Ohalos 6:6-7

Ohalos 6:6

The rule of a garlic skin applies to a house that serves a wall, as follows: Let’s say that there’s a wall between two crypts or two caves. If there’s something ritually unclean in these “houses” and utensils in the walls, and there’s a covering as thin as a garlic-peel over the utensils, they remain clean. If the impurity is in the wall and the utensils are in these “houses,” and there’s a covering as thin as a garlic-peel over the impurity, the utensils remain clean. If there’s something ritually unclean under a column, the impurity extends upwards and downwards (but not to the sides).

Ohalos 6:7

Utensils under a column’s decorative capital remain ritually clean, though Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri rules that they are unclean. If both the impurity and the utensils are under the column’s capital, then if there’s an opening of a handbreadth (i.e., if the capital extends that far, which is about three inches), then the utensils are rendered unclean; otherwise, they remain clean. If there are two cabinets, either next to one another or one on top of the other, then if one of them is opened, both it and the house are rendered unclean but the other cabinet remains clean. The cabinets are considered as one solid block so it is subject to the principle of halves vis-à-vis conveying ritual impurity to the house.