פירוש על אהלות 11:12

הבית שנסדק – the roof of the house that was divided on the face of all of it to two parts.

A house, which has been split [into two]: Our mishnah deals with a house that has been split entirely into two.

טומאה בחוץ – to the outer side where the opening is.

If there is uncleanness in the outer [part], vessels in the inner [part] remain clean. If there is impurity in the outer part of the house, in the part that is closest to the doorway, it doesn't travel in and defile the vessels that are in the inner part of the house. This is because of the rule that impurity goes out but does not come in.

כלים שבפנים טהורים – for it is not the manner of defilement to enter but only to leave.

If the uncleanness is in the inner [part], vessels in the outer [are clean]: Bet Shammai says: when the split is four handbreadths wide; But Bet Hillel says: [when the split is of] any size. Rabbi Yose says in the name of Bet Hillel: [when it is] one handbreadth wide. If the impurity is in the inner part of the house, the two houses debate how large the split must be for it to escape and not defile the vessels that are in the outer part. Beth Shammai says that the opening must be at least four handbreadths wide for impurity to escape. Bet Hillel says that the split can be of any size. Rabbi Yose presents a different version of Bet Hillel's opinion the split must be at least a handbreadth. Smaller than that and the impurity will travel through the outer part of the house and defile the vessels there as well.

ובית הלל אומרים כל שהוא – In the Tosefta (see Tractate Ohalot, Chapter 12, Halakha 1) that “any amount” which is the opinion of the School of Hillel is like the [breadth of the] plumb-line. And the Halakha is according to the School of Hillel.

אכסדרה שנסדקה (a covered place in front of the house that was split) – the ceiling of the portico that was divided into two.

A portico which has been split [into two]:
If there is uncleanness on the one side, vessels on the other side remain clean.
If a person placed his leg or a reed above [the split], he has combined [with the roof to bring the] uncleanness.
If he placed the reed on the ground, it does not form a passage for the uncleanness until it is one handbreadth off the ground.
Today's mishnah deals with a portico, a structure made of columns supporting a roof that stands in front of a house.
Section one: Since the portico's roof is split, impurity found on one side does not travel to the other. And in this case there is no difference between vessels that are found in the inner half and those found in the outer half (as there was with the house) because the portico is open from three sides. Thus the impurity can escape to the sides.
Section two: If a person put his leg over the crack, then he has made the two halves of the portico into one tent. Thus impurity that is found on one side of the tent will travel to the other.
Section four: If a person places a reed on the ground it does not serve to join the two sides of the portico into one tent. However, if he raises it by one handbreadth then the tent that it forms joins the two tents above and everything is considered to be one tent.

כלים שבצד השני טהורים – for the airspace of the split interrupts, and causes that the defilement does not pass to the second side.

עירב את הטומאה – because the airspace was closed/concealed.

בארץ – on the floor of the portico opposite the split that is in the ceiling.

סגוס (a coarse woolen blanket, mattress to sleep on) - a very thick woolen cloth.

Introduction Our mishnah continues to deal with the portico that had a split in it. The mishnah discusses various objects placed below that either do or do not close the split such that impurity on one side can travel to the other.

וכוסת – a thick beam. Even though it is high, its thickness is more than a handbreadth.

A thick woolen jacket or a thick wooden block does not bring uncleanness until they are one handbreadth high off the ground. Despite the fact that these items are one handbreadth thick, they are not considered to be an ohel such that there is an ohel directly beneath the split in the roof of the portico. For something to be an ohel it must also have an empty space.

אין מביאין את הטומאה – if he placed them on the ground opposite the split that is in the ceiling of the portico, unless there is underneath them a cavity of a handbreadth.

If [garments] are folded one above the other they do not bring uncleanness until the uppermost is one handbreadth high off the ground. If there are a few garments folded one on another, they bring uncleanness when placed underneath the split if the bottom part of the upper garment is at least one handbreadth off the ground. In other words, the entire upper garment must be one handbreadth above the ground in order for it to form an ohel over the other garments. We might have thought that since the presence of the lower garments does not prevent an ohel from being formed, then the lower folds of the upper garment also wouldn't prevent an ohel from being formed. The mishnah teaches that there is a difference between the lower and upper garments. The lower garments are in the ohel and the upper garment forms the ohel.

קפולין – like a folded cloak/Tallit. Many clothes are folded one upon the other.

