	attributing the first to the second, and not the reverse	Doubt, and the end of the siman
73	the two mikvaot that the rain filled	Doubt, and the end of the siman
74	all mikvaot that are found are invalid	Doubt, and the end of the siman
75	warming the mikveh, and bathing after the immersion	Doubt, and the end of the siman

2. The water and its origin — spring, rainwater, sea

The first question of the whole siman: where does this water come from? Three answers, and three regimes.

מעיין (seif 2) — purifies even while flowing; is not invalidated by a change of appearance (seif 28); by the letter of seif 40, is not invalidated by drawing. מי גשמים (seif 2) — purify only in an אשבורן, that is, at rest. ים (seif 5) — has the status of a spring. And the mixed case (seif 2): if rainwater prevails over the flowing water, the river falls back to the regime of rain.

What moves one regime to the other. A spring channelled into a pool keeps its regime (seif 10); cut the stream and it becomes a mikveh; reopen it and it is a spring again. A spring descending drop by drop, with interruption, is a mikveh (seif 13). A spring passed over the backs of vessels becomes a mikveh (seif 12). The regime depends on continuous motion from the source, not on the nature of the water.

The great reversal of the siman is at seif 11: a spring, however slight, purifies a far greater mass of drawn water — in either order. And at seif 15: forty se’ah plus a spring, and one may draw as much as he wishes.

3. The measure — forty se’ah, and what it takes for them to remain

The measure is not a minimum of comfort: it is the condition for a whole body to disappear at once.

Seif 1 — one אמה by one אמה by three אמות; and the trench must be larger than that measure, so that forty se’ah remain when the body enters. Chakh ס״ק ג — the measure is exact, and does not vary with the size of the body. Seif 62 — in a pool holding only the exact measure: do not jump, do not immerse twice in a row. Seifim 63–64 — lower vessels mouth-first, raise them bottom-first.

What counts in the measure and what does not. Soft mud that a cow drinks from counts (seif 32, and Rambam הלכות מקואות פרק ח הלכה ט); mud too thick does not. Snow, hail and frost count, and may even constitute the whole mikveh (seif 30). Whatever has its origin in water counts too (seif 33).

A mikveh presumed to diminish is not presumed full (seif 65). From this comes the practice of measuring before immersion and keeping a record.

4. The receptacle — what makes an object a vessel

The second great disqualifier: perfectly valid water ceases to count if it is in a vessel. It remains to know what a vessel is.

The three conditions of seif 34: the object must be fit to receive, must be so before being fixed, and must fill by intent. Remove one of the three and the water remains valid. The Rambam gives them in one stroke at הלכות מקואות פרק ו הלכה א.

The cases, and the condition each one lacks: the board set on its side (seif 35) — it is no longer fit to receive; the gutter without four rims (seif 36) — it never was; the roof-tiles (seif 37) — they were not made to receive; the sack and the basket (seif 38) — they do not hold water; vessels placed outside the season of gathering clouds (seif 41) and jars set out to dry (seif 42) — the filling was not by intent; the bucket perforated at the bottom (seif 40) — it has ceased to be a vessel.

And the exception that catches them all: seif 39. What is not made to receive invalidates only if the water fell in of itself. Once a man has poured it, it invalidates — even with no vessel at all.

5. Drawing — the three log and what they reach

The central defect, and the only one with a numbered threshold. Everything depends on a prior question: does the mikveh already hold its forty se’ah?

Above forty se’ah — nothing invalidates by drawing any more (seif 15). Below — three log suffice, and the seif counts how they arrived: two vessels, three, four, and the initial intention. Rama, seif 3 — entirely drawn: Torah law, stringent doubt; a drawn minority: rabbinic, lenient doubt.

What drawing does not reach: the sponge and the narrow-mouthed bucket whose water did not all come out (seif 16); drawn water merely set beside it (seif 17); water that does not look like water (seif 23); snow, hail, frost, salt and thick mud (seif 30); a drawn mikveh that froze (seif 31). What it reaches though not plain water: pickling water, boiling water, unfermented תמד, dye-water (seif 24).

And the rule of seifim 19 to 22, which is a rule of name and not of substance: three log gathered in one pool name it invalid; a log and a half in each names nothing. Once the name has settled, adding valid water does not erase it — only the going out of “its full measure and more”, or joining with forty valid se’ah.

6. Channelling — המשכה

The device that makes nearly every constructed mikveh possible, and its three conditions.

