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אדם שהוא נתון תחת הסדק (this Mishnah is also taught in Tractate Ohalot, Chapter 11, Mishnah 3) – a covered place in front of the house (excedra) whose ceiling was split and divided into two and utensils from one side and defilement from the other side. The utensils are ritually pure, as the air of [the split] interrupts and causes that the defilement doesn’t pass to the second side, and if a person was put there I in the ground on the floor of the covered place in front of the house, opposite the split.

Introduction This is the final mishnah in the long list of mishnayoth that list the disputes between Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel.

ב"ש אומרים אינו מביא את הטומאה – he doesn’t bring the ritual defilement other than something that has an open space of a hand-breadth.

A man who was set beneath the gap: Beth Shammai says: he does not cause the impurity to pass over. But Beth Hillel says: a man is hollow, and the upper side causes the impurity to pass over. This mishnah, which is also found in tractate Ohalot 11:3, deals with a situation explained there in mishnah two. The situation is that there is a portico, a semi-covered courtyard, which is surrounded by pillars and on one side is a house. The portico is covered but the walls are open in three directions. This roof would normally cause tent impurity to be imparted to anything under the roof. In other words, if there was a source of impurity (such as a dead body) under the roof and a live person, or vessels under the same roof, the live person and vessels would be impure. The previous mishnah to our mishnah in Ohalot deals with a case where there is a crack in the roof. The impurity does not pass from one side of the crack to the other. Therefore if there is a dead body on one side and vessels on another, the vessels are not impure. The dispute between Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel is about a case when a person was lying on the ground, directly under the crack. According to Beth Shammai, this person does not bridge the crack in the roof above, and the vessels which are on the opposite side remain pure. Beth Hillel holds that since the body of a person is considered to be hollow, the roof of his abdomen bridges the gap created by the crack and brings the impurity over to the other side.

Questions for Further Thought:
• Do you think it would make a difference if the crack did not go the whole length of the roof?
• Would this same law be true if there were cracks in a house?

וב"ה אמרים אדם חלול הוא – and even though his intestines are inside are inside him, the hallow that is within his body is considered as hallow one-handbreadth.