1Cimolian earth [ kamonya ], and potash [ eshlag ].
2If one immersed the garment with the stain whose nature is unknown and then handled ritually pure items with the garment, and then applied these seven substances to the stain and it did not disappear, that stain is presumably from a dye, and therefore the ritually pure items are pure, and he need not immerse the garment again, as there is no impurity. If the stain disappeared or if it faded, that is a blood stain, and the ritually pure items that he handled are impure, and he must immerse the garment again.
3What is tasteless saliva? It is saliva that emerges from the mouth of any person who tasted nothing all night, when he first awakens in the morning. Liquid from split beans is created through the chewing of split beans that divided naturally, not by human hand, which is then applied to the stain. The urine that is an effective detergent is specifically urine that fermented for three days.
4And one must rub each and every one of the substances three times over the stain, and one must apply them separately, and one must apply them in the order they are listed in the mishna. If one applied them in a manner that is not in their prescribed order, or if one applied all seven substances simultaneously, he has done nothing. One cannot determine by means of that examination whether it is blood or a dye.
5GEMARA: The Gemara clarifies the identities of the seven substances that remove blood stains. With regard to natron, a Sage taught in a baraita : This is referring to Alexandrian natron, i.e., from the city in Egypt, and not natron from Anpantrin, which is of a different quality.
6The mishna lists borit as one of the seven substances. Rav Yehuda says: This is referring to ice plant. The Gemara raises an objection: But isn’t it taught in a baraita : Borit and ice plant, which indicates that they are two different substances? Rather, what is borit ? Sulfur.
7And the Gemara raises a contradiction from the baraita discussing the halakha of plants whose use is prohibited during the Sabbatical Year: They added to the list of such plants: Bulbs of ornithogalum, and wormwood, and borit , and ice plant. And if it would enter your mind to say that borit is sulfur, is there sulfur that is subject to the halakhot of the Sabbatical Year? But didn’t we learn in a baraita that this is the principle: Anything that has a root and grows is subject to the halakhot of the Sabbatical Year, and anything that does not have a root is not subject to the halakhot of the Sabbatical Year? Rather, what is borit ? It is ice plant. But isn’t it taught in the baraita : And borit and ice plant? The Gemara explains that there are two types of ice plant, one of which is called borit .
8With regard to the Cimolian earth mentioned in the mishna, Rav Yehuda said: This is the earth referred to as: Pull out, stick in. And with regard to the eshlag mentioned in the mishna, Shmuel said: I asked all of the seafarers about the identity of eshlag , and they told me it is called ashlega , in Aramaic, and can be found in the shell of the pearl, and is removed with an iron skewer.
9§ The mishna teaches: If one immersed the garment with the stain whose nature is unknown and then handled ritually pure items with the garment, and then applied these seven substances to the stain and it did not disappear, that stain is a dye, and therefore the ritually pure items are pure, and he need not immerse the garment again, as there is no impurity. The Sages taught in a baraita : If one applied these seven substances to the stain and it did not disappear, but he then applied soap [ tzafon ] and it disappeared, any ritually pure items that he handled with the garment are impure.
10The Gemara raises an objection with regard to this ruling: But soap causes dye to disappear as well; why then should one assume that the stain was blood? Rather, the baraita means that if one applied only six of the seven substances to it and the stain did not disappear, and he then applied soap to the stain and it disappeared, any ritually pure items that he handled with the garment are impure. The reason is that if he had applied all seven substances initially, perhaps the stain would have disappeared, proving that it was blood. Consequently, the garment is rendered impure due to uncertainty.
11It is taught in another baraita : If one applied the seven substances to the stain and it did not disappear, indicating that it is a dye, and he then repeated and applied the seven substances a second time and the stain disappeared, any ritually pure items that he handled with the garment remain ritually pure.
12In explanation of this baraita , Rabbi Zeira says: They taught that the pure items remain pure only with regard to the ritually pure items that were handled between the first washing with the seven substances and the second washing. But with regard to any pure items that were handled with the garment after the second washing, these pure items become impure, as he was particular about it, i.e., by repeating the washing procedure he showed he was concerned that it might be blood, and the stain disappeared, demonstrating that it was in fact blood.