If a person were placed there [under the split in the portico]: Bet Shammai says: he does not bring the uncleanness. But Bet Hillel says: a person is hollow and his uppermost side brings the uncleanness. Bet Shammai says that a person's body cannot be considered an ohel. Bet Hillel looks at a person's abdomen as being hollow. The upper side is the top of the ohel and therefore a person closes the split in the portico.

עד שתהא העליונה גבוהה מן הארץ טפח – and even though that the clothes are placed underneath it, the upper one brings the defilement, since it is a handbreadth above the ground.

היה אדם נתון שם – on the ground opposite the split.

חלול – avity of the body is considered as a cavity, even though that his intestines are within it.

והאהיל על קוברי המת – that is that he overshadowed over the corpse.

If a person was looking out of a window and overshadowed a funeral procession: Bet Shammai says: he does not bring uncleanness. But Bet Hillel says: he does bring the uncleanness. The positions stated by Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel in this mishnah follow their opinions in yesterday's mishnah. According to Bet Shammai, if a person leans out the window and overshadows a dead body, there is no "ohel" to bring the uncleanness into the house. The person's body is right up against the bottom of the window, so there is no way for the impurity to get into an ohel and then into the house. Bet Hillel says we look at his abdomen as if it was an empty cavity. The top part is the ohel, and through the cavity formed underneath, the impurity is able to enter into the house.

בית שמאי אומרים אינו מביא את הטומאה – The School of Shammai according to its reasoning, that the cavity of is body is not considered an [empty] cavity. Therefore, it does not bring the defilement to the house. But the School of Hillel, according to its reasoning that considers it an [empty] cavity, therefore, even though that his body Is connected to the window, the upper side therein brings the defilements to the house, for there is the cavity of his body that is a handbreadth.

They agree that if he was dressed in his clothes or if there were two persons, one above the other, they bring the uncleanness. Bet Shammai agrees that if a person has his clothes on (bet you didn't realize he was hanging out the window naked in section one!), his clothes they can be considered the upper part of the ohel for they at least a handbreadth above the bottom of the window. The same is true if there is a person above the first person. The top person is at least a handbreadth above the bottom of the window, and therefore he can count as an ohel.

ומודים – The School of Shammai [agrees with the School of Hillel] concerning a person who is dressed.

היה מוטל על האסקופה – part of him was within the house and part of him was outside of the house.

Introduction Our mishnah continues to discuss whether a person overshadowed by a funeral procession brings uncleanness into the house.

אינו מביא את טומאה – for there is no cavity/empty space [here].

If a person was lying on the threshold and the funeral procession overshadowed him: Bet Shammai says: he does bring the uncleanness. But Bet Hillel says: he does bring the uncleanness. The person is lying with part of his body on the threshold, outside of the door, and the rest of his body is in the house. Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel are consistent with the positions they held in the previous mishnayot. Bet Shammai says that the person is not an ohel through which the impurity could be conveyed into the house. Bet Hillel says that a person's body is considered to be hollow. Therefore, the impurity gets into the ohel formed by his body and from there it enters the house.

והאהילו עליו טהורים – on part of his body that is outside.

Introduction Today's mishnah is the final one in the series of debates between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel concerning a person acting as an ohel.

בית שמאי מטהרין – that the defilement that is in the house doesn’t come underneath him.

[In the case] where the uncleanness was in the house and clean persons overshadowed him: Bet Shammai declares them clean, But Bet Hillel declares them unclean. As was the case in yesterday's mishnah, the person is again lying on the threshold. In this case, the impurity is in the house and then clean people overshadow him. Since Bet Shammai thinks that the person does not form an ohel to bring the impurity out of the house; they remain clean. Bet Hillel again holds that the person is hollow and that he brings the impurity out of the house, thereby defiling those who overshadow him.

ובית הלל מטמאין – for they hold that a person is an empty cavity and the defilement comes underneath him, and those that overshadowed upon him outside were defiled.

ומת הכלב – for if it (i.e., the dog) lived, even if all of it was in the house, the house is pure, for absorbed defilement [found] in living creatures is not defilement.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with a dog who ate the flesh of a corpse and then died on the threshold of a house. His neck is in the house and his stomach, where the piece of flesh is being digested, is outside of the house. The question is: does the impurity enter the house in order to defile all of the contents of the house? We should note that if the dog was still alive there is no question that a source of impurity found inside him does not defile outside.

ומוטל על האסקופה – and its neck is inside.

