Wie werden vier [unrein]? Gefäße, die eine Leiche berühren, und eine Person, die diese Gefäße berührt, und [mehr] Gefäße, die diese Person berühren, sind alle sieben Tage lang unrein. Das vierte [Objekt, das den zweiten Satz von Gefäßen berührt], unabhängig davon, ob es sich um eine Person oder ein Gefäß handelt, wird bis zum Abend unrein. Rabbi Akiva sagte: Ich kenne einen Fall mit einem fünften. Ein Zeltpfosten, der in einem Zelt steckt [in dem sich eine Leiche befindet], das Zelt und der Pfosten sowie eine Person, die den Pfosten berührt, und Gefäße, die die Person berühren, sind alle sieben Tage lang unrein. Das fünfte [Objekt, das diese Gefäße berührt], unabhängig davon, ob es sich um eine Person oder ein Gefäß handelt, wird bis zum Abend unrein. Sie sagten zu ihm [zu Rabbi Akiva]: Das Zelt zählt nicht.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כיצד ארבעה – vessels that come in contact with a corpse are progenitors of the primary sources of ritual impurity like it (i.e., a corpse). But a person [who is defiled] with utensils [which came in contact with a corpse becomes] a primary source of ritual impurity/אב הטומאה. And vessels [that were defiled by a corpse that came in contact with a person, is also a primary source of ritual impurity, like the person himself, as it is written (Numbers 31:24): “On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes and be pure, [and after that you may enter the camp],” hence you learned that every person who is defiled for seven days of defilement defiles vessels for a defilement of seven days.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
What is the case of four? Vessels touching a corpse, a person [touching these] vessels, and [other] vessels [touching this] person, are defiled with seven days' defilement. The fourth, whether a person or vessels, is defiled with a defilement [lasting until the] evening. When vessels come into contact with a corpse, they are defiled for seven days (as in yesterday's mishnah). If a person touches these vessels, he is impure for seven days, for they also are a "father of impurity." And the person too is a "father of impurity" and if other vessels touch him, they are impure for seven days.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הרביעי בין אדם בין כלים -become first-degree of ritual impurity. And the say law applies with “How so- for three?” for one is able to teach that a person who comes in contact with a corpse or vessels with a person are defiled with ritual impurity for seven days; the third, whether a person or vessels are defiled with ritual impurity until nightfall, but from the concluding clause [of the Mishnah] for the fourth who are defiled through contact with a corpse, we understand it, that even a person with utensils that came in contact with a corpse and/or vessels that came in contact with a person is taught that there is a period of defilement for seven days. All the more so, a person with the dead himself, or vessels with a [defiled] person, where there is a defilement of ritual impurity for seven days.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Akiva said: I have a fifth, [if] a peg was fixed in a tent, the tent, the peg, a person touching the peg and vessels [touching] the person are defiled with seven days' defilement. The fifth, whether a person or vessels, is defiled with a defilement [lasting until the] evening. They said to him: the tent does not count. However, when it comes to the fourth in the chain, the level of impurity is reduced. So if a person or a vessel has contact with the aforementioned vessel, he or it is impure only until the evening.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
שפוד (a spit) – like a kind of column of metal that is fastened in the tent and upon its end they tie the tent.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Akiva is getting ambitious! He wants to find a series with five elements. A peg is fixed into the ground next to a tent but it is not part of the tent and there is a corpse in the tent. According to Rabbi Akiva, the peg and the tent count as two separate items. The tent overshadows the peg causing it to be impure and Rabbi Akiva counts it like a vessel that overshadows a dead body or touches it. The person who touches the peg is impure and becomes a father of impurity. Any vessels that touch the person are all impure with seven day's impurity. That's four. The person or vessel that touches the aforementioned vessels is impure but only until the evening. The other sages respond that the tent itself does not count. Both the tent and the peg are impure for they are considered to have shadowed over the corpse, and the peg is not impure because of the tent. Therefore, we don't begin the count from the tent, but rather from the peg, in which case there are only four, not five, in this chain.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אין האוהל מתחשב (the tent does not come into consideration)- because the tent does not defile the spit, therefore it is not considered in the number of the order of the defilements, but rather, all that is placed in the tent of the corpse is like it is touching the corpse itself, and there are only four here. Alternatively, even if the spit is not within the tent, but rather that it touches the tent from outside, nevertheless, the tent does not come into consideration in the number of the order of our Mishnah. And this proved further on/ahead in the Chapter "סכום עבה"/The Thick Coarse Woolen Blanket (Chapter 15), in the Mishnah "טבליות של עץ"/Tables of Wood (Mishnah 2).
