7. [A space5] one handbreadth square and one handbreadth high,6 in the form of a cube,7 serves both to give passage8 to the uncleanness and to afford a screen9 against the uncleanness. How [does it afford a screen]? If beneath the house there was an arched-in drain one handbreadth wide with an outlet one handbreadth wide, and there was uncleanness10 within it, the house remains clean;11 if there was uncleanness in the house, what is in the drain remains clean, since it is the way of uncleanness to issue forth and not to enter in.12 If the drain was one handbreadth wide and had not an outlet one handbreadth wide, and there was uncleanness in the drain, the house also becomes unclean; but if there was uncleanness in the house, what is in the drain remains clean, since it is the way of uncleanness to issue forth and not to enter in. If the drain was not one handbreadth wide and had not an outlet one handbreadth wide, and there was uncleanness in it, the house becomes unclean; if there was uncleanness in the house, what is in the drain also becomes unclean.13 It is all one whether such space is a hole bored by water or by creeping things or eaten through by saltpetre; so, too, with a row of stones, or a pile of beams.14 R. Judah says: Any ‘Tent’ 1 According to one view, in the intermittent dripping of the blood the uncleanness of each drop in turn is nullified by its smallness in quantity; therefore the whole quarter-/og is clean. According to the other view the slowness of its dripping is proof that it issued after death, and it is therefore unclean.
2 The principle implied is stated more fully in y3. Not only what is within the room suffers corpse-uncleanness but even what is outside a shut door becomes unclean if it is beneath the lintel of the entrance, since uncleanness is ascribed to that doorway through which the corpse will be brought out. If there are more entrances to the room, the same applies to them also, unless it has been specifically determined through which of the entrances the uncleanness shall be taken out. This ‘protects’ the other openings. But such a specified opening must be not less than one square handbreadth for an olive’s bulk of corpse, and not less than four cubits square for a whole corpse.
2 Cf. p. i2 1, n. to. So that what is in an adjoining room also becomes unclean.
4 Whether it is a whole corpse or but an olive’s bulk.
s Between the uncleanness and what lies horizontally above it.
6 Above the uncleanness.
7 No dimension may be less than one handbreadth.
8 So that it can pass under the whole of that roof and convey uncleanness to what that same roof overshadows.
9 If that roof is the prescribed handbreadth above the uncleanness, what lies above the roof is protected from what is beneath the roof. But if the uncleanness is in a space more confined than the prescribed cubic handbreadth it will cleave through solid matter upwards and downwards (see below, 6“; y'- 2; gI5> 14, u; ios- 126' T; is1' 7).
10 An olive’s bulk of a corpse. Cf. below, 18'' a.
11 Everything in the house is protected since the uncleanness has the necessary space for passage out of the drain and the outlet. It is assumed that the other end of the drain leading into the house is less than one handbreadth square.
12 The uncleanness would spread not into the drain, but outside the house through the door.
u In such cases the drain counts as part of the ground of the house into which the restricted uncleanness penetrates.
14 Which form a ‘tent’ or roof over uncleanness. If the space is restricted to less than the cubic handbreadth the uncleanness will cleave upwards and downwards.
that is not made by the hands of man does not count as a ‘Tent’. But he agrees that the rules apply to clefts and overhanging rocks.1 4. 1. If a cupboard stood in an open place and there was some uncleanness within it, any articles contained within the thickness of its sides2 remain clean. If there was some uncleanness in the thickness of its sides, the articles inside the cupboard remain clean. R. Jose says: [The thickness of the sides should be divided], a half [pertaining to the inside] and a half [pertaining to the outside]. If the cupboard stood inside the house, and there was some uncleanness within it, the house is unclean; if there was some uncleanness in the house, what is in the cupboard remains clean, since it is the way of uncleanness to issue forth and not to enter in. If there were articles between the cupboard and the ground, or between it and the wall, or between it and the roof-beams, and there was a space there of one cubic handbreadth,3 they become unclean; if there was less space4 * they remain clean. If there was some uncleanness there,s the house becomes unclean.6 2. If a box7 in the cupboard measured one cubic handbreadth within, and its outlet was less than one handbreadth [square], and there was some uncleanness within it, the house becomes unclean; if there was some uncleanness in the house, what is within the box remains clean, since it is the way of uncleanness to issue forth and not to enter in. R. Jose declares the house clean, since a man could remove the uncleanness by halves, or burn it where it lies.
