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נסר שהוא נתון על פי תנור חדש – that was not heated/kindled, that is not susceptible to receive ritual defilement, And we are speaking of an oven that stands in the courtyard or in the garden.

A board placed over the mouth of a new oven, overlapping it on all sides to the extent of a handbreadth, If there is uncleanness beneath [the board], vessels above it remain clean; If there is uncleanness above it, vessels beneath it remain clean. The oven referred to here is new and its manufacturing has not been completed. Therefore it is not susceptible to impurity (see Kelim 5:1). The board on top of it overshadows a source of impurity. However, the board acts as an ohel and prevents the impurity from going above or, if the source of impurity is above, from going below.

בפותח טפח – that the board is wide and extends outward from the oven a handbreadth around it from all its sides.

In the case of an old oven, they become unclean. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri declares them clean. If the oven is one that has been used, it is susceptible to impurity. In this case the vessels above and below are impure. This is because the board is supported by a vessel that can become impure and in such cases an ohel is not formed (see 4:1). The oven is also impure. According to the Tosefta Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri holds that the oven is pure, but he agrees that the vessels above and below the board are unclean.

שעל גביו – on top of the board.

[If the board] is placed over the mouth of two ovens, if there is uncleanness between them, they become unclean. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri declares them clean. In this case one board is placed over the top of two ovens. There is a source of uncleanness in between them. Even if the ovens are new, they are impure because we don't look at the walls of the oven as being the outsides of the ovens. Rather we look at them as being the walls of a tent which do become impure. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri still holds that the ovens are pure. Evidently, he does look at the walls of the ovens as being the outsides of the ovens and since the oven does not become impure by contact with impurity on its outside, the ovens are pure.

טהורים – for since the oven is pure, the vessels are protected, and similarly, if defilement is on top of the board and the vessels are underneath the board.

ובישן – as for example, that the oven was heated that is susceptible to receive ritual defilement.

טמא – the oven [is impure]. The board does not protect it. And all the more so, thew vessels that are under the board and that are on the board. And the reason of our Mishnah is that vessels become tents to defile but not to purify, therefore, a new [oven] which is not a vessel protects. An old [oven] which is a vessel does not protect.

ור' יוחנן בן נורי – specifically with an oven. But regarding vessels, he (i.e., Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri) agrees that they are impure. And this is brought in the Tosefta (Tractate Ohalot, Chapter 13, Halakha 1).

נתון על פי שני תנורים – the head of the board on this oven and the other head of the board on the other oven and there is defilement between the two ovens, and we are speaking of old ovens. But the Rabbis go according to their reasoning and Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri according to his reasoning. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri.

סרידא (coarse web or matting/stuffed matting used for stoppers of stoves) – like a kind of earthenware lattice-work/grid/mesh. It is the Aramaic translation of (Exodus 27:4, 38:4): “a grating of meshwork”/מעשה רשת – making mesh. And it is smooth and the leftover is outside of the oven a handbreadth from every side.

Netting placed over the mouth of an oven, [so that it is] closed with a sealed lid: If there is uncleanness below [the netting] or above it, everything becomes unclean; But what is directly [above] the air-space of the oven remains clean. The oven referred to here is assumedly a used oven, one which is susceptible to impurity. The netting placed over it is also attached to the oven such that it forms a tightly sealed lid. This means that the inside of the oven cannot become impure. The netting goes beyond the sides of the oven by a handbreadth, as was the case with the board in yesterday's mishnah. As was the case there, the netting is considered to form an ohel over anything below it. If there is a source of impurity below or above the netting, everything found below or above the netting is impure because the netting is an ohel. However, the inside of the sealed oven is not defiled and therefore, anything found above the air-space of the oven is pure. This is the main difference between this and yesterday's case. In yesterday's mishnah even the oven, and anything in it, was impure.

הכל טמא – vessels that are underneath it and that are above it, except from vessels that are on top of it opposite the airspace of the oven, because the tent brings defilement underneath it all around the oven and returns and bursts forth above. But even the defilement that is above bursts forth downwards and it is stretched around and returns and bursts forth above.

