Kommentar zu Oholot 5:11

תנור שהוא עומד בתוך הבית – the incision that is made in the oven that the smoke leaves from it is placed outside of the house.

[With regard to] an oven which stood in a house, with its outlet curved to the outside [of the house], and those burying a corpse overshadowed it: The mishnah describes an oven that is inside a house, but whose outlet curves and opens to the outside of the house. The outlet is the hole in the bottom of the oven that lets air in and ashes out. It seems that a pipe has been affixed to the hole to lead it outside. Outside of the house, people carrying a corpse for burial overshadow (create an ohel) the pipe.

והאהילו עליו נושאי המת – when they would carry the corpse to bury it, the corpse overshadowed over the “eye” (i.e., fire-place] [which is outside the house.

Bet Shammai says: all becomes unclean. Bet Shammai says that everything that is in the house becomes impure. The impurity is considered as entering the oven and since the oven is in the house, the contents of the house are impure.

בית שמאי אומרים הכל טמא – for they (i.e., the House of Shammai) hold that the defilement enters into the oven through its “eye (i.e., fire place) and departs through its mouth into the house.

Bet Hillel says: the oven becomes unclean, but the house remains clean. Bet Hillel limits the impurity to the oven itself, because they hold that the impurity does not escape from the oven into the house.

התנור טמא והבית טהור – the oven which overshadowed the corpse on part of it is impure, but the house is ritually pure, for the defilement does not go out through its mouth [according to the School of Hillel].

Rabbi Akiva says: even the oven remains clean. Rabbi Akiva is even more lenient. Even the oven is impure because they overshadowed the pipe and not the oven itself.

ר' עקיבא אומר אף התנור טהור – for since it (i.e., the corpse) did not overshadow over the oven but only on the “eye” (i.e., fire-place) that comes out from it, the oven is not impure. But the Halakha is according to the School of Hillel.

ארובה (the opening/aperture in the roof looking to the ground floor) – like a kind of window that is on the roof of the house which is the bottom of the upper chamber.

[With regard to] a hatch between the house and the upper story, if there was a pot placed over it and it was perforated [by a hole of sufficient size] to admit liquid: The opening between the house and the upper story has an earthenware pot placed over it. The pot cannot itself become impure because it is of earthenware. However, the pot has a hole in it large enough to let in a liquid and therefore the pot does not offer protection to the pure things in it, even if it is tightly sealed (see Kelim end of chapter 9). Just as we had three opinions in yesterday's mishnah with regard to the oven, today we have three opinions as to whether impurity in the house goes up through the pot into the upper story.

בכונס משקה – when they place the vessel on the liquids that enter, the liquids enter into it through that incision.

Bet Shammai says: all becomes unclean. Bet Shammai holds that since the pot is perforated it does not prevent the impurity from going up to the second story. The contents of both stories are impure.

הכל טמא – if there is defilement in the house, the pot and everything that is on the upper chamber is ritually impure. For the pot does not protect, and the defilement ascends through the aperture which has an opening of a handbreadth.

Bet Hillel says: the pot becomes unclean but the upper story remains clean. Bet Hillel says that since the pot has a hole large enough to admit liquids, it cannot protect its contents from becoming impure. However, for the impurity to go up to the second story the hole must be a handbreadth wide. Since this hole is much smaller, the contents of the second story remain clean.

ובית הלל אומרים הקדירה טמאה – it is a mere stringency that the School of Hillel is strict to invalidate to make the pot impure, for Rabbi Akiba holds that the pot protects over the defilement, as for example that the back of the pot faces downward near the defilement, for an earthenware vessel is not susceptible to receive ritual defilement rom its back. But the Halakha is according to the School of Hillel.

Rabbi Akiva says: all remains clean. Rabbi Akiva says that the pot is considered to be in the second story and not in the first. Therefore, even the contents of the pot remain clean. As was the case in yesterday's mishnah, Rabbi Akiva seems to make a conscious attempt to rule leniently.

מצלת על הכל – [if affords protection] on everything that is in the upper chamber, for it interposes in front of the defilement.

