Kommentar zu Oholot 9:13

היתה יושבת על שוליה וכו' טומאה תחתיה או בתוכה או על גבה – everything that is on top of it. As we taught concerning the hive that is sitting on its rims and its mouth is above, that is, that the defilement overshadows outward [to it] above rom its mouth.

Introduction Today's mishnah discusses cases where a complete hive is outside of the house but instead of lying on its side, it is standing straight up, either right side up or upside down.

בוקעת ועולה – even though above (see Mishnah 11) when it is lying on its side, and the defilement is underneath it, or on top of it, it protects what is inside of it, here its wall is above for it doesn’t protect over what is outside of it [also] doesn’t protect on what is within it, since there is no interruption between the airspace that is within it to the airspace that is above and outside of it. But specifically, opposite the olive’s bulk of impurity and not from the sides, since it is damaged and is not a handbreadth above the ground, for there is no tent there to bring the defilement to the sides.

If it was resting on its bottom and it [retained the status of] a vessel: If there is uncleanness below it, within it or above it, the uncleanness cleaves upwards and downwards. If the hive is standing right side up and it is a vessel, meaning it is not defective, nor is it attached to the ground with mortar, the no matter where the impurity is located, it will only travel up and down and not to the sides. Since the hive is open, there is nothing to form a barrier against the impurity, no matter where it is found. If found within the hive, it is not trapped there, because the hive is open.

אבל היתה גבוהה טפח או מכוסה – even though it is not a handbreadth above [the ground].

[In the case where] it was one handbreadth high off the ground or covered or inverted [so as to stand] upon its mouth, if there is uncleanness below it, within it or above it, everything becomes unclean. There are three situations here: 1) the hive is one handbreadth off the ground; 2) it is covered but not with a tightly fitting lid; 3) it is inverted so that the mouth is on the ground. Situations two and three are similar. When the impurity goes up or down it will enter an empty space that is over one cubic handbreadth. Once this happens, the impurity will spread to the entire empty space and then from there it will defile anything above or below the empty space. The same is true if the hive is above the ground by more than a handbreadth. The space below is a cubic handbreadth; once it gets there the impurity will spread to the entire area of the hive, and from there it will defile anything above or below the hive.

או כפאה על פיה (or turned upside down on its mouth) – where there is a tent to bring the defilement.

הכל טמא – and the covering is not considered to interrupt/form a partition between the airspace within it to the airspace that is above it, and it is not similar at all to lying on its side. And specially when it is covered with an inverted vessel – divided into two vessels by the bottom between or with other vessels even though it is not susceptible to receive ritual impurity, but when it is covered by a board, even though the defilement is above it, the defilement does not break through the board, as is taught in the Mishnah above in Chapter 5 [Mishnah 6] concerning a hive which is within the house.