If there is uncleanness directly [above] the air-space of the oven, everything directly above it even to the sky becomes unclean. If the uncleanness is above the oven, directly above its air-space, it travels only upwards. Anything underneath the netting or underneath the oven will remain pure.

כנגד אוירו של תנור טהור – for it is surrounded by an airtight seal and interrupts it.

כנגדו עד הרקיע טמא – but what is underneath it is ritually pure.

נסר – [a board] which is long and narrow, and when it is placed on the mouth of the oven, it extends outward a handbreadth from the east and a handbreadth from the west but from the south and the north it does not extend outward.

[In a case where] the board is placed over the mouth of an old oven projects from either [end] to the extent of one handbreadth but not from the sides: If there is uncleanness under one end [of the board], vessels [under] the other end remain clean. Rabbi Yose declares them unclean. In this case the board extends over the oven in one direction, for instance, north-south, but not east-west. The first opinion holds that this is not sufficient to convey impurity from one side to the other. The impurity would have to travel through the oven and since the oven cannot become impure from the outside it blocks the impurity from going to the other side. In mishnah one the board hung over the oven from all sides, and therefore the impurity could travel from one side to the other. Rabbi Yose holds that the door does not prevent the impurity from traveling from one side to the other.

טומאה בצד זה – underneath the board in the east or in the west.

A betach does not bring uncleanness. A betach is some sort of projection that juts out from a window both inside and out. Maimonides interprets it as something used to climb on. The mishnah says that it doesn't bring uncleanness from the outside into the house because the wall found in between forms a break.

כלים שבצד השני טהורים – that there Is no room for the defilement to pass, for the board doesn’t have leftover from the north or from the south.

If there was a projection ( in it: Rabbi Eliezer says: it [still] does not bring uncleanness. Rabbi Joshua says: we look at the betach as if it is not there, and the projection above brings uncleanness. In this case there is another type of projection sticking out from the house that is found on top of the betach (in Hebrew this is called a ziz). The impurity is found underneath the betach and the question is does the ziz convey impurity into the house?. Rabbi Eliezer holds that the betach separates the impurity from the ziz and therefore the ziz doesn't convey impurity into the house. Rabbi Joshua holds that we look at the situation as if the betach wasn't there. Therefore, the ziz is found to form an ohel over the impurity. The house to which the ziz is attached will also be impure.

ורבי יוסי מטמא – for he holds that the oven does not form a partition. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

הבטח (a hollow column-like receptacle of rain water near the house; Maimonides holds that it is a projection in front of the window to stand upon in climbing) – There are books that have the reading of אבטח, and it is a building that is made similar to a bathtub in bathhouses that they place water in them for washing, and a board is placed upon it for the ceiling and board has leftover from two sides. But if there is defilement from this side, it doesn’t go out to the other side because the hollow column-like receptacle of rain water near the house interposes.

היה בו זיז (if it had an attachment – a projection from the door frame serving as a shed over the entrance, or a molding projecting from a window-sill as a bracket) – there was a beam going out above from the hollow column-like receptacle of rain water from the east to the west.

רואין את הבטח כיאלו אינו – for even though the hollow column-like receptacle of rain water near the house interposes with the board, in connection with the attachment/a projection from the door frame serving as a shed over the entrance – it does not interpose. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.

סנדל של עריסה – the cradle of a baby that regularly is placed underneath its feet like a metal sandal for beauty or in order that it not rot/decay.

[With regard to] the shoe of a cradle, for which a hole had been made [in the ceiling to bring it] into the house [below], To hold a baby's cradle in place they would make a sort of shoe for the cradle and then attach the shoe to the ground. In this case the cradle is on the upper floor of a house and the bottom of the shoe can be seen in the bottom floor. In other words, they made a hole in the ceiling (of the bottom floor) to attach the cradle to the floor (of the upper story). There is a source of impurity below in the house.

