If the hatch does not have a handbreadth's space, if there is impurity in the house opposite the hatch is pure. If there is impurity opposite the hatch, the house is pure. If the impurity is inside the house and he placed his foot on top of it, he is pure. If the impurity is opposite the hatch and he placed his foot on top of it, Rabbi Meir declares him impure but the Sages say if the impurity preceded his foot he is impure, but if his foot preceded the impurity he is pure. Rabbi Shimon says, two feet, one on top of the other, that preceded the impurity, if the first withdrew his foot and the second foot was still there it is pure because the first foot came before the impurity.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אין בארבה פותח פתח – surely it comes to tell us that with less than a handbreadth we don’t say that with defilement there is a joining/לבוד (i.e., that two solid surfaces are considered to be joined if there is a gap of less than three handbreadths between them).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If the hatchway does not have an opening of a square handbreadth: Our mishnah discusses a case where the hatchway is less than a handbreadth square.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
נתן את רגלו – the person who sets [his foot] is pure, for it resembles something concealed concerning it, for the defilement does not enter into the tent and doesn’t leave from it with less than an opening of a handbreadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If there is uncleanness in the house, what is directly [below] the hatchway remains clean. Even though the hatchway is less than one handbreadth, we do not consider the house to be closed and for the tent and the hatchway to be one ohel. Rather the same rule that applied in yesterday's mishnah applies here what is below the hatchway remains clean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אם טומאה קדמה את רגלו טמא – that surely at the time when he set his foot, he overshadowed over the defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If the uncleanness is directly [below] the hatchway, the house remains clean. Again, although the hatchway is less than one handbreadth, we don't consider the house to be one ohel. If the impurity is below the hatchway, what is in the house remains clean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ואם רגלו קדמה את הטומאה טהור – that before the defilement came, a concealed tent had already been made, and at the time that the defilement enters there is no garret window in the wall projecting above the flat roof that is open a handbreadth in order that the defilement can leave from it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
When the uncleanness is in the house, if he placed his leg above [the hatchway], he remains clean. The person who put his leg above the hatchway remains pure because the impurity is trapped in the ohel that he created below. This is because the opening is less than one handbreadth. However, since the house and hatchway are one tent, whatever is found below is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
שתי רגלים זו על גב זו – of two people, and the first placed his foot on top of the garret window in the wall and the foot of the second [person] is lying on the foot of the first [person], and afterwards, the defilement enters the house underneath the garret window in the wall near the roof, and after that, the first [person] removes his leg and it is found that the foot of the second [person] is placed on the garret window, and even though this second [foot] overshadows over he defilement when the first [person] removed his foot, the second [person] is ritually pure, because the foot of the first [person] preceded the defilement. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon nor according to Rabbi Meir.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
[When] the uncleanness is directly [below] the hatchway, if he placed his leg above it, Rabbi Meir declares [him] unclean, But the sages say: if the uncleanness was [in position] before his leg, he becomes unclean, but if his leg was [in position] before the uncleanness, he remains clean. According to Rabbi Meir since the person overshadowed the source of corpse impurity, he is impure. The sages say it depends on what comes first. If the source of impurity is there first then he is impure because he put his leg over the hatchway before he made the house into one ohel. However, if his leg was there first, then when the impurity got there, the house was already one ohel and impurity does not escape from an ohel through a hole of less than one handbreadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Shimon says: [in the case where] two [men's] legs, one above the other, were [in position] before the uncleanness, if the first person withdrew his leg and the other person's leg was still there, [the second] remains clean, because the first person's leg was [in position] before the uncleanness. Rabbi Shimon complicates the above scenario a little bit. The sages said that if the impurity was there before the person's leg was there, then the person is impure. Here, two people's legs were there, one on top of the other. When the first person removed his leg, the second person's leg now went over impurity that was there first. Nevertheless, since the house was an ohel by virtue of the first person's leg, the second person is pure.