3. If the cupboard stood in the doorway of a house and opened outwards, and there was some uncleanness within it, the house remains clean; if there was some uncleanness within the house, what is in the cupboard becomes unclean,8 since it is the way of uncleanness to issue forth and not to enter in. If the device9 beneath the cupboard extended backwards [into the house] by three fingerbreadths and it contained some uncleanness directly under the roof-beams, the house remains clean. Howbeit this applies only when [in the device] there is a space of one cubic handbreadth, and when it is not separable [from the cupboard], and when the cupboard is of the prescribed measure.10 5. 1. If a baking-oven stood within the house11 and it had an arched outlet that projected outside [the house], and corpse- bearers overshadowed it [with the corpse], the School of Shammai say: All becomes unclean. The School of Hillel say: The oven becomes unclean but the house remains clean. R. Akiba says: Even the oven remains clean.
2. If over a hatchway between a house11 and the upper room there was set a cooking-pot which had a hole such that liquid could filter into it, the 3 These cupboards are described as having niches in the thickness of their walls, opening both inwards and outwards. They measured less than a cubic handbreadth (but according to Maim, and Tif. Yis. they contained such a measure).
3 And there was a corpse in the room. * The uncleanness cannot enter there.
s Between the cupboard and the floor, wall, or roof.
6 The rule of cleaving upwards and downwards does not here apply, since a ‘tent’ within a ‘tent’ cannot protect the rest of the ‘tent’. Cf. Kel. 8“.
3 Or drawer; within the cupboards according to some commentators; underneath accor¬ ding to others. 8 Some texts read ‘clean’.
9 Cf. p. 631, n. 10. The base here spoken of has a container.
10 A wooden article, holding forty seahs, is not susceptible to uncleanness. See Kel. 151.
11 In which was a corpse.
656 SIXTH DIVISION: TOHOROTH School of Shammai say: All becomes unclean. The School of Hillel say: The cooking-pot becomes unclean but the upper room remains clean. R. Akiba says: Even the cooking-pot remains clean.
3. If the cooking-pot was sound, the School of Hillel say: It protects all [from uncleanness]. The School of Shammai say: It protects only food, liquids, and [other] earthenware vessels.1 The School of Hillel changed their opinion and taught according to the opinion of the School of Shammai.
4. If there was a flagon2 * full of clean liquid [in the upper room],* the flagon contracts seven-day uncleanness,4 and the liquid remains clean; but if the liquid was emptied out into another vessel5 * it becomes unclean. If a woman [in the upper room] was kneading in a trough, the woman and the trough contract seven-day uncleanness, and the dough remains clean; but if she emptied it into another vessel it becomes unclean. The School of Hillel changed their opinion and taught according to the opinion of the School of Shammai.
5. If [blocking up the hatchway] there were vessels of cattle-dung, stone or [unburnt] clay,0 all remains clean; if it was a clean vessel7 to be used for Hallowed Things8 or for Sin-offering [water],9 all remains clean (for all are accounted trustworthy10 in what concerns the Sin-offering), since vessels that are not susceptible to uncleanness and clean earthenware vessels, together with the walls of the ‘Tent’, protect11 [against corpse-uncleanness].
6. Thus if there was a cistern or cellar12 in the house,13 and an olive-1 basket14 was put over it, [whatsoever is beneath] remains clean. If the olive-basket was laid over a well whose banks were levelled to the ground, or over a broken-downIS hive, [whatsoever is therein] becomes unclean.16 If a smooth board or a colander without rims was put over them, [whatso¬ ever is therein] remains clean.17 For vessels can only protect [against uncleanness] together with the walls of the ‘Tent’ if they themselves have walls. How high should the wall be? One handbreadth. If it is a half- handbreadth high here, and a half-handbreadth high there,18 it does not count as a wall; but only if there is a whole handbreadth to one or the other of them.
7. Like as they19 protect [against uncleanness] within [the ‘Tent’] so do they protect [from uncleanness] outside. Thus if an olive-basket20 was laid on the tent-pegs21 outside, and there was uncleanness beneath it, the vessels in the olive-basket remain clean; [but if it was laid on] the wall of a court- 1 Cf. Eduy. i14. * Of wood or inetal. 3 With the pot set over the hatchway.
4 The pot affords no protection to vessels not of earthenware, but only to foods and liquids.
s Of wood or metal, which had already contracted corpsc-uncleanness.
6 App. IV. 16 c. 7 Of earthenware.
* Foodstuffs, oil, or wine dedicated to the Temple.
5 Num. to17. Cf. Par. 5'. 10 Cf. Par. 5*.
' 1 Making together a single roof to afford protection to what is above.
2 Each surmounted by a coping at least one handbreadth high.
! And a corpse lay in the house and vessels in the cistern or cellar.
4 A tlat-shaped, round wooden receptacle in which olives are left to soften, and which holds more than forty seahs and so (Kel. 1 5 1 > is insusceptible to uncleanness.
15 Variant: open', not blocked up.
19 Since they neither of them have 'walls of the tent’ to serve, with the olive-basket, as a screen against the uncleanness.
17 The rule does not now apply to these, since they do not count as vessels.
18 i.e. if the well- wall is half, and the covering vessel half a handbreadth high.
17 These vessels in conjunction with the walls of the ’tent’.
•° With ’walls’ one handbreadth high.
Which must be at ieast one handbreadth high; otherwise the uncleanness will cleave upwards and downwards.
yard or the wall of a garden,' it does not afford protection. If a beam2 stretched from one wall to another,5 and a cooking-pot was hung from it4 and uncleanness lay under it,5 the vessels in the cooking-pot R. Akiba declares clean, but the Sages declare them unclean.6 6. x. Men and vessels can serve as ‘tents’7 in such wise as to give passage to uncleanness, but not in such wise as to protect8 from uncleanness. Thus if four men carried a large stone® and there was some uncleanness beneath it, the vessels on the stone become unclean. If there was uncleanness upon it, vessels beneath it become unclean. R. Eliezer declares them clean.10 If it was set down on four vessels, even on vessels made of cattle-dung, stone, or [unburnt] clay, and there was some uncleanness beneath it, vessels upon it become unclean; and if there was some uncleanness upon it, vessels beneath it become unclean. If it was set down on four stones, or on some living creature, and there was some uncleanness beneath it, vessels that are upon it remain clean; and if there was some uncleanness upon it, vessels beneath it remain clean.
2. If corpse-bearers passed through the portico [before a house] and some one shut the door and fastened it with the key, if the door was able to stand of itself [whatsoever is within the house] remains clean; but if it could not stand of itself [whatsoever is in the house] becomes unclean. So, too, if ajar of dried figs or a basket of straw was set in a window," and the figs or straw could stand of themselves, [what is in the room behind] remains clean; but if not, [what is in the room behind] becomes unclean. If a man separated part of a house with a partition of jars and plastered them with clay, and the plastering was able to stand of itself, [the space behind them] remains clean; if not, it becomes unclean.
3. A wall that belongs to a house is deemed to be divided into halves. Thus if a wall looked towards an open space and there was some uncleanness within the wall in its inner half, the house is unclean, whereas what is above [the uncleanness] is clean; but if the uncleanness was within the wall in its outer half, the house is clean, and what is above [the uncleanness] is unclean. If the uncleanness was in the middle, the house becomes un¬ clean; and what is above [the uncleanness] R. Meir declares unclean, but the Sages declare it clean. R. Judah says: The entire wall is deemed to belong to the house.
4. If the uncleanness was in a wall that is between two houses, the house nearer to the uncleanness is unclean, and the house nearer to the clean part is clean. If it was in the middle, both houses are unclean. If the uncleanness 1 Where it is not conjoined to what forms the wall of a house or ‘tent’.
2 At least one handbreadth wide and one handbreadth from the ground.
1 From one house to another. 4 With less than one handbreadth between the pot and the beam. * The beam; not the pot.
*> The uncleanness and the vessels in the pot are jointly overshadowed by the beam; but according to R. Akiba the conditions apply as m a room, when the uncleanness could not pass through any space less than a handbreadth; whereas according to the Sages the pot ss not regarded as conjoined with ‘tent-walls’ or a roof, therefore the conditions protecting the contents of the pot cannot apply.
7 As when some manner of ‘tent’ is supported by men.
* i.e. to isolate what is above them from uncleanness that is below them, as can ‘clean vessels together with the walls of the tent’.
9 Variant: ‘bier’ (but not with a corpse on it).
10 In both cases, provided that the men are clean. This will be so (cf. i6‘)if the bearing- rods are less than the third of a handbreadth thick.
1 Not less than one handbreadth square that communicates between two rooms in one of which lies a corpse.
JJ49 658 SIXTH DIVISION: TOHOROTH was in one of the houses, and there were vessels within the thickness of the wall, the vessels that are in the half of the wall nearer the unclean¬ ness are unclean, and they that are in the half nearer the clean house are clean; and they that are in the middle are unclean. If there was uncleanness in the plasterwork between the house and the upper room, and it was within the lower half, the house below is unclean and the upper room is clean; if it was within the upper half, the upper room is unclean and the house below is clean; but if it was in the middle, both are unclean. If there was uncleanness either in the house below or in the upper room and there were vessels within the plasterwork, they that are in the half nearer the uncleanness are unclean and they that are in the half nearer the clean room are clean; and they that are in the middle are unclean. R. Judah says: The w’hole plasterwork is deemed to belong to the upper room.
5. If there was uncleanness between the roof-beams, with plaster beneath it thin as garlic-peel,1 and there was an open space there2 measuring one cubic handbreadth, all becomes unclean.3 If there was not an open space there measuring one cubic handbreadth, the uncleanness is deemed to be in a closed-up place.4 In either case if it is visible from within the house the house becomes unclean.5 6. If a house forms part of a wall the principle of the garlic-peel applies. Thus if there was a [rock-]wall between two tomb-niches or two caverns, and uncleanness was found within the niches or caverns, and there were vessels in the wall with aught covering them thin as garlic-peel, the articles remain clean. If uncleanness was found in the wall, and there were vessels in the niches or caverns, and over the uncleanness was a covering thin as garlic-peel, the vessels remain clean. If uncleanness was under a pillar, the uncleanness cleaves [through the solid matter] upwards and downwards.6 7. If there were vessels under the capital of the pillar they remain clean. R. Johanan b. Nuri declares them unclean. If the uncleanness and the vessels were both found beneath the capital and there was a space one cubic handbreadth [over which the capital projected], the vessels become unclean; if [there was] not [a space of one cubic handbreadth] they remain clean. If there were two wall-cupboards one beside the other, or one above the other, and one of them was opened, both it and the house are unclean; but [what is in] the other remains clean. A wall-cupboard is deemed a closed- up space, and in what concerns conveying uncleanness to the house the principle of [dividing the wall into] halves applies to it.7 7. 1. If there was uncleanness within the wall, in a space measuring one cubic handbreadth, all upper rooms above it, even if they are ten in number, become unclean. If a single upper room was built over two houses, it becomes unclean, but all the upper rooms above it remain clean. In a rock- wall the uncleanness cleaves [through the solid matter] upwards and down¬ wards. If a man touches the sides of a solid tomb-monument,8 he remains clean, since the uncleanness cleaves [through the solid matter] upwards and downwards; but if where the uncleanness lay there was a space measuring 1 Cf. Kel. 9*. 1 Where the uncleanness lay.
3 It counts as a closed-up grave which spreads its uncleanness all around in every direc¬ tion. * And cleaves upwards and downwards.
5 As though it lay in the bouse. 6 See above, p. 654, n. 9.
7 As described above, par. 3.
one cubic handbreadth, no matter where he touches it he becomes unclean, since it is deemed a closed-up grave. If booths were built up against it they become unclean; but R. Judah declares them clean.
2. All sloping parts of tents count as the tents themselves. If the [wall of the] ‘Tent’ sloped down and was but one fingerbreadth at the bottom, and there was some uncleanness in the tent, vessels beneath the slope become unclean. If there was uncleanness under the slope, vessels which are in the tent become unclean. If there was some uncleanness within and a man touched the tent from the inner side,1 he contracts seven-day uncleanness; but if from the outer side,1 he contracts evening-uncleanness only. If the uncleanness was on the outer side and a man touched the tent from the outer side, he contracts seven-day uncleanness; but if from the inner side, he contracts evening-uncleanness only. If there was a half-olive’s bulk on the inner side and a half on the outer side, and he touched the tent either from the inner side or the outer side, he contracts evening-uncleanness. If part of the tent-cover lay flat on the ground and there was some uncleanness beneath it or above it, the uncleanness cleaves through [the solid matter] upwards and downwards. If a tent was stretched in an upper room and a part of the tent-cover lay flat over the hatchway that was between the upper room and the house [in which lay the uncleanness], R. Jose says: It protects [the upper room against the uncleanness]. R. Simeon says: It protects [against the uncleanness] only when it is stretched out in the manner of a tent.
3. If a corpse lay in a room to which were many entrances,3 they are all4 unclean; if one entrance was opened it alone is unclean and the rest are clean. If there was intention to take out the corpse through one of them, or through a window which measures four handbreadths square, this affords protection to all other entrances. The School of Shammai say: The inten¬ tion must have been formed before the corpse was dead. The School of Hillel say: [It suffices] even after it was dead. If an entrance had been blocked up and it was determined to open it, the School of Shammai say: [It affords protection to all other entrances only] after it has been opened as much as four handbreadths square. The School of Hillel say: So soon as they begin to open it. But they agree that if an opening was here made for a first time the opening must be as much as four handbreadths [before it can afford protection], 4. If a woman was in hard travail and was taken out from one house into another [and there bore a child that was dead], the first house is unclean because of doubt, s and the second is unclean of a certainty. R. Judah said: This applies only if she needed to be supported by the arms; but if she was able to walk [without help] the first house is clean, since after the open¬ ing of the ‘tomb’ it is not possible that she can walk. When a woman mis¬ carries it is not deemed an opening of the ‘tomb’ unless the head is already rounded like a spindle-knob.
5. If [at the birth of twins] the first was born dead and the second alive, 1 After the corpse is removed the 'tent’ still suffers seven-day uncleanness.
* The outer side is deemed distinct from the inside; it is only ‘a father’ and not ‘a father of fathers’ of uncleanness; therefore he that touches it suffers only a ‘derived’ uncleanness.
3 See above, 3*. All the entrances are closed.
* Everything, the door itself, and even what is outside it under the same lintel.
3 Whether or not the head of the child had protruded before she left that house. An unborn dead child cannot convey uncleanness; but if its head had emerged it is deemed fully bora.
66o SIXTH DIVISION: TOHOROTII this one is clean.1 If the first was born alive and the second dead, the first is unclean.2 R. Meir says: If both lay within the one membrane the [living] child is unclean; but if in separate membranes it is clean.
6. If a woman was in hard travail, the child must be cut up while it is in the womb and brought out member by member, since the life of the mother has priority over the life of the child; but if the greater part of it was already born, it may not be touched, since the claim of one life cannot override the claim of another life.
8. i. Some things give passage to uncleanness and serve for a screen against it; some give passage to uncleanness and do not serve for a screen against it; some serve for a screen and do not give passage to uncleanness; and some neither give passage to uncleanness nor serve for a screen against it. These3 give passage to the uncleanness and serve for a screen against it: a chest, a box, a cupboard, a straw basket, a reed basket, or the tank of an Alexandrian ship that have [flat] bottoms and that hold [not less than] forty seahs of liquid or two kors of dry wares; a curtain, a leathern apron, a bed- undercover, a sheet, matting or a mat that are spread out tentwise; a herd of cattle, clean or unclean, a pack4 of wild animals or birds, a sitting bird, or the shelter that a woman makes for her child among the ears of corn; the iris, ivy, squirting-cucumber, Greek gourds, and foodstuffs that are not susceptible to uncleanness (R. Johanan b. Nuri did not agree to foodstuffs that are not susceptible to uncleanness, save cakes of dried figs alone); 2. also wall-projections, balconies, dovecotes, overhanging crags and rocks, grottoes and cliffs, interlaced foliage and protruding stones that can hold a thin layer of plaster. So R. Meir. But the Sages say: A layer of plaster of moderate thickness. ‘Interlaced foliage’ means the foliage of a tree that affords a covering over the ground; and ‘protruding stones’ means [small] stones [or thorns] that project from a wall.