שפחתו בתוך הבית (that was broken through within the house) – that the roof of the upper chamber was broken through/reduced that the crib is placed upon it and the sandal of the cradle is seen within the house from the reduction that is in the roof, and defilement is within the house.

If [the hole] is one handbreadth square, everything becomes unclean; If the hole is at least one handbreadth square then the contents of the upper floor are impure because the impurity can enter through a hole of that size.

אם יש – in the place of the breach.

But if it was not [one handbreadth square] its [uncleanness] is reckoned as one reckons with [cases of contact with] a corpse. However, if the hole is less than one handbreadth then the shoe that hangs over the corpse impurity has the same impurity level as the dead body itself. It defiles the crib and the baby, and we reckon impurity as we normally do. Anything that touches the shoe is a "father of impurity" and anything that touches it has first degree impurity and so on.

פותח טפח – it brings the defilement from the house to the upper chamber.

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

מונין בו כדברך שמונין במת – that the sandal and the crib are impure with a ritual impurity for seven days like the law concerning impure vessels that come in contact with vessels, but the baby is impure with ritual impurity until the evening, as it is taught in the Mishnah in the first chapter (Mishnah 2).

מעזיבה (concrete of stone chippings, clay, used for paving floors, pavement covering the ceiling of the lower story and serving as flooring of the upper story) – plaster and stones that they regularly place on top of the beams.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with a house that has two stories, but is not completed. There are roof beams going across each ceiling, but there are gaps in between each beam that have not yet been filled in with the plaster.

[With regard to] the roof beams of a house and of the upper story which have no plaster ceiling upon them and are in a line, [the upper ones exactly above the lower]: If there is uncleanness beneath one of them, all beneath that one becomes unclean. If it is between a lower and an upper [beam] what is between them becomes unclean. If it is above the upper [roof beams], what is directly above to the sky becomes unclean. In the first scenario, the upper roof beams are precisely above the lower ones. If there is uncleanness beneath one of the beams of the house, anything below it is impure because it forms an ohel. However, the beam also prevents the impurity from spreading to the area above it. And the impurity doesn't spread to anywhere else in the house because there is nothing overshadowing the spaces in between the beams. If the impurity is on top of the lower beam and below the upper beam, it remains in this area. If it is above one of the upper beam then the impurity only travels upwards.

תחתיה טמא – and that which is on top of it is ritually pure, for the beam interposes. And these words [apply] when there the beams have an opening of a handbreadth when they are a handbreadth wide, but if they are not a handbreadth wide, they do not bring the defilement and they do not interpose, and it is like one that they don’t have it. And it is found that defilement is like it stands in the airspace.

[In the case] where the upper [roof beams] were [over the gaps] between the lower [roof beams]: If there is uncleanness beneath one of them, what is beneath all of them becomes unclean; If above them, what is directly above to the sky becomes unclean. In this case the upper and lower roof beams are not lined up. Rather the upper beams are spaced right in between the lower beams. If there is impurity underneath one of them, then it spreads to the area underneath all of them, as if there was only one roof. In other words, we look at the bottom beams as if they had been raised to a level equal to the lower beams. If the impurity is found above any of the beams, it is not in any ohel, and therefore it only defiles that which is found directly above it.

ביניהן טמא – and that underneath the lower [beam] and on top of the upper [beam] they are pure, for both of them interpose.

כנגדו עד הרקיע טמא – for underneath all of them (i.e., the beams) it is ritually pure.

כבין התחתונות – opposite the airspace of the lower ones. And their widths is like the measure of the airspace that is between them, for if they should raise up the lower [beams] or lower he upper [beams], it is found that everything is concealed.

תחת כולן טמא – it is as if the ceiling was level, and on top of them is pure.

תחת כולה – all the vessels that are under it (i.e., the beam) are impure, for it brings defilement to everything. But on top of it is pure, for it interposes in the face of the defilement.

Introduction Today's mishnah discusses a beam that goes from one wall to another. It also deals with the rabbinic calculation of circumference, so prepare for some math!

