Uktzin 2:1-2

Uktzin 2:1

Olive leaves pickled with the olives are ritually clean because they were only pickled for their appearance. The fine hairs and the flower of a cucumber are clean. Rabbi Yehuda says that so long as the cucumber sits before the merchant, they’re unclean.

Uktzin 2:2

All fruit pits are susceptible to impurity and convey impurity but they don’t combine. The pits of fresh dates combine even when removed from the fruit but those of dried dates don’t combine. As a consequence, the skins of dried dates do combine (with the fruit) but those of fresh dates don’t. If a pit is partially detached (i.e., it’s sticking out of the fruit), then only the part that’s near the edible portion combines. Similarly, if there’s flesh on a bone, only the part that’s close to the edible portion combines. If there’s flesh on only one side of a bone, Rabbi Yishmael says we treat it as if the flesh surrounds it all around, while the Sages say that only the part that’s near the edible portion combines, as is the case with various species of hyssop.