Commentary for Oholot 5:1
תַּנּוּר שֶׁהוּא עוֹמֵד בְּתוֹךְ הַבַּיִת וְעֵינוֹ קְמוּרָה לַחוּץ, וְהֶאֱהִילוּ עָלָיו קוֹבְרֵי הַמֵּת, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, הַתַּנּוּר טָמֵא וְהַבַּיִת טָהוֹר. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, אַף הַתַּנּוּר טָהוֹר:
An oven that is standing in a house, with its outlet curved to the outside [of the house], and those burying a corpse overshadowed it: Beit Shammai says: everything is impure. Beit Hillel says: the oven is impure, but the house is pure. Rabbi Akiva says: even the oven is pure.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
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.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
[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.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
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.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
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.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
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.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
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.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
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].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
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.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
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.
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