All objects that impurify through sharing a tent that were divided and then brought into a house: Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares [the objects inside the house] pure. But the Sages declare [them] impure. How so? One who touches two [pieces the size of] half an olive of carrion, or carries them, or, in the case of a corpse, one who touches [a piece the size of] half an olive and overshadows [a piece the size of] half an olive, or if he touches [a piece the size of] half an olive and [a piece the size of] half an olive overshadows him, or if he overshadows two [pieces the size of] half an olive, or if he overshadows [a piece the size of] half an olive and another [piece the size of] half an olive overshadows him: Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares him pure, and the Sages declare him impure. But if he touches a piece the size of] half an olive and another object overshadows him and a [piece the size of] half an olive, or if he overshadows [a piece the size of] half an olive and another object overshadows him and a [piece the size of] half an olive, he is pure. Rabbi Meir says: Even in this matter Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares him pure and the Sages declare him impure. Every case is impure except touching combined with carrying or carrying combined with overshadowing. This is the general principle: every object [whose defilement] comes from one type is impure, from two types is pure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
כל מטמאין באוהל – that are stated above at the beginning of chapter two [Mishnah 1].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
All objects that defile by overshadowing which were divided and then brought into a house: Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares clean. But the sages declare [it] unclean. According to Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas, if two of the defiling agents listed in 2:1 are found in an ohel but there is only half of a measure of each, they do not join together to create the necessary amount to defile. The other sages disagree and say that they do join together to defile.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
שנחלקו – their measurements [were divided] in half.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
What is the case? One who touches two pieces of nevelah, each the size of half an olive, or carries them, Or, in the case of a corpse, if he touches a piece the size of half an olive and overshadows [another piece] the size of half an olive, Or if he touches [a piece] the size of half an olive and [another piece] the size of half an olive overshadows him, Or if he overshadows two [pieces, each] the size of half an olive, Or if he overshadows [a piece] the size of half an olive and [another piece] the size of half an olive overshadows him: Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares him clean, And the sages declare him unclean. This section now explains in what exact case Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas and the sages disagree. We should note that according to the opinion voiced here the debate exists not only in connection with defiling in a tent, but carrying and touching as well. A) He touches or carries two pieces of nevelah (the meat of an animal that was not slaughtered in a kosher fashion). Nevelah does not defile through overshadowing. B) One hand has contact with half of a measure of a piece of corpse and the other hand overshadows half of a measure. C) One hand has contact, and the other piece of corpse is stuck, for instance, in a wall, and it overshadows him. D) He overshadows two pieces of half of an olive's size of corpse. E) He overshadows one piece, and another piece overshadows him. In all of these cases, the sages and Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas disagree.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
But if he touches [a piece] the size of half an olive and another object overshadows him and [another piece] the size of half an olive, Or if he overshadows [a piece] the size of half an olive and another object overshadows him and [another piece] the size of half an olive, he is clean. According to the first opinion, the sages agree in the following two cases that the person is pure. In the first case, he touches a half of an olive's size piece of corpse and at the same time something overshadows him and another half of a piece of corpse. In the second case, he overshadows half of a piece of corpse, and something overshadows him and another half of a piece of corpse. The rabbis say that he is pure in these cases. The rabbis hold that when one overshadows a piece of corpse or a piece of corpse overshadows him it is as if he had touched the piece, because the impurity travels up or down within an ohel. This means that in these two cases touching and overshadowing are in the same category or cause of impurity. However, if something overshadows him and a piece of corpse, it is not the same as contact with the corpse, and therefore there are two different causes of impurity overshadowing and contact. As we learn below, two different causes do not join together to add up to a full measure of impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
לתוך הבית – that is within one tent.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
Rabbi Meir says: Even here Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas declares him clean and the sages declare him unclean. Every [case] is unclean except [a case of] contact [combined] with carriage or of carriage [combined] with overshadowing. Rabbi Meir says that in these cases too, the rabbis hold that the two types of impurity can be joined. Ohel impurity can always be joined with contact impurity because they are essentially the same cause. The only types of impurity that cannot be joined are contact with carriage and carriage with ohel. Put simply, there are two general types of impurity: 1) contact/ohel; 2) carriage.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
רבי דוסא בן הרכינס מטהר – for he holds that they do not combine to make up according to the measurement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
This is the general principle: every object [whose defilement] proceeds from one cause is unclean, from two causes is clean. The general rule that governs the sages' opinion is that two different causes of impurity cannot be joined, but two of the same category can be joined. The anonymous mishnah in section three and Rabbi Meir disagree as to how we define different "causes of impurity" but they agree with this general principle.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הנוגע בכשני חצאי זיתים מן הנבילה – at the opening of the tent, and separates them from the carrion, to state to you, that just as that Rabbi Dosa holds that they don’t combine for defilement through the overshadowing of the tent, here also he holds that they don’t combine for defilement of contact and for carrying, whether regarding a corpse or whether regarding a carrion.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הנוגע בחצי זית ומאהיל על חצי זית (he who touches half an olive’s bulk and overshadows over half an olive’s bulk) – that the person who overshadows over corpse, is impure as if he was with the corpse in the tent. And in the Gemara [Tractate Hullin, chapter 9] in the chapter העור והרוטב/The Hide and the Broth [of the Meat], folio 125b, it maintains that the overshadowing of the tent in the first clause [of the Mishnah] are pressed ritual impurity (I.e., a corpse or part of a corpse located beneath a roof or a covering imparts ritual impurity only to objects beneath that covering; anything above the covering remains ritually pure if there is a handbreadth between the corpse and the roof or covering), for there isn’t between the defiling agent/defilement less than a handbreadth, and because of this the Sages declare it impure, for all of it is touching/contact. But the concluding clause [of the Mishnah] that stated: “But a person who is in contact with half an olive’s bulk and another thing overshadows him”/אבל הנוגע בכחצי זית ודבר אחר מאהיל עליו וכ' -that the Rabbis agree that it is pure, we are speaking of when there is an opening of a handbreadth between the defilement and between the tent. And in this the Rabbis agree that they do not combine, for touching and the tent are two categories, and those things that are from two categories do not combine. But Rabbi Dosa holds that even with pressed ritual impurity/טומאה רצוצה they don’t combine, and not even for contact [with one half of an olive’s bulk] and the contact of the tent [with one half of an olive’s bulk]. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Dosa.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
אמר ר' מאיר אף בזו ר' דוסא מטהר וחכמים מטמאין – Rabbi Meir disputes with the first Tanna/teacher [of the Mishnah] who stated that when there is an opening between the defilement and the tent of a handbreadth, the Sages admit that it is pure, and that they don’t combine, but he himself said, that even in this the Rabbis dispute with Rabbi Dosa who state that the contact/touching and the tent are one category, hence they combine to make up the measurement and they defile But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
חוץ מן המגע עם המשא – as for example, that he touched half of the olive’s bulk and he moved a half an olive’s bulk.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
והמשא עם האוהל- that he moved half an olive’s bulk and overshadowed with a tent over half an olive’s bulk.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
משם אחד – as for example, touching and touching, carrying and carrying, tent and tent.
