Ohalos 5:7-6:1

Ohalos 5:7

Vessels protect the outside just like they protect the inside, as follows: if a large basket was supported by pegs outside (next to the wall of a house) and there was something ritually unclean under it, utensils in the basket remain clean. If the basket was next to the wall of a courtyard or a garden, it doesn’t protect (because these aren’t tent walls). If a beam was laid from one wall to another with a pot hanging from it, if there was something ritually unclean under it, Rabbi Akiva declares utensils in the pot to be ritually clean, while the Sages declare them unclean.

Ohalos 6:1

Both humans and utensils can serve as tents in order to convey impurity but not to block it, as follows: let’s say that there are four people carrying a slab. If there’s something ritually unclean under it, then utensils on top of it are rendered ritually unclean. If there’s something ritually unclean on top of it, then utensils under it are rendered ritually unclean, though Rabbi Eliezer declares them clean. If the slab is placed on four utensils – even utensils of dung, stone or (unbaked) clay (which don’t convey impurity) – then if there’s something unclean under the slab, utensils on top of it are rendered unclean, and if there’s something unclean on top of it, utensils under it are rendered unclean. Let’s say that the slab is laid on four stones or on some living creature. Then, if there’s something unclean under it, utensils on top of it remain clean; if there’s something unclean on top of it, utensils under it remain clean.