If [the pot] was whole:
Bet Hillel says: it protects all [from uncleanness].
A vessel of earthenware can protect everything [in it from contracting impurity], according to Beth Hillel.
Bet Shammai says: it protects only food, drink and earthenware vessels.
But Beth Shammai says: “It protects only food and liquids and [other] vessels of earthenware.”
Bet Hillel changed their opinion and taught as Bet Shammai.
Beth Hillel said to them: “Why?”
Beth Shammai said to them: “Because it is [itself] impure with respect to an ignoramus, and no impure vessel can screen [against impurity].”
Beth Hillel said to them: “And did you not pronounce pure the food and liquids inside it?”
Beth Shammai said to them: “When we pronounced pure the food and liquids inside it, we pronounced them pure for him [the ignoramus] only, but when you pronounced the vessel pure you pronounced it pure for yourself and for him.”
Then Beth Hillel changed their mind and taught according to the opinion of Beth Shammai.
Section one: In this scenario instead of the pot having a hole in it, as it did in yesterday's mishnah, it is whole. According to Bet Hillel (at least at first) the pot protects the contents of the upper story from becoming impure.
Section two: Bet Shammai holds that the pot only protects things that cannot be purified in a mikveh, such as food, drink or earthenware vessels. Things that can be purified in a mikveh are not protected. The reason for this is a bit complicated and is explained more thoroughly in Eduyot 1:14. Below, to aid in understanding today's mishnah, I have replicated that mishnah in its entirety and I have also replicated my commentary (which I wrote over 8 years ago!). Note that in both mishnayot Bet Hillel changes their opinion and rules like Bet Shammai.
According to Numbers 19:15, a clay vessel that is covered with a lid prevents impurity from entering inside of it. If this vessel is found in a room with a dead body, which would normally cause everything in the room to be impure, the clay vessel and all that is inside of it does not contract the impurity. Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel argue about what types of things which may be inside the clay vessels are not impure. According to Beth Hillel any object inside the vessel is pure. Beth Shammai holds that only food, liquids and other clay vessels remain pure; non-clay vessels would be impure.
Beth Shammai explains that we can assume that the clay vessel has been touched by an ignoramus (am haaretz), a person who does not strictly know or observe the laws of ritual purity. It is assumed that the am haaretz makes the vessel impure. Since an impure vessel does not prevent the impurity from entering, the things inside of it are impure.
Beth Hillel responds to Beth Shammai by pointing out that they did indeed accept that the food and liquids inside the vessel were pure. If the clay vessel does not prevent impurity from entering, why should anything inside of it remain pure?
To this question Beth Shammai responds that when they stated that the food and liquids were pure they meant for the am haaretz himself and not for the haver (a person who scrupulously observes the laws of purity and indeed eats only pure food). Beth Shammai assumes that a haver will not borrow any of these things from an am haaretz, since they cannot be made pure (a clay vessel cannot be cleansed of its impurity). Therefore Beth Shammai can pronounce these things clean, knowing that they will never come into the hands of a haver. However, when Beth Hillel pronounced everything inside pure, they were in essence declaring it pure for both the am haaretz and the haver. Beth Hillel had implied that even metal vessels, inside the clay vessel, remained pure. A haver might borrow metal vessels from an am haaretz, with the intent of immersing them to cleanse them of their impurities. However, this immersion will only cleanse them from light impurities and not from impurity contracted from a dead body. Therefore, a haver might borrow them thinking that he could cleanse them and in reality he could not. Due to this problem, Beth Hillel retracted their opinion and taught like Beth Shammai.

אינה מצלת אלא על האוכלים ועל המשקים ועל כלי חרס – he (i.e., the School of Shammai) is speaking about the pot of those who are illiterate. And the reason of the School of Shammai is that the vessels of the illiterate/עם הארץ are impure in regard to a person who a חבר/member of the order for the observance of Levitical laws in daily intercourse, and every impure vessel does not interpose in front of the defilement. And because the illiterate holds his vessels as pure, we state to him that he protects over food and drink and earthenware vessels that are in the upper chamber, that for himself alone that we declare them pure, for those who are members of the order for the observance of Levitical laws in daily intercourse are separate/keep aloof from them and from their contact, for without this, all of their food would be impure. But the other vessels that have purification in a ritual bath/Mikveh, if they will purify them, he (the person who is illiterate) can lend them to a חבר and he would use them with immersion [in a Mikveh] alone, without sprinkling [of ashes] on the third and seventh days.

