פירוש על אהלות 11:9

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.