(1) The quantity — twenty se’ah and a bit already valid, that is, the majority of the forty (seif 44). (2) The length — at least three handbreadths (seif 45). (3) The surface — over the ground, or over a gutter that never bore the name of a vessel; and according to the Rama, over ground fit to absorb (seif 46).

And a fourth condition, which the Rama adds and which is forgotten: the order. First the valid majority, then the channelling. To channel the invalid water first and then bring the valid majority over it helps nothing (Rama, seif 44; Chakh ס״ק צ״ט).

Do not confuse channelling with what accompanies it at seif 48: the water must not be led by something that receives impurity. A detached metal pipe is forbidden; sealed to the ground it is permitted, being nullified to the ground. And seif 49 removes the restriction entirely when the channelling comes from a spring or a mikveh.

7. Contact and joining — השקה and כשפופרת הנאד

How two waters become one water — and by what measure.

The ordinary measure: the neck of a wineskin (seif 52), two fingers turning freely in the hole (seif 40). The leniencies: a hairbreadth, to validate a drawn mikveh (seif 53 by the Mehaber’s letter); a vertical crack of any width, to mix two mikvaot (seif 54); any amount at all, in the cavities of a cave (seif 58) and in a pit whose wall cannot stand of itself (seif 59).

Three clauses that accompany the measure and recur in practice: a moment’s contact suffices and holds forever, even if the hole is stopped afterwards; whatever stands in the hole narrows it, even something formed of water; and a doubt about the width is a doubt that invalidates (seif 52 — and the Arukh HaShulchan gives the reason: measures are a law of Moshe from Sinai).

Seif 55 gives the lesson as a picture: three pools of twenty se’ah, two valid and one drawn. The drawn one at the side — all three become valid. The drawn one in the middle — none does. It is not quantity that joins, it is the path.

8. Flowing away — זוחלין

A mikveh losing its water loses not merely volume: it may lose its status.

Seif 50 — a breached wall and water going out through the crack: if forty se’ah remain up to the crack, valid; if not, invalid, for that is flowing. Seif 51 — but a slow drip, or slow absorption into the ground, is not flowing: it is not perceptible. Rama, seif 50 — and water that goes out a little and returns is likewise not flowing.

And the exception of the spring: the Rama writes that all this applies only to a mikveh that does not come from a spring; if it comes from a spring, flowing is no concern. This is the regime of seif 2, applied here.

And seif 60 lays down the general rule of flowing against joining: a rush passing through three hollows does not make them one mikveh — שאין הנזחלין מערבים אלא אם כן עמדו.

9. The immersion itself

After sixty seifim on water, six seifim on the act.

Seif 61 — one who binds his hands and feet: if the water entered by way of all of him, he is pure. Seif 62 — do not jump, do not immerse twice in a row in the exact measure. Seifim 63–64 — vessels, the thick garment, the mattress: lower by the mouth, raise by the bottom. Seif 66 — water that spreads: gather it with stones or bundles of wood, never with vessels.

The Rama’s gloss at seif 66, and it is of constant practice: even if her body can be covered, if the water is not deep to the navel and a זרת above it, she does not immerse לכתחלה — lest she not immerse properly. Failing another mikveh and unable to remedy it, she may lie flat, provided her body is covered at once.

10. Doubt — ספק מים שאובים

Eight seifim, one rule, and three ways in which it closes again.

The rule (seif 67): a doubt about drawn water is pure, at three levels — did drawn water fall in? were there three log? were there forty se’ah at the moment it fell? And its extension (seifim 68, 72): one attributes to the pool that can bear it, יש לו במה יתלה.

The three ways the leniency closes again: (1) when the invalid is manifest — הפסול מוכיח (seif 70); (2) when the doubt is about the person and not the water, the presumption of impurity standing (seif 71); (3) when a general presumption has already decided — every mikveh that is found is invalid (seif 74).

And the condition the Chakh places upon this whole leniency, at ס״ק קמ״א: it presupposes that the majority of the mikveh be valid water. Otherwise, for one who holds like the Rama, it is a Torah doubt.

11. The measures of the siman — to be known by heart

Five figures govern the whole siman. They are not deduced: they are remembered.

