Editing Zochlin (section)

==== Dispute Among the Rishonim ====
In this question, there are actually several issues: First, at what level of "flowing" is water considered "zochlin."

# It's possible that the definition of this law is that the water should not be like a spring, where all its water flows from place to place, as derived from the requirement in "Torat Kohanim" on the verse "But a spring or a mikvah, a gathering of water, shall be pure." From the word "but" we learn that only a spring purifies while flowing, but not a mikvah. According to this, perhaps only a mikvah whose entire water flows, similar to a spring, is invalid for immersion, but not a mikvah that has a small hole with only a little of its water escaping.
# That the disqualification of the mikvah depends only on whether all forty se'ah will eventually leave the mikvah.

This is also the opinion of the Rosh, who cites the explanation of the R"Sh that a mikvah is disqualified even with a very small hole, and even though forty se'ah will remain in it, one is now also immersing in the upper waters which are flowing.

The Rosh himself tends to disagree with this opinion because "it is more correct to interpret that it refers to a case where forty se'ah would not remain in the mikvah unless the flow is stopped." However, in practice, it is brought in the Tur in the name of the Rosh that one should be concerned about the opinion of the R"Sh.

Similarly, the Rishonim disagreed whether the disqualification of "zochlin" applies only to those waters that are destined to exit, or to all the mikvah water. The source of the Rishonim's dispute is in understanding the words of Rabbeinu Shimshon about a mikvah whose upper edge was cracked, causing the upper waters to eventually exit. The Rosh holds that the disqualification applies only to the upper waters, but since the upper waters are destined to exit, and one immerses in them, the immersion is considered invalid. In contrast, the Rosh's son - the Tur - explains Rabbeinu Shimshon's reasoning: "since the upper waters are stirred to exit, all of it is considered zochlin." The Mordechai also wrote similarly - "even if there are a thousand se'ah in the mikvah, one must be careful that the water does not rise above the edge of the mikvah because it becomes zochlin."
Description	What you type	What you get
Italic	''Italic text''	Italic text
Bold	'''Bold text'''	Bold text
Bold & italic	'''''Bold & italic text'''''	*Bold & italic text*