Keilim 2:7-8

Keilim 2:7

Earthenware utensils that are susceptible to ritual impurity include a flat slab and a coal shovel that have a rim, and a slab of attached bowls. If one of these bowls is rendered impure by a crawling creature, the others are not also rendered impure; if the rim rises above the bowls, then if one is rendered impure, all the others are as well. The same rules apply to an earthenware tray for spices (which has separate compartments) and a writing stand divided into two compartments. Similarly, if one compartment in a wooden spice tray is rendered impure by a liquid, the other compartments are unaffected. Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri says that we divide the width of the vessel between the compartments so that the part that serves the ritually unclean compartment is unclean and the part that serves the clean compartments is clean. If the rim rises above the compartments, then if one is rendered impure, so is the other.

Keilim 2:8

An earthenware torch (a type of lamp on a pole) is susceptible to ritual impurity. The slot that holds an earthenware lamp is susceptible to ritual impurity through its interior airspace. Rabbi Eliezer says that the comb (i.e., the rim) of an earthenware cooler is not susceptible to ritual impurity but the Sages say that it is.