Ohalos 7:1-2

Ohalos 7:1

If there’s something ritually unclean in a wall in the space of a cubic handbreadth (3”x3”x3”), then all the floors above it are rendered unclean, even if there are ten of them. If there was a single upper level over two houses, that level is rendered unclean but all the floors above it remain clean. In a second wall, the impurity extends both upward and downward. [The meaning of “a second wall” is difficult. Some commentators understand it to refer to a seaside wall. See, for example, Bartinuro.] One who touches a solid grave marker on the side remains clean because its impurity extends upwards and downwards but if the uncleanliness was in a space of a cubic handbreadth, then one who touches the marker anywhere is rendered unclean because it’s like a sealed grave. If one supported booths on the grave marker, they are rendered unclean, though Rabbi Yehuda says that they remain clean.

Ohalos 7:2

Sloping tents (i.e., triangular structures whose walls are not differentiated from their ceilings) are like all other tents. If a tent sloped down to within a fingerbreadth of the ground, then if there’s something ritually unclean in the tent (i.e., in an area of a cubic handbreadth), utensils under the slope are rendered unclean. If there’s something unclean under the slope, utensils in the tent are rendered unclean. If there’s something unclean inside the tent, one who touches the tent on the inside contracts seven-day impurity, while one who touches it on the outside contacts impurity that lasts until nightfall. If there’s something unclean on the outside, one who touches the tent on the outside contracts seven-day impurity, while one who touches it on the inside contacts impurity that lasts until nightfall. If there’s a half-olive volume of impurity on the inside and a half-olive volume of impurity on the outside, then one who touches the tent inside or outside contacts impurity that lasts until nightfall. Let’s say that part of the tent side trailed on the ground. If there’s something ritually unclean beneath or above it, its impurity extends upwards and downwards. If a tent was erected in an attic and part of it trailed over the hatch between the house and the attic, Rabbi Yosi says it protects the contents of the attic from impurity in the house. Rabbi Shimon says that it doesn’t protect unless it’s pitched like a regular tent (i.e., with the tent proper over the hatch rather than its surplus material).