לגין (a vessel smaller than a pitcher but larger than a cup/flask) – of wood or of metal that is placed in this upper chamber that the pot is placed on the mouth of its aperture in the roof looking to the ground floor.

[With regard to] a flagon that is full of pure liquid, the flagon is defiled with seven days' impurity but the liquid remains clean. But if one poured it out into another vessel, it becomes unclean. In this scenario there is a flagon (a small jar) made of metal or wood that is found in the upper story of a house where a pot is blocking the hatch and there is a source of corpse impurity in the lower story. Our mishnah rules like Bet Shammai (and like Bet Hillel after they too began to rule like Bet Shammai). Since this flagon can be purified in a mikveh, it is defiled by the corpse impurity found in the bottom floor. The liquid remains clean. However, if he pours the liquid out into another vessel that is found in the upper story, the liquid is defiled by contact with the other vessel.

הלגין טמא טומאת שבעה – that the pot does not protect over a wooden vessel or a metal vessel as we have stated.

If a woman was kneading [in the upper story] at a trough, the woman and the trough become unclean with seven days impurity, but the dough remains clean But if one turned it out into another vessel, it becomes unclean. In this scenario, a woman is found kneading in the upper story. The woman and the kneading trough are impure because they can be cleansed in a mikveh. However, the dough cannot be cleansed in a mikveh so it is pure. Again, if he moves the dough to another vessel, it too is unclean.

והמשקים טהורים – that the pot protects over foods and liquids.

Bet Hillel changed their opinion and taught as Bet Shammai. Bet Hillel would have originally opposed the above halakhot, but they changed their mind and ruled like Bet Hillel, just as they did in yesterday's mishnah.

ואם פינה (if she emptied it) – these liquids to another vessel that is the same upper chamber, the other vessel defiles them, for all of the vessels that are in the upper chamber are impure except for earthenware vessels. But the first vessel that the liquids were in are not defiled even though it (i.e., the vessel) is impure with ritual impurity for seven days. For if you said so, if so, the pot that is in the aperture in the roof looking to the ground does not protect over liquids at all, and we state that it protects over food and liquids.

האשה והערבה טמאים (the woman and the trough are impure) – for the earthenware pot protects them.

והבצק טהור – for the pot protects over the foods. And especially all the while that she did not separate from it, but if she lifted up [her] two hands from it and returned and kneaded it, this defiles the dough.

כלי גללים – of excrement of cattle.

If [lying over the hatch] there were vessels made of dung, vessels of stone, or vessels of [unbaked] earth, everything [in the upper story] remains clean. Vessels made of dung, stone or unbaked earth cannot become impure. Such vessels protect everything from becoming impure, even things that can be purified in a mikveh. Therefore, everything in the upper story is pure.

כלי אבנים וכלי אדמה – al of these are vessels, even in the hand of illiterate people they are pure, and if they are placed upon the aperture in the roof looking to the ground fall, it protects over everything even on the vessels which require only rinsing to be restored to Levitical cleanness.

If it was a vessel known to be clean for holy things or for [the water of] purification, everything remains clean, since everyone is trusted with [regard to matters of] purification. Even amei haaretz (people who are not generally scrupulous concerning matters of purity) are trustworthy if they claim that the purity of a certain vessel was preserved in order to use it for something holy or for the waters of purification. In other words, the assumption is that these people were not careful about matters of purity when it came to daily life; but in regards to the Temple, they were careful. Since we can assume that these vessels are pure, they protect everything in the upper story from being defiled.

היה כלי טהור לקודש ולחטאת – for the Rabbis appointed them to the illiterate people on the Holy Things, in order that each person would not go and build an altar for himself, therefore, the vessel that is pure for Holy Things protects on everything, even according to the School of Shammai, and similarly, they are deemed faithful on the sin-offering of the ashes of the Red Heifer, as it is written (Numbers 19:9): “[A man who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a pure place,] to be kept [for water of lustration] for the Israelite community,” everyone is believed on its preservation.