Measure	What it is	Where it serves
ארבעים סאה	One אמה by one אמה by three אמות high — 44,118 thumb-fingerbreadths, and half a one more	Seif 1; and everywhere, as the threshold above which drawing no longer invalidates
שלושה לוגין	One three-hundred-and-twentieth of the forty se’ah — the Taz gives the reckoning at ס״ק כ״ט	Seifim 15 to 24, 29, 44: the threshold that invalidates a deficient mikveh
עשרים ואחת סאה	The majority of the forty se’ah	Seif 4: the mikveh kept by a non-Jew; and by extension the valid majority in channelling
כשפופרת הנאד	The width of two fingers turning freely in the hole	Seifim 7, 9, 40, 52, 54, 57, 59: the measure of every joining
שלושה טפחים	The minimum length of the run over the ground	Seif 45: the measure of המשכה
רום קליפת השום	The thickness of a garlic peel	Seif 54: the height of a breach at the top of a wall between two mikvaot

12. The golden rules

1. It is not the water that purifies, it is the gathered mass. Forty se’ah in which a whole body disappears at once — below that, nothing counts; above it, quantity adds nothing (seif 1).

2. Three defects, and only three: drawn, in a vessel, flowing away. All the rest of the siman defines those three words.

3. The threshold of forty se’ah changes everything. Below it, three drawn log invalidate; above it, a thousand drawn se’ah do not (seifim 15, 24).

4. A spring repairs what quantity does not. A spring, however slight, validates a far greater body of drawn water (seif 11); adding valid water to an invalid pool does not repair it, joining it does (seif 21).

5. Order matters. First the valid majority, then the channelling; the reverse helps nothing (Rama, seif 44).

6. A doubt about drawing is lenient, a doubt about a person is not. The water has the benefit of the doubt because the defect is only rabbinic; the impure remains in his presumption until certainty (seifim 67 and 71).

7. None of this is decided alone. A mikveh is built, measured and watched under the authority of a Rav; these pages set out the source, they do not validate a pool.

13. The classic pitfalls

What one supposes	What the siman says
Plenty of clean water is better than a little rainwater.	No: ואפילו עלו עליה כל מימות שבעולם עדיין היא בטומאתה (seif 1). Quantity does not purify; gathering does.
Tap water is drawn water, so it is never valid.	Wrong in both directions. It is drawn, but above forty valid se’ah it no longer invalidates (seif 15); and channelled over the ground with a valid majority already present, it is valid from the start (seif 44).
An invalid mikveh is repaired by adding rainwater.	No: seif 21 says so expressly — it remains in its invalidity until the water goes out. What repairs it is joining with forty valid se’ah.
A log and a half here and a log and a half there make three log.	No: seif 19 rules that the name of invalidity settled on neither of them, and their joining does not retroactively create what never existed.
Melted snow and snow are the same thing.	No: the Chakh at ס״ק ע׳ specifies that snow escapes drawing only if it was put into the mikveh as snow.
A river is a spring, so one may always immerse in it.	Seif 2 distinguishes: if the rainwater prevails, the river falls back to the regime of rain. The Rama tolerates the lenient custom; the Arukh HaShulchan adds that it must be a river that does not run dry.
When in doubt, be lenient, since drawing is rabbinic.	Three limits: the manifest invalid (seif 70), a doubt about the person (seif 71), and the presumption of the found mikveh (seif 74). And the Chakh at ס״ק קמ״א further requires that the majority of the pool be valid.
The heated mikveh is a modern convenience.	Seif 75 brings the prohibition and the Rama the lenient; the Arukh HaShulchan writes that in all his lands it has been heated for several generations. The custom is old and it is supported.

14. Checklist — inspecting a mikveh, in order

This list authorises no one to validate a mikveh: it says in what order the questions arise, and to which seif each refers. Validation belongs to the Rav.

Where does the water come from? Spring, rain, river, mains — the regime depends on it (seifim 2, 5, 11).
Are there forty se’ah, and will forty remain when a body enters? (seif 1).
Is the water in a vessel, or in something with a vessel’s status? A vat, a hollowed stone, a container — and if perforated, where and of what size (seifim 6, 7, 34, 40).
By what did the water arrive? Channelled over the ground for at least three handbreadths, with the valid majority already in place — and in that order (seifim 44, 45, 46).
Through what does it pass? Nothing that receives impurity, unless sealed to the ground (seif 48).
How do the pools communicate? The width of a wineskin-neck, nothing standing in the hole, and no doubt about the width (seif 52).
Is water leaving? A visible leak, a crack, an overflow — and up to where forty se’ah remain (seifim 50, 51).
Is the level stable? A pool presumed to diminish requires a measurement before each use (seif 65).
Who answers for it? A mikveh for which no one answers is invalid by presumption (seif 74). The attendant and the Rav are not formalities: they are the answer to that seif.

To go further:

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DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
תלמיד חכם · מעביר שיעורים בהלכה ובחסידות
סימן ר״א · Level 3 Synthesis · דיני המקוה ומימיו
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