Comentário sobre Ohalot 9:15

ארון שהיא רחבה – this bier/casket is a cliff/peak of a rock that protrudes from the mountain and is hewn/chiseled into a bier that is wide from the bottom and narrow from the top and its mouth is above.

Finally a mishnah that discusses something besides this mysterious hive. Today's mishnah discusses a coffins of various shapes.
A coffin which is broad below and narrow above, and has a corpse within it: A person touching it below remains clean; But above becomes unclean. The first coffin described is broad below and narrow above. Above the narrow section is the cover of the coffin. The rabbis held that if one touched any portion that is directly below the opening, he is impure. So if he touches it below, on the sides of the broad portion, he is not touching anything that is directly below the opening. Therefore, he remains pure. But if he touches the walls of the narrow section he is impure for they are directly below the opening.

הנוגע בה מלמטה טהור – for what is opposite its mouth is considered like the bier/casket, but not that which is on the sides.

If it is broad above and narrow below, a person touching it anywhere becomes unclean. In this case the cover above is broader than the remainder of the coffin. Therefore, no matter where he touches the coffin it is below the cover and he is impure.

‘רחב מלמעלה וצר מלמטה – or that it was equivalent, a person who touches it from any place is impure, according to the words of Rabbi Eliezer. For the covering splits the defilement in all of it, that the defilement ascends up to the covering and returns and descends over the face of all of it.

If it was the same [above and below], a person touching it anywhere becomes unclean, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. But Rabbi Joshua says: a handbreadth and more below is clean, but from that handbreadth upwards is unclean. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua debate the case of a straight coffin. According to Rabbi Eliezer, since the entire coffin is below the covering, no matter where a person touches it he is impure. Rabbi Joshua holds that the dead body would be at least one handbreadth above the bottom of the coffin. Therefore, if a person touches from that point of the wall and below, he remains pure. If he touches above the one handbreadth mark, he is impure.

רבי יהושע מטהר – that it is not considered like a bier/coffin other than the handbreadth that is nearest to the cavity of the bier/coffin. Therefore, it does not burst forth from a handbreadth and below.

If it was made like a clothes-chest, a person touching it anywhere becomes unclean. A clothes chest opens to the top. On a coffin built in such a way, everything is below the opening. Therefore, no matter where he touches, he is impure.

העשויה כמין קמטרא (that is made like a chest/box – for clothes, books) – it is vessel whose covering covers the thickness of the walls. It is the Aramaic for (II Kings 10:22): “He [Jehu] said to the man in charge of the wardrobe: [“Bring out the vestments for all the worshippers of Baal],” for the one appointed over the chest/box.

If it was made like a case, a person touching it anywhere remains clean, except at the place where it opens. A "case" has its opening on the side. None of the coffin is below the opening. Therefore, he is impure only if he touches it on the side that opens.

הנוגע בה מכל מקום טמא – for all that is opposite the covering is impure, for its covering covers all of it.

כמין גלוסקוס הנוגע בה מכל מקום טהור – its covering is not other than opposite its cavity like a peg that is inserted in a hole/incision in an emergency.

חוץ ממקום פתחתה – with a covering that is opposite its cavity.