For clean vessels and earthenware vessels that are [known to be] clean protect with the walls of ‘tents'. The language of this section is a bit awkward. Albeck explains it in the following manner. Just as vessels that cannot become impure and have a tightly covered lid prevent impurity from entering, because they are like earthenware vessels (called "pure" because they cannot be defiled from the outside) which protect their contents when they have a tightly covered lid, so too all pure vessels protect against impurity together with the walls of the houses ("tents") in cases where the vessels are on top of the hatch.

מפני שהכלים טהורים – as for example, vessels of excrement and vessels of stones and vessels of earth which are pure from being susceptible to receive impurity. And similarly, earthenware vessels are pure when they are for Holy Things and for purification [water]. Even though they belong to an illiterate person, he is believed, for an illiterate person is believed for Holy Things and for purification [water] as we have stated.

כל אלו מצילין עם דפנות אוהלים – that is to say, they interpose in the face of defilement when they are placed in a place where there are walls of tents, and this aperture in the roof looking to the ground floor that is between the house and the upper chamber is considered like the walls of tents. But in a place where there are no walls, it does not protect, as will be explained further on (see the next Mishnah).

הבור והדות שבבית (a cistern and a subterranean masoned cellar that are in the house) – and the corpse is in the house and vessels are in the cistern and cellar, and there is someone who seizes the partitions that are around them. Both a בור/cistern and a דות/cellar are in the ground, but the cistern [is made] through digging and the cellar [is made] through building/masonry.

Introduction At the end of yesterday's mishnah we learned that pure vessels protect against impurity together with the walls of an ohel. Today's mishnah illustrates how this rule works.

וכפישה (an inverted vessel divided into two compartments by the bottom between – put on it as a tight lid) – a large basket that they press/squeeze the olives to produce shrinking and maturing of fruits by underground storage/לכומרן and it holds forty Se’ah or more, and is not susceptible to receive ritual impurity and is placed on the cistern or on the cellar.

How so? If there was a cistern or a cellar in a house and a large basket was placed over it, [the contents of the cistern or cellar] remain clean. The basket described here is not susceptible to impurity. If there is a source of corpse impurity in the house, the basket protects the contents of the cistern or cellar from becoming impure.

טהור – everything that is in them is [pure] since there are partitions there.

But if it was a well [with its upper edge] level [with the ground] or a deficient beehive upon which the basket was placed, [the contents] become unclean. As we shall learn in section four, for the basket to stop the impurity it must have walls and join with the walls of the house/ohel. If the well is even with the ground then it has no walls and therefore the basket does not offer a barrier to the impurity. In this case there are no "walls of an ohel" with which the walls of the basket can join. The second case is that of a basket placed over a beehive. The beehive may look like an ohel, because it is not stopped up (this is one explanation of the word "deficient"). However, the beehive is not actually treated like an "ohel" but rather like a vessel. Therefore, there are no "walls of an ohel" with which the basket can join in order to prevent the impurity from entering.

באר חלקה – that the mouth of the well is level to the ground of the house and there is no partition around it, for here there are no walls.

If it was a smooth board or netting without rims, [the contents] remain clean. A smooth board or a piece of netting that has no rims/solid sides is not considered to be a vessel. They are not susceptible to impurity. If one of these items is placed on top of a well or a cellar it protects the contents of the well or cellar from being defiled by the impurity in the house.

או כוורת פחותה (a broken beehive) – as for example large beehive that holds forty Se’ah, that is not susceptible to receive ritual impurity. But it is broken, and is not stuffed up with straw.

For vessels cannot protect along with walls of an ohel unless they themselves have walls. As we learned in section two above, the ohel must have walls for the vessel to protect from impurity.

וכפישה נתונה עליו – on the mouth of the cistern or on the mouth of the beehive.

How much must the wall be? A handbreadth. If there was half a handbreadth on one side and half a handbreadth on the other, it is not [considered] a wall, as there must be a whole handbreadth on one object. The walls must be at least a handbreadth high. It does not count if one side is half a handbreadth and the other side is also half a handbreadth. There must be at least one handbreadth in one place for it to count as the wall of an ohel.