A dog which had eaten the flesh of a corpse and then died and was lying over the threshold:
Rabbi Meir says: if its neck has a thickness of one handbreadth it can bring the uncleanness, but if not, it does not bring the uncleanness. Rabbi Meir says that the purity of the house depends on whether the neck is large enough to serve as an ohel. If it is an ohel, then the impurity enters the ohel of the neck and from there spreads to the body. But if the neck is too small to serve as an ohel, the impurity remains in the dog.

אם יש בצוארו פותח טפח – the width of the neck is a handbreadth. And they estimate it through a thread that surrounds the neck. For everything that is within the width of a handbreadth, there is in its circumference three handbreadths.

Rabbi Yose says: we [examine to] see where the uncleanness is. If it is beneath the lintel and inwards, the house becomes unclean; if from the lintel and outwards, the house remains clean. Rabbi Yose says that the size of the neck doesn't matter. Rather we check to see where in the dog's body the impurity is found. If it is found inside a part of the body that is in the house, then the house is impure. But if the impurity remains outside of the house, the house is pure.

מביא את הטומאה – to the upper side that within it (i.e., the dog), it overshadows over the defilement and the defilement and conducts it into the house.

Rabbi Eliezer says: if its mouth [points] inwards, the house remains clean; if its mouth [points] outwards, the house becomes unclean, since the uncleanness goes out through its hind. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says: in either case the house becomes unclean. Rabbi Eliezer says that the impurity escapes through the dog's rear end. Therefore, if the rear end is in the house, the house is impure. But if the mouth is in the house, the house is pure. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says that the impurity can also escape through the dog's mouth. Therefore, it does not matter which end is in the house, the house is impure.

ואם לאו – that there isn’t an opening of a handbreadth.

How long can [the uncleanness] remain in its entrails? Three whole days. The piece of corpse is assumed to be present in the dog's guts for three whole days. After that it will have been fully digested.

אינו מביא את הטומאה – that concerning the matter of bringing the defilement we require an opening of a handbreadth.

[If in the entrails] of fishes or birds, as long as [it takes for the uncleanness] to fall in the fire and be consumed, the words of Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says: in the case of fishes or birds, twenty-four hours. Flesh eaten by fish or birds does not remain in their (smaller) guts as long as it does for dogs. According to Rabbi Simon, it will remain there only as long as it would take to burn the flesh in a fire. Rabbi Judah ben Batera says that it stays there longer, for an entire day.

רבי יוסי אומר רואים את הטמאה – we check the place of the defilement on the body of the dog. If it (i.e., the defilement in the belly of the dog) is from the lintel and inside, the house is impure even though its neck does not have the thickness of a handbreadth, for hidden defilement bursts forth and ascends, and it is found that the house overshadowed over the defilement. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

פיו לפנים – and the hole of his tail (i.e., the dog’s rectum) is from the outside.

הבית טהור – if the defilement is from the outside. For because of the conducting water through a channel, we do not defile him, for here is no path for the food to leave through its motuh, but rather through the hole in the privy.

פיו לחוץ – and through its lower part of the body/abdomen is on the inside.

הבית טמא – for this is the path of the small opening which was at its conclusion to exit.

בין כך ובין כך – whether its (i.e., the dog’s) mouth is inside or whether its mouth is outside, whether the defilement is opposite the lintel and inside or whether the defilement is outside, whether there is in its neck a handbreadth or whether there isn’t in its neck [the space of] a handbreadth, in every matter the house is impure, for the defilement goes whether through its entrance or whether through its exit.

כמה תשהה – the flesh of the corpse.

במעיו – of the dog prior to the dog dying and further would not defile because it would be considered as consumed.

שלשה ימים מעת לעת – from the time it (i.e., the dog) ate it. As we state in [Tractate Shabbat folio 155b] that it is revealed and known before the Holy One, blessed be He that the food of a dog is small, therefore, it leaves its food remains in its intestines for three days.

בעופות ובדגים – if they (i.e., birds and/or fish) ate from the flesh of the corpse, in order that it fall into the fire and be burned.

ר' יהודה בן בתירא אומר וכו' – And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira.

החדות (the cellar) – like [the word] דות/cellar, that is the same as a בור/cistern, and that is the same as a דות/cellar, but that the בור/cistern is something [made by] digging and דות/cellar is [something made] by building.

