Ohalos 9:7-8

Ohalos 9:7

The rules of mishnayos 9:5-6 apply when the hive is a usable utensil and situated loosely in the doorway. If the hive is missing pieces and plugged up with straw, or if it’s tight in the doorway – meaning that there’s no single gap of one handbreadth (about 3”) – then, if an olive-sized piece of a corpse is placed beneath the hive, everything directly below that piece is rendered unclean all the way down to the depths. If the impurity is placed above the hive, then everything directly above it is rendered unclean all the way up to the sky. If the impurity is in the hive or in the house, then only the interior of the hive or the house is rendered unclean.

Ohalos 9:8

Let’s say that the broken and patched hive or the tightly-fitting hive of the previous mishna is one handbreadth off the ground. If the impurity is below the hive, in the house or in the hive, then everything is rendered unclean except for above the hive. If the impurity is above the hive, then whatever is directly above it is rendered unclean all the way up to the sky.