טמא – for it does not protect other than with the walls of tents, but a cistern lacks walls, and the walls of a beehive are not the walls of tents.

היה נסר חלק (if it was a smooth board) – that tis is not a vessel.

או סרידה שאין לה גפיים (or stuffed matting used for stoppers of stoves which lacks handles) -which have no partitions and it is not considered a vessel.

טהור – if they are placed on a smooth well or on a broken beehive, they protect and are ritually pure. For specifically, the inverted vessel divided into two compartments by the bottom between is a vessel but does not protect other than with the walls of tents, but a board and stuffed matting which lack handles, that are not vessels, protect without the walls of tents. A stuffed matting used for stoppers of stoves, is like a small wooden trough that the baker uses. גפניים/handles are anchors and handles.

חצי טפח מכאן וחצי טפח מכאן – for a vessel does not protect in a smooth well, that is in a vessel which lack walls one handbreadth [high], but if the vessel has walls that are a handbreadth, it protects over the cistern even though its walls do not protrude at all, and now it is stated that half of handbreadth of a vessel and half of a handbreadth of the walls of a cistern do not combine. And the כפישה/(basket) inverted vessel divided into two parts by the bottom between where they squeeze the fruits that we mentioned above, that if it is placed on a smooth well, it does not protect, we are speaking that it doesn’t have walls [at the height of] a handbreadth.

כשם שמצילים מבפנים – with the walls of tents, so they protect from the outside with walls of tents as I explain further on [in this Mishnah].

Just as they protect inside so they protect outside. In the previous mishnayot we learned that vessels can prevent the spread of uncleanness when they join together with the walls of the ohel. In today's mishnah we learn that sometimes they can protect outside of an ohel as well.

על יתדות מבחוץ – near the wall that will not be continuous from the wall [for a handbreadth] and then it is considered a tent to interrupt between the defilement that is underneath it to the vessels that are over it. And specifically with regard to the wall of the house that this wall was made into a tent, the basket/inverted vessel is considered a tent to interrupt, but the wall of a courtyard and/or a garden is not made into a tent, the basket is not considered a tent to interrupt [the flow of defilement].

How so? In the case of a large basket supported on pegs on the outside [of an ohel], If there was uncleanness beneath it, vessels in the basket remain clean. But if it was [next to] the wall of a courtyard or of a garden, it does not protect. Here the basket is outside of the ohel and it is supported in the air on pegs alongside a tent (or other tent-like structure). The basket protects its contents from the impurity that is beneath it as long as the wall of the ohel is at least one handbreadth high. However, this is true only if the wall was made as part of an ohel, meaning a roofed structure, such as a house. If the wall was part of a courtyard or garden, a non-roofed structure, the wall does not count as part of an ohel. And the basket itself is not sufficient to prevent the impurity from entering from below because vessels do not count as an "ohel" to prevent impurity from entering from below. Therefore, the contents of the basket are unclean.

וקדירה תלויה בה – it is proven in the Tosefta {Tractate Ohalot, Chapter 6, Halakha 5 and 6) that if the rims of the pot are pulled from the rims of the beam and outward with an opening of a handbreadth, no one disagrees that it does not protect, and vessels that are in the pot are ritually impure, but the lip of the pot is attached to the beam, no one disagrees that it protects and is ritually pure. Where they disagree is where it is drawn from the beam and there isn’t an opening of a handbreadth. Rabbi Akiba says that it protects and they are pure, whereas the Sages state that it doesn’t protect and they are impure. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.

[In the case of] a beam placed across from one wall to an other, with a pot hanging from it, if there was uncleanness beneath it, Rabbi Akiva declares the vessels inside it to be clean, But the sages declare them unclean. According to the interpretation of this dispute found in the Tosefta, the pot is one handbreadth from the beam. In such a case, Rabbi Akiva holds that the beam serves to seal the pot because the pot is open less than a handbreadth. The other sages say that since the pot is open, it does not protect its contents. However, all agree that if the pot is further than a handbreadth away, its contents are impure and all agree that if the pot is right up against the beam, that its contents are pure.