Aligned sentence by sentence
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Mishnah [1]
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"He blesses over the day" — that is, the sanctification (*Kiddush*) of the Sabbath or of the festival.
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Beit Shammai give precedence to the *Kiddush* before "Who creates the fruit of the vine," reasoning that were it not for the special distinction of the day, we would have no need for the wine.
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Beit Hillel give precedence to "Who creates the fruit of the vine," reasoning that were it not for the presence of the wine, performing the *Kiddush* would not be possible for us.
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Mishnah [2]
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Beit Hillel say: One does not wash the hands until after filling the cup of blessing. Our concern is that the outer surface of the cup may have become impure through impure liquids; so if one grasps the cup while his hand is moist, the water on his hand is rendered impure by the outer surface of the cup, and his hands are thereby rendered impure through that water upon them.
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But if the hands are dry, they are not rendered impure by a cup whose status in matters of impurity is as we have described.
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Beit Shammai, however, hold that a cup of this description may not be handled at all; and the reason Beit Shammai require that the hands be washed before the *Kiddush* is: lest your hands be impure and so render impure the liquids that are on the cup, and those liquids in turn render the cup impure.
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Now the fundamentals of all these matters — I mean impurity of the hands and impurity of liquids, and how vessels are rendered impure from their outer surface alone, and how liquids may be rendered impure while a person is not rendered impure — these we cannot expound for you here, for the detailed treatment of that would not fit in ten folios.
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Rather, you may grasp the whole of it in its proper places in tractates Tohorot, Parah, Mikva'ot, Yadayim, and Tevul Yom; and from what you will find of our discussion across all these tractates, these fundamentals will be established.
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Mishnah [3]
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"They sweep the room" — one cleans the room, that is, one removes the crumbs that have fallen from the food.
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All agree that if there is a crumb the size of an olive remaining, washing is not permitted until it has been removed.
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Beit Shammai say: It is permitted to make use of a servant who is an *am ha-aretz*, who does not know what to remove; and only then is washing permitted. For this reason they say: until the place has been swept entirely, and only then does one wash.
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Beit Hillel do not permit making use of a servant who is an *am ha-aretz*; for this reason they say: the servant himself does not wash the hands until he has removed everything the size of an olive. And the law follows Beit Shammai.
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Mishnah [4]
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The explanation of *meqaneaḥ*: one dries. And *mappah*: the napkin. And *keset*: the cushion upon which one reclines, whether of wool, or silk, or linen.
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Beit Shammai say: lest the cushion be impure and render impure the liquids that are on the napkin, and whoever takes hold of that napkin will have his hands rendered impure.
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Beit Hillel say: lest the table be impure and render impure the liquids that are on the napkin, and these render the diners impure.
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Beit Shammai say: a table of this description may not be handled at all. This too proceeds entirely according to the fundamentals set out in the tractates I have mentioned to you.
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Mishnah [5]
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It has been clarified in the Talmud that this anonymous teaching is that of R. Meir. As for R. Yehudah, he holds that all agree that the Grace after Meals comes first and the *Havdalah* last, and that Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed only over giving precedence to the lamp over the spices: for Beit Shammai give precedence to the lamp, while Beit Hillel give precedence to the spices.
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What required that he include the Grace after Meals together with the *Havdalah* was to teach you, within the fold of his words, how the proper order runs when one begins eating on the Sabbath but does not finish until after the Sabbath has departed;
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and second, that he had at the opening of the chapter taken up what is between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel concerning a meal, and so he did not mention their dispute over the *Havdalah* until he joined the meal together with the *Havdalah*.
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Mishnah [6]
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You already know the text of the Torah that one may not derive benefit from anything belonging to idolatry — namely His saying, exalted is He, "Let nothing of the proscribed thing cling to your hand" (Deut 13:18).
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A lamp of gentiles — one may not recite *Havdalah* over it, because it did not rest, that is, was not idle during the Sabbath; and the principle with us is: a flame that did not rest [over the Sabbath], one does not bless over it.
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And spices of gentiles — one may not bless over them, because all their affairs are bound up with the occasions of idolatry and its appurtenances. "Until they are fit" — until one may derive benefit from it, and only then may the blessing be recited over it at the close of the Sabbath.
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Mishnah [7]
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"Until the food is digested" — the food is broken down; and the measure of that lasts so long as one has not grown hungry after that meal of his.
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And when there is more than that, all agree that one returns to one's place.
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Mishnah [8]
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It may read either "recites" or "responds" — the sense is one and the same, for the point is that one does not answer "Amen" when a *Kuti* recites a blessing until one hears the entire blessing to which one is responding "Amen."
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And here we shall explain to you who the *Kutim* are. It is this: the peoples whom Sennacherib brought from Kutah and settled in the cities of Samaria — Scripture bore witness concerning them, "They feared the Lord… they served their own gods" (2 Kings 17:33).
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Yet the period grew long with them until they learned the Torah and took it according to its plain sense; and the commandments to which they held fast, they would be punctilious about and uphold with great firmness. It was the well-known view of them that they held to the [true] religion and affirmed God's unity and did not worship idols —
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until the Sages investigated them and found them venerating Mount Gerizim. So they inquired into the cause of this, and found in that mountain, belonging to them, the image of a dove; whereupon it became known that they were idolaters. At that point they reduced them to the status of full gentiles in every respect.
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So everything you find in the Mishnah among the rulings concerning the *Kutim* that indicate they are higher than gentiles and lower than Israel — such as their statement "we may form a *zimmun* with a *Kuti*," and "a *Kuti* who recites a blessing," and the like — all that is from before they were investigated.
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But from the time they were investigated and found to be as we have described, they are far lower than the gentiles. Know this; and we shall not take refuge in repeating this principle every time a *Kuti* is mentioned.