ואם לאו – that it (i.e., the beam) is not a handbreadth wide.

[With regard to] a beam which is placed across from one wall to another and which has uncleanness beneath it: If it is one handbreadth wide, it conveys uncleanness to everything beneath it; If it is not [one handbreadth wide], the uncleanness cleaves upwards and downwards. If the beam is one handbreadth wide, it forms an ohel and the impurity spreads to everything below the beam. However, if the beam is less than one handbreadth, then it is not sufficiently wide to form an ohel. The impurity goes up and down, but does not spread to the sides.

בוקעת ועולה – for if defilement is underneath it, the vessels that are on top of it opposite the defilement are impure.

How much must its circumference be so that its width should be one handbreadth? If it is round, its circumference must be three handbreadths; If square, four handbreadths, since a square has a [circumference] one quarter greater than [that of] a circle. The general rule for determining the diameter of a circle for the rabbis is three times the circumference (we know that 3 should really be Pi, but they were close). So as long as the circumference is at least 3 handbreadths, the diameter is one handbreadth. If the beam is square, then its circumference must be four handbreadths for it to have a diameter (in this case, side) that is one handbreadth. A circle whose diameter is one handbreadth can fit into a square whose sides are each a handbreadth. The circumference of this square will be four.

בוקעת ויורדת – that if defilement is on top of it, the vessels that are under it opposite the defilement are impure.

היקפה שלשה טפחים – that all that there is in its width a handbreadth, there is in its circumference three handbreadths, for such we found in [The Second Book of] Chronicles [Chapter 4, Verse 2]: “He made the sea of cast metal ten cubits across from brim to brim, perfectly round; it was five cubits high, and its circumference thirty cubits.”

עמוד שהוא מוטל לאויר (a column which lay [on the ground] in the open air) – a round column that is cast on the ground and lies on its circle. In the open air, as for example, in the courtyard or in the garden. And from the middle of the circle it begins to overshadow on the ground and gradually becomes shortened from here and there until its bottom is next to/adjacent to the ground, and regarding the mater of bringing defilement we require a handbreadth by a handbreadth at the height of a handbreadth squared, but if there is here to the side that is outward from underneath the height of a handbreadth even though that which is below is adjacent/next to in the place of his lying down on the ground, the height is not a handbreadth completely which defiles in the tent, and it is judged like the sloping of tents. But the round pillar which has in its circumference twenty four handbreadths is found that its width is eight handbreadths, that all that has in its width a handbreadth there is in its circumference twenty-four handbreadths, and it is found that a person is able to make a quadrangle underneath his partition/wall that is from here to and from there a handbreadth by a handbreadth. At the height of a handbreadth, there is here a square of eight [handbreadths] by eight [handbreadths] if you make within it a circle of eight [handbreadths], it is found that the corners overlap eight-fifths [handbreadth] for each and every corner, for each cubit in a square is a cubit and two-fifths crosswise/in a diagonal line, it is found that the diagonal line is in excess of the width by sixteen-fifths, take from them half for this corner and half for that corner, there is for each one eight-fifths, and if you come to make in the corner that is outside of the circle a square of a handbreadth by a handbreadth, it is found that his diagonal line/crosswise is in excess over its width by two-fifths, and it is found that the measure of the diagonal line is seven-fifths, there would not remain for us more than the need other than one-fifth, but because the one-fifth is not exact. And furthermore, that each cubit in a square is a cubit and two-fifths in a diagonal line – which is not completely lying exactly in line, for it is missing a bit from it.

Introduction Today's mishnah deals with a pillar that has fallen onto its side. There is going to be a space on each side of the pillar under which something could lie, because the pillar is round. For this space to be an ohel, the space must be one handbreadth square. Our mishnah calculates how large the pillar must be for the space to be a handbreadth.