A cellar in a house with a candlestick in it, whose calyx protrudes and an olive-basket is placed such that if the candlestick was taken away the olive-basket would still remain over the mouth of the cellar: Bet Shammai says: the cellar remains clean but the candlestick becomes unclean. Bet Hillel says: the candlestick also remains clean. The source of corpse uncleanness is found in the house. The cellar has a candlestick protruding from it, and the calyx (a flower-shaped receptacle on the candlestick) is supporting a basket that covers the opening to the cellar. The basket is of a type that is not susceptible to impurity. If the basket can remain in place without the support of the candlestick, then it joins the walls of the cellar to prevent impurity from going below. However, Bet Shammai holds that since part of the candlestick protrudes from the cellar, the candlestick is impure. The basket covering it does not protect it from contracting impurity. Bet Hillel disagrees and holds that the basket protects the candlestick as well.

ומנורה בתוכה – within the cellar/דות.

But they agree that if the olive-basket would fall [into the cellar] if the candlestick was removed, all would become unclean. If the olive-basket is supported by the candlestick and would collapse without it, it does not protect the impurity from going down below. This is because the candlestick is a vessel and vessels do not act as an ohel to prevent spread of impurity.

והפרח של מנורה יוצא וכפישה נתונה עליו (the calyx/cup of the Menorah projects and its inverted vessel – divided into two compartments by the bottom - is put over it [that it would remain in position]) – we have the this reading. Meaning to say, on the calyx/cup/flower. And the cup/calyx is wide at the top of the Menorah that the candle sits upon it. And the כפישה/inverted vessel is a large basket that they press the olives in it in order to produce shrinking and maturing of the frits by underground storage or by exposure to the sun.

על פי חדות – that doesn’t fall into it.

טהור – that it is preserved with the walls of the tent, as we stated above in Chapter 5, [Mishnah 6].

המנורה טמאה – because of the calyx/flower that protrudes from the cellar, the inverted vessel does not protect it. But if you should say, since the Menorah is impure, how can the cellar be pure? For doesn’t it become defiled like the corpse itself that a sword is like that the slain person? One can say, that we are speaking as for example that there isn’t a corpse in the house but rather the sword that touched/came in contact with the corpse, and through it defiles the house and the Menorah, and we hold that the a vessel does not make another vessel something else as was explained in the first chapter (see Mishnah 2).

אף המנורה טהורה – for we follow after it (i.e., the Menorah) and not its calyx. And it (i.e., the Menorah) is within the cellar exists and is protected with the cellar.

הכל טמא- whether the cell or whether the Menorah, since if you take the Menorah, the inverted vessel falls into the cellar [and everything is unclean].

טומאה שם- within the cellar, even though the inverted vessel is on top of it.

Vessels [that are] between the rims of the olive-basket and the rims of the cellar, even to the depths, remain clean. In this case, the olive-basket is placed over the cellar such that it wouldn't fall into the cellar. In other words, it covers the entire opening. There are vessels placed between the rims of the olive-basket and the rims of the cellar. These vessels are pure as if they were actually in the cellar, because they are protected by the olive-basket. This is true no matter how deep in the cellar the vessels are.

הבית טמא – for there is no airtight fitting lid for defilement.

If there is uncleanness in the cellar, the house becomes unclean. If the uncleanness is in the cellar, the olive-basket does not protect the house and the contents of the house are impure. This is because the impurity will be eventually removed through the house.

טומאה בבית – now we are speaking of the open cistern which lacks an inverted vessel divided into two compartments by the bottom between.

If there is uncleanness in the house, vessels in the walls of the cellar remain clean, if the place where they are has a content of one cubic handbreadth; if not, they become unclean. In this case, there is no basket placed over the opening to the cellar. If there are vessels in the walls of the cellars, and the space in which they are found has the capacity to hold a cubic handbreadth, then the vessels are protected. They are in an "ohel" and vessels in an ohel are not defiled by what is outside of the ohel. However, if this space is smaller than is needed to form an ohel, they are impure.

טהורים – the vessels [are pure]. Since there is in their place a cubic square handbreadth, that are protected there like a gutter/pipe which is bent/arched over under the house, as is taught in the Mishnah above in Chapter 3 [Mishnah 7] the defilement is in the house and what is within it is pure.

If the walls of the cellar are wider [apart] than those of the house, in either case the vessels remain clean. If the walls of the cellar are wider than the house, then the vessels in the walls are not considered to be part of the house and they are pure even if they are in a space less than a cubic handbreadth.

רחבים משל בית (if the walls of the cistern are wider than the walls of the house) – as for example that the cavity of the cistern is broader/extended continuously underneath the wall of the house and the wall of the cistern is built from outside of the wall of the house and the utensils are there.

בין כך ובין כך - even if there isn’t in their place a handbreadth by a handbreadth at the height of a handbreadth, they are pure.