6. [If] a wave that became separated consisted of forty se’ah, and it fell on a person or on utensils, they become tahor. In any place that contains forty se’ah, one can immerse oneself and one can immerse [things]. [Hence,] one may immerse [things] in pits, or in ditches, or in a donkey track that is mingled in the countryside. Beis Shammai say: One may immerse [things] in a river that flows down a mountain. Beis Hillel say: One may not immerse [anything therein]. They agree [however] that one may make an enclosure with utensils and [then] immerse himself therein. But the utensils [themselves] used to make the enclosure are not [deemed as] immersed.

1. Any [water] that mingles with a mikveh is like the mikveh. [In the case of] holes in a cave or cracks in a cave, one may immerse [something] in them however they are. [But in the case of] a dugout [under] a cave, one may not immerse [anything] in it unless there is an opening the size of a waterskin tube. R’ Yehudah said: When [is this so]? When it supports itself. But if it does not support itself, one may immerse [something] in it however it is.

2. [If] a bucket was full of utensils and one immersed them, they become tahor. [But] if he did not [need to] immerse it, [then] the waters are not [considered] mingled, unless they mingle as much as the size of a waterskin tube.

3. [If] there are three mikvaos, one containing twenty se’ah [of rainwater] and another [also] containing twenty se’ah [of rainwater], and the other containing twenty se’ah of drawn water, and the one of drawn water is at the side, and three persons went down and immersed themselves therein and [the waters] became mingled, the mikvaos are tahor and those that immersed themselves therein are tahor. [If] the one of drawn water was in the middle, and three persons went down and immersed themselves therein and [the waters] became mingled, the mikvaos are as they were and those that immersed themselves are as they were.

4. [If] a sponge or bucket contained three lugin of water, and it fell into a mikveh, it does not disqualify it, because all they said was, ‘‘Three lugin that fell in.’’

5. [If] a chest or box was in the sea, one may not immerse [anything] in it unless it has a hole the size of a waterskin tube. R’ Yehudah says: In [the case of] a large vessel — four tefachim; in [the case of] a small vessel — the greater part. If it was a sack or a basket, one may immerse [things] in it however it is, because its water is mingled. [If] they were placed under a pipe, they do not disqualify a mikveh. One may even immerse them and lift them out the usual way.

6. [If] there is a broken earthenware vessel in a mikveh, and one immersed therein utensils, they become purified from their tumah, but they are [still] tamei on account of the earthenware vessel. If the water flowed over it [even] a little, they are tahor. [If] a spring issues forth into an oven, and one went down and immersed himself therein, he becomes tahor, [but] his hands are tamei. If there was [water] above it the height of his hands, [then] his hands too are tahor.

7. The mingling of mikvaos [must be as much] as the size of a waterskin tube, as its thickness and its hole, which is [the area in which] two fingers can rotate. [If] there is a doubt whether there was [as much] as a waterskin tube or whether there was not [as much] as a waterskin tube, it is invalid because it is [required] by Torah law. Similarly, an olive-size of a corpse, and an olive-size of a carcass, and a lentil-size of creeping things. Anything that settles in [the opening that is] the size of a waterskin tube reduces it. R’ Shimon ben Gamliel says: Any [organism] that develops from the water is tahor.

8. One can cause mikvaos to become tahor, an upper one from a lower one and a distant one from a close one. How so? He should bring a pipe of earthenware or of lead, and he should place his hand beneath it until it fills with water, and he should cause it to flow and be connected; even as a hairbreadth is sufficient. [If] the upper one contained forty se’ah and the lower one was empty, one can draw [water, carry it] on his shoulder and place it into the upper one until forty se’ah goes down into the lower one.

9. [If] a wall between two mikvaos was split perpendicularly, they combine; horizontally, they do not combine unless there is the size of a waterskin tube at one place. R’ Yehudah says: Just the opposite! If they are open one to another, [they combine] when the height is as a garlic peel and the width as a waterskin tube.

10. [Regarding] a fixture on the drain of a bathhouse, when it is in the middle it disqualifies [the mikveh], [but] when it is on the side it does not disqualify [the mikveh], because it is like a mikveh next to [another] mikveh. These are the words of R’ Meir. [But] the Sages say: If the bath contained one reviis [of rainwater] before it reached the fixture on the drain, it is valid; if not, it is invalid. R’ Elazar ben R’ Tzaddok says: If the fixture on the drain holds any [water], [the mikveh] is invalid.