Commentaire sur Oholot 10:4
אֲרֻבּוֹת זוֹ עַל גַּב זוֹ, וְיֵשׁ בָּהֶן פּוֹתֵחַ טֶפַח, טֻמְאָה בַבַּיִת, כְּנֶגֶד אֲרֻבּוֹת טָהוֹר. טֻמְאָה כְנֶגֶד אֲרֻבּוֹת, הַבַּיִת טָהוֹר. הַטֻּמְאָה בֵּין בַּבַּיִת בֵּין כְּנֶגֶד אֲרֻבּוֹת, נָתַן דָּבָר שֶׁהוּא מְקַבֵּל טֻמְאָה, בֵּין מִלְמַעְלָן בֵּין מִלְּמַטָּן, הַכֹּל טָמֵא. וְדָבָר שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְקַבֵּל טֻמְאָה, מִמֶּנּוּ וּלְמַטָּן, טָמֵא. מִמֶּנּוּ וּלְמַעְלָן, טָהוֹר:
Les trappes, les unes sur les autres, qui ont un espace de largeur de main, s'il y a des impuretés dans la maison, en face des trappes est pure. S'il y a des impuretés en face des écoutilles, la maison est pure. Que l'impureté soit dans la maison ou en face des écoutilles, s'il a mis quelque chose qui est susceptible d'impureté que ce soit en haut ou en bas, tout est impur. Quelque chose qui n'est pas sensible à l'impureté, en dessous est impur mais au-dessus est pur.
Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ארובות זו על גב זו – as for example, here is a garret window in the wall projecting above the flat roof between the house and the upper chamber and there is another turret window in the roof of the upper chamber directed against it, and in each of them there is an opening of a handbreadth.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If there are multiple hatchways, one above the other, and they each have an opening of one handbreadth [square], if there is uncleanness in the house, what is directly [below] the hatchways remains clean. Our mishnah deals with a multi-story building, with hatchways one over the other, all of them one handbreadth wide. If the uncleanness is in the house (bottom floor), it remains in the house. The space below the hatchways remains clean.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בין מלמעלה – in the upper garret window/aperture in the roof looking to the ground floor.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If the uncleanness is directly [below] the hatchways, the house remains clean. If the uncleanness is below the hatchways, it doesn't enter the house.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
בין מלמטה – in the lower garret window/aperture looking to the ground floor.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
[In the case] where the uncleanness is either in the house or directly [below] the hatchways, if something susceptible to uncleanness was placed either in the upper or the lower [hatchway], everything becomes unclean. The mishnah now discusses what happens if something that is susceptible to impurity blocks up one of the hatchways, be it the upper or lower one. In this case no matter where the impurity is, under the house or under the hatchways, everything is impure. Seemingly, if the blockage was on the bottom hatchway, the contents of the upper stories should be pure, because the impurity would remain down there. However, since the article is susceptible to impurity, it doesn't block the impurity. It does, though, turn the bottom floor into one ohel, so that even if the impurity is under the hatchway, the whole floor is impure. Furthermore, the sages said that just as the bottom floor is impure, so too all of the floors are impure, even if the article is below the hatchway and would seem to escape through the upper hatchways. We look at all of the floors as if they were all closed up.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
הכל טמא – even what is in the upper chamber. Even though he placed [his foot] in the lower part and not the upper part, for since it is something that is susceptible to receive defilement, it does not interpose before the defilement in the house, and we see it as if it is placed in the mouth of the upper garret window in the wall projecting above the flat roof and mixing/combining the defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oholot
If the article is insusceptible to uncleanness, what is below becomes unclean, but what is above remains clean. If the article is not susceptible to uncleanness, then it blocks the impurity from spreading to the upper floors. Only the bottom floor is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ממנו ולמטן טמא – that it became a concealed tent and everything that is within it is impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oholot
ממנו ולמעלן טהור – and it interposes in front of the defilement.
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