[With regard to] a pillar lying [on its side] in the open air, If its circumference is twenty-four handbreadths, it brings uncleanness to everything under its side; But if it is not, the uncleanness cleaves upwards and downwards. Okay, ready for some math? If the circumference of the circle is 24, then according to rabbinic math, the diameter is 8. You could then put a square around this diameter where each side is 8 handbreadths. The diagonal line drawn from one end of this square to another would be 8 + 16/5. This is according to the rule that every handbreadth on the side of a square is equivalent to 1 1/5 handbreadths (we know that the real length is the square root of 128, according to the formula a2 + b2=c2. Still, they were pretty close) At the corners of this square with the circle in it would be a smaller square whose diagonal is 8/5 of a handbreadth (half of the extra 16/5). This is the area which would form the ohel over the uncleanness. Since it is more than a handbreadth, it brings uncleanness to the entire pillar. If the pillar is smaller than that, then the overhanging part will be less than a handbreadth and it will not convey impurity.

מודבק לאסקופה – that the threshold is wide and defilement is attached on the threshold from the arched gateway with posts and outward, Rabbi Eliezer holds that all of the threshold is like the house, therefore, it defiles the house. But Rabbi Yehoshua holds from he arched gateway with posts and outward, the threshold is not considered like the house. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.

If an olive-sized portion of a corpse is stuck to the threshold: Rabbi Eliezer declares the house unclean. Rabbi Joshua declares it clean. According to Rabbi Eliezer, the threshold is part of the house. Therefore, if a source of uncleanness is found on the threshold, the house is impure. Rabbi Joshua holds that the threshold is not part of the house. Therefore, if the impurity is found on the threshold, the house is clean.

ידון מחצה למחצה – from half of the threshold and inward is like inside, and the house is impure, from half and outward is like outside and the house is pure, half and half, the house is impure.

If it was placed beneath the threshold, the [case] is judged by the half [in which the uncleanness is found]. If it is found underneath the threshold, then whether it is considered to be in the house depends on whether it is under the inner half of the threshold or the outer half. The house is impure if the impurity is in the inner half.

מודבק למשקוף – underneath the lintel from the arched gateway and posts outward.

If it is stuck to the lintel, the house becomes unclean. Rabbi Yose declares it clean. The impurity is stuck to the outer section of the lintel. Most sages consider the lintel to be included in the house. Rabbi Yose considers the outer side of the lintel to be outside the house.

הבית טמא – that even from the arched gateway and posts and outward it is considered a house.

If it was in the house, a person touching the lintel becomes unclean. As a corollary, if the impurity is inside the house and a person touches the lintel, he is defiled.

ור' יוסי מטהר – for it is not considered to him like a house. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

[As for] a person touching the threshold: Rabbi Eliezer declares him unclean. Rabbi Joshua says: [if he touches it at a point] below a handbreadth [from the surface] he remains clean; above that handbreadth he becomes unclean. Rabbi Eliezer is consistent with his opinion above. Since he considers the threshold to be part of the house, if someone touches the threshold (when the impurity is in the house) he is impure. Rabbi Joshua says that he is impure only if he touches a space on the threshold that is at least one handbreadth above the ground. If it is less than a handbreadth above the ground, then he is pure because less than a handbreadth is considered part of the ground (see 9:15 where Rabbi Joshua says the same thing concerning a coffin). Rabbi Joshua's opinions seem to be inconsistent. In section one he holds that the threshold is not part of the house, but here he holds that it is, at least one handbreadth over the ground. One explanation is that since in this case the impurity is found in the house, the impurity goes out through the threshold and thereby defiles it. In other words, it is not that the threshold is part of the house, rather that the impurity goes out through the threshold and thereby defiles it.

רבי אליעזר מטמא – that he considers all of the threshold like a house.

מטפח ולמטן טהור – for it is similar to the ground.

מטפח ולמעלן טמא – even though it is attached to the threshold, Rabbi Yehoshua purifies the house, here when then defilement is in the house, Rabbi Yehoshua declares impure the threshold from a handbreadth and higher, because it is the manner of defilement to leave and not to enter. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehoshua.