Chullin 250
הנוגע בכחצי זית ודבר אחר מאהיל עליו ועל כחצי זית טהור
if he touched one half-olive's bulk and some other thing overshadowed both him and another half-olive's bulk,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., both the man and the second half-olive's bulk were directly underneath and overshadowed by a plank.');"><sup>1</sup></span>
אלא קשיא רישא
Now if they fall within one category why is he clean?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Should not the contact and the overshadowing, each in connection with a half-olive's bulk of a corpse, combine to render the person unclean?');"><sup>2</sup></span>
בטומאה רצוצה בין ב' מגדלים עסקינן ואין ביניהן פותח טפח דכולה נגיעה היא
- R'Zera answered: We are dealing there [in the first clause] with uncleanness that was confined between two cupboards between which there was not a handbreadth's space, in which case [overshadowing] is regarded as actual contact.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For it is established law that uncleanness which is confined or wedged in - i.e., there is not the air-space of a handbreadth on all sides - breaks through its confines and rises, as it were, in a column directly above, so that whoever passes at any height whatsoever over the uncleanness actually comes into contact with the column of uncleanness and is rendered unclean.');"><sup>4</sup></span>
מאי נוגע מאהיל
Now it is clear [that a person is rendered unclean] by carrying and by overshadowing, for he carries the whole quantity and overshadows the whole quantity, but with regard to uncleanness by contact, he surely does not touch the whole quantity!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the corpse-mould is composed of many particles, and when a person touches a part thereof he cannot be said to have touched the whole ladleful, in which case he should not be rendered unclean by contact therewith.');"><sup>6</sup></span>
למטה מטפח אהל נגיעה למעלה מטפח אהל גרידא
Abaye suggested, [To overshadow uncleanness] within a handbreadth thereof is termed 'overshadowing by contact', but more than a handbreadth away it is termed 'plain overshadowing'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The terms 'contact' and 'overshadowing' employed in the foregoing Baraitha are both to be understood in the sense of overshadowing, but Abaye draws a distinction between two modes of overshadowing. It must be observed that Abaye's suggestion is in no wise in support of R. Johanan's contention that the Tanna of our Mishnah is R. Jose and that the expression in our Mishnah HE WHO TOUCHES includes overshadowing, for according to him only overshadowing within a handbreadth from the unclean matter can be referred to by the term 'touch', accordingly our Mishnah does exclude plain overshadowing so that the difficulty propounded at the beginning of the argument stands. Of course Abaye himself has already explained the Mishnah to his satisfaction as stated above, supra p. 701.');"><sup>7</sup></span>
אפילו למעלה מטפח נמי אהל נגיעה הוא
Where there is a projection.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., where the person and the uncleanness are side by side, but some projection overshadows both, forming a 'tent' or roof over both.');"><sup>8</sup></span>
והיכי דמי אהל גרידא בהמשכה
Raba said: Whence do I derive this?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That whatsoever overshadows more than the distance of a handbreadth away from the uncleanness is still regarded as 'overshadowing by contact' according to R. Jose, and is implied in the term 'touch'.');"><sup>9</sup></span>
דתנן ר' יוסי אומר
The woven cords of beds and the lattice-work of windows serve as partitions between the house and the upper room to prevent the passage of uncleanness to the other side.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If these networks are stretched out across the lower room forming a ceiling thereto, they become forthwith part of the structure of the room and as such cannot contract uncleanness. Moreover they serve as a partition and prevent the uncleanness from passing into the room above, for the meshes or holes in the network do not give passage to the uncleanness since there is no opening a handbreadth square in it. Consequently whatsoever happens to be in the upper room, even that which is directly over a hole in the net, remains clean.');"><sup>10</sup></span>
חבילי מטה וסריגי חלונות חוצצין בין הבית לעלייה שלא להכניס טומאה לצד שני
If these were spread over a corpse, being suspended in the air, whatever touches<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., happens to be directly over one of the holes in the net. In this case the network is in no way intended as a ceiling, consequently whatsoever directly overshadows the corpse becomes unclean, but whatsoever is not directly over a hole but over a bar or thread of the net does not become unclean, for in this respect the threads of the net, inasmuch as they do not contract uncleanness, form a partition to prevent the uncleanness from passing upwards.');"><sup>11</sup></span>
אלא לאו למעלה מטפח וקא קרי ליה נוגע
Surely it is nothing else but the corpse in its shroud, and the corpse in its shroud conveys uncleanness!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The network, since it is so close to the corpse, can almost be regarded as the shroud of the dead, and the shroud of the dead surely cannot prevent the uncleanness of the corpse from spreading!');"><sup>12</sup></span>
אמר אביי
They must then [have been suspended] more than a handbreadth away [from the corpse], nevertheless the expression 'whatever touches' is used! - Abaye said: In fact [they were suspended] within a handbreadth [from the corpse], but as for your objection, 'Surely it is nothing else but the corpse in its shroud!' [I reply that] with regard to t corpse in its shroud a man certainly ignores [the existence of the shroud],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he mentally ignores the separate existence of the shroud as a garment but looks upon it as part of the corpse; this, however, cannot be said with regard to the network.');"><sup>13</sup></span>
ומנא תימרא
and the opening [of the cupboard] was less than a handbreadth [square], and there was some uncleanness in it, the house becomes unclean;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By Rabbinic decree everything in the house becomes unclean forthwith, even while the uncleanness is still shut-up in the drawer, because eventually the uncleanness will be brought forth and then it will certainly render everything in the house unclean. Cf. Ohol. VII, 3; Bez. 101.');"><sup>18</sup></span>
תיבת המגדל שיש בה פותח טפח ואין ביציאתה פותח טפח טומאה בתוכה הבית טמא
R'Jose declares [the house] clean, for one could take out the uncleanness by halves or burn it in its place.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is not inevitable that the house be tendered unclean, for the uncleanness can either be destroyed in the drawer, or be brought out in such quantities as does not render unclean.');"><sup>19</sup></span>
טומאה בבית מה שבתוכה טהור
And the next clause reads thus: If one set [the cupboard] in the doorway of the house and it [the cupboard] opened outwards, and there was some uncleanness in it, the house remains clean;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the uncleanness will not pass through the house at all and as there was the space of a cubic handbreadth in the cupboard the uncleanness in it cannot break through.');"><sup>20</sup></span>