Once a perforation has been made through which to suck out the contents of a soft-roasted egg, the remainder of the shell is not considered as connected to it. When an egg has been cooked, its shell is considered as connected to it until it is shattered. If the shell has been spiced, even if it is shattered entirely, it is still considered as connected.
When a bone contains marrow, the bone is considered as connected to the marrow until it is shattered. The wool on the heads of sheep and the hair on a goat's beard even when charred with fire are still considered as connected to the food until one begins removing them.
Even though one already passed a knife over the wings of locusts or the scales of fish, they are considered as connected until one begins actually peeling them off. When the seeds of a pomegranate have separated, they are still considered as connected until one strikes it with a reed.
🥚 Shells and Bones
Cracked shells of nuts and almonds remain considered connected to the food until shattered. Eggs retain connection with the shell until it shatters; an egg perforated for sucking loses this connection. Bones with marrow remain connected until shattered. Wool, hair, fish scales, and locust wings remain connected until actively peeled, even after being passed over with a knife.
When one cut a cucumber and placed it on the table, the portions are considered as connected until one begins to separate one from the other. If one begins to separate, a piece and anything that ascends with it is considered as connected. The remainder is not considered as connected. The lower tip is considered as connected to itself and not to the other pieces. When there were two or three cucumbers, one cut each one of them and placed them on the table and began eating one of them, the one he began eating is considered as connected and the others are not considered as connected. Even if he said: "I am eating half in the morning and half in the evening," the half with which he began is considered as connected and the remainder is not considered as connected.
When a person cuts vegetables and the like to cook them, even though he did not finish cutting them to the extent that they were separated, they are no longer considered as connected. Instead, if one piece contracts impurity, the other does not contract impurity even though they remain attached. If one cuts a vegetable to pickle, to cook lightly, or to serve on the table, the pieces are considered as connected, even if he begins to separate what he cut.
The following rules apply when food was divided, but the pieces were still partially attached and an impure person touched one piece. Were he to hold the piece that he touched, the other piece would ascend with it, they are considered as connected. If when one holds the impure piece and lifts it up, the other one would break off and fall, they are not considered as connected. Instead, the second piece is considered as touching the piece that contracted impurity.
🥒 Cut Produce
Cucumber pieces placed on a table remain connected until actively separated. Vegetables cut for cooking are no longer connected even if not fully separated. The key test: if one piece is lifted and the other ascends with it, they are halachically connected. If separated and only partially reattached, they are not connected unless they could still ascend together when held.
The following laws apply whenever leaves or stems are connected to foods. Those that are usually held by their leaves, should be held by their leaves. If they are held by their stalks, they should be held by their stalks. If the food remains hanging from the leaves or the stems, it is considered as connected when touched by a person who immersed in a mikveh that day. Needless to say, this applies to other impurities. Similarly, if a fruit has a part that could be considered as a handle, it should be held by the handle. If it has both leaves and a handle, it should be held by whichever one desires. If it has neither leaves nor a handle, concerning such a situation, our Sages said: If when one holds the impure piece and lifts it up, the other one ascends with it, they are considered connected. If not, they are not considered connected.
When one cut off nuts with their stems when they are soft and joined them together like a rope or joined onions together in a like manner, they are considered as joined. If he begins separating the nuts or cutting off the onions, the remainder are not considered as joined. Even if there were 100 kor left, they are all not considered as connected, because he has indicated that his intent is to undo all of them.
🌿 Stems and Leaves
For foods normally held by their leaves (like lettuce), those leaves determine connection; if held by the stalk, the stalk determines it. A food hanging from its leaves but with leaves no longer connected to the stalk is pure. Foods joined by human arrangement — like nuts strung together or onions braided — are not halachically joined for all purposes.
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How Foods Are Joined: Dough, Pressed Foods, and Stored Olives
When there is a braided chain of garlic heads and liquids fell on one of them, it is impure, but those joined to it are pure. For articles joined together by humans are not considered as joined together for all matters. Similarly, when an esrog was separated into pieces and skewered by a weaving needle or a sliver of wood, the pieces are not considered as joined.
When a dough was kneaded with fruit juice, the portions of the dough are not considered as joined, for the only entities that join food are the seven liquids.
When one crushes foods together and amasses them, e.g., dried figs, dates, or raisins that were amassed and made into a single block, they are not considered as joined. Therefore, when impure liquids fell on a portion of a ring of dried figs, one may remove the portion on which the liquids fell and the remainder is pure.
When olives were stored and combined together in a single mass, they are considered as joined, since at the outset, they were placed in the pit with the intent that their fluids flow from one to another. Therefore if the carcass of a creeping animal was found on a mound of olives, i.e., olives that have become a single mass, even if it touched only a barley-sized portion of the mass, the entire amount is impure, because it is all a single entity. If a person had a mass of olives and he was planning to turn it over, once he inserts the spade into the mass, they are no longer considered as connected even though there are many lumps. If a mass is formed after they were turned over, they are not considered as joined.
When separate foods are all collected in the same place and are clinging to each other, even though they are not considered as joined with regard to the contraction of impurity, and they are not considered as a single mass, as explained, they are still combined to produce the measure of an egg-sized portion to impart impurity to other foods. If the foods were not collected as one mass, but instead were separate like cooked food and legumes, they are not considered as a combined entity even in that context until they are collected and formed into a single mass. When there were many lumps of food, one next to another and a primary source of impurity touched one of them, that lump is considered as a primary derivative of impurity. The lump next to it is considered as a secondary derivative, the one next to the second, a tertiary derivative, and the one next to the third, a derivative of the fourth degree.
If a loaf that was terumah was a primary derivative of impurity became attached to others, they are all considered as primary derivatives. If it was separated, it is considered as a primary derivative and the others, as secondary derivatives. If it was a secondary derivative and it became attached to others, they are all considered as secondary derivatives. If it was separated, it is considered as a secondary derivative and the others, as tertiary derivatives. If it was a tertiary derivative and it became attached to others, it remains a tertiary derivative and they are all considered as pure, whether they were separated or not.
When loaves that are terumah are attached to each other and one of them contracted impurity from the carcass of a crawling animal, they are all considered as primary derivatives even if they are separated afterwards. If one of them contracted impurity from impure liquids, they are all considered as secondary derivatives even if they are separated afterwards. If one contracted impurity from impure hands, they are all considered as tertiary derivatives even if they are separated afterwards. The rationale for this law is that the loaves were a single entity at the time the impurity was contracted.
🫙 Food Masses
Foods kneaded with fruit juice are not joined — only the seven liquids join food. Compressed dried figs, dates, or raisins in a block are not joined despite physical contact. Dates and figs cooked together into a mass are joined. Stored olives in a pit are joined because they were placed together for their fluids to intermingle. Impurity affects the entire joined mass.
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🎓 Key Principles
Chapter 6
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Physical Connection Has Legal Significance Halachically connected food units share impurity status — if part becomes impure, the whole does too.
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The Act of Separation Breaks Connection Once a person begins to actively separate pieces of food, the remaining portions become independent even before fully detached.
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Only the Seven Liquids Create Food Bonds Fruit juice does not create a halachic connection between food portions — only the seven designated liquids can join food pieces into a unified mass.
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Human-Made Connections Are Weaker Foods joined by human arrangement (braided, strung) are not considered fully joined for all halachic purposes, unlike foods naturally or culinarily fused.