3. These5 give passage to uncleanness and do not serve for a screen against it: a chest, a box, a cupboard, a straw basket, a reed basket, or the tank of an Alexandrian ship that have not [flat] bottoms or that do not hold forty seahs of liquid or two kors of dry wares; a curtain, a leathern apron, a bed-undercover, a sheet, matting or a mat that are not spread out tent- wise; cattle or wild animals that have died, and foodstuffs that are suscep¬ tible to uncleanness. Added to these are mill-stones worked by hand.
4. These6 serve for a screen and do not give passage to uncleanness: stretched-out warp-threads, bed-ropes, refuse baskets, and lattice-work of windows.
5. These neither give passage to uncleanness nor serve for a screen against it: seeds, vegetables, what still grows in the ground (excepting the vegetables that they have recounted),7 hail-stones, snow, frost, ice and salt, and what hops from place to place, or what leaps from place to place, a flying bird, a flapping cloak, or a ship moving on the water; but if the ship was tied to aught that holds it still, or if the cloak tvas held down with 1 It could not contract uncleanness in the womb, and before it was born the other birth had been removed from the house.
2 By the application of the rule of par. 3: the living child passed through the opening by which the dead child must pass, 3 Which (Kel. 151) are not susceptible to uncleanness.
4 So Maim. Others explain as ‘lair’ or ‘nest’. 5 Which are susceptible to uncleanness.
6 Which offer a surface in which are holes, but none of them one handbreadth square.
See introductory note (<?). 7 Above, par. 1 (end).
a stone, it can convey uncleanness. R. Jose says: A house on a ship does not convey uncleanness.
6. If two jars, each containing a half-olive’s bulk [of a corpse] and having a tightly stopped-up cover, were put in a house, they are clean but the house is unclean; if one of them was opened, it and the house are unclean, but the other remains clean; and the like applies to two chambers that open into a house.1 9. 1. If a hive2 lay within the entrance of a house with its open end out¬ side, and an olive’s bulk of corpse lay below it or above it outside, what¬ soever is above or below the olive’s bulk is unclean;3 and whatsoever is not immediately above or below the olive’s bulk and what is within the hive4 and within the house is clean. If the uncleanness lay in the house, the house alone is unclean; but if it lay within the hive all is unclean.
2. If the hive was raised one handbreadth above the ground and the uncleanness lay below it or within the house or above it, all is unclean save what is within the hive; but if it lay within the hive all is unclean.
3. When does this apply? When the hive is still a usable vessel and lies loosely5 [in the entrance]. If it was wholly broken and stopped up with straw or if it was fixed tightly (what means ‘tightly’? — that there is nowhere a gap one handbreadth square) and an olive’s bulk of corpse lay below it, what is directly below it down to the nethermost deep is unclean. If it lay above it, what is directly above it up to the sky is unclean. If it lay in the house, the house alone is unclean; but if it lay within the hive, what is within the hive alone is unclean.
4. If the hive was raised one handbreadth above the ground, and the uncleanness lay below it or within the house, what is below it and what is within the house is unclean; but what is within it and what is above it is clean; if the uncleanness was within it, what is within it alone is unclean; if the uncleanness was above it, what lies directly above it, up to the sky, is unclean.
5. When does this apply? When the hive’s open end is turned outwards. If it is turned inwards and an olive’s bulk of corpse lay below it or above it outside, whatsoever is directly above or below the olive’s bulk0 is unclean; but what is not directly above or below the olive’s bulk, and what is within the hive and the house itself, remains clean. But if it lay within the hive or within the house, all is unclean.
6. If the hive was raised one handbreadth above the ground, and there was uncleanness below it or within the house, or within the hive or above it, all is unclean.
7. When does this apply? When the hive is a usable vessel and lies loosely [in the entrance]. If it was wholly broken and stopped up with 1 If a half-olive's bulk was in each, and they were shut up, the house (i.e. the room into which the two cells opened) is unclean, since the uncleanness must in the end go out through it.
1 A wooden cylindrical vessel, open at the bottom so that honey can be scraped out, and pierced with small holes to give passage to the bees. It is not susceptible to uncleanness but it is not such that can serve as a. screen. It is here thought of as lying on its side, with its open end outwards, and partly inside and partly outside the house.