Ohalos 9:11-12

Ohalos 9:11

Let’s say that the hive was lying on its side in the open air. If an olive-sized piece of a corpse was placed below it or above it, whatever is directly below or above that piece is rendered unclean but whatever is not directly below or above it and whatever is inside the hive remain clean. If the impurity is inside the hive, everything is rendered unclean.

Ohalos 9:12

If the aforementioned hive is one handbreadth (about 3”) off the ground, then if there’s impurity beneath it or above it, everything is rendered unclean except for the hive’s interior. If the impurity is inside the hive, everything is rendered unclean. This is the case when the hive is a usable utensil. If it’s missing pieces and patched with straw – or, according to the Sages, if it could hold 40 seah (about 140 gallons) – then if an olive-sized piece of a corpse is placed beneath it, everything directly below is rendered unclean all the way down to the depths. If the impurity is placed above the hive, everything directly above it is rendered unclean all the way up to the sky. If the impurity is inside the hive, then only the hive’s interior is rendered unclean. If the hive was one handbreadth off the ground, then if there was impurity beneath it, what is below becomes unclean. If the impurity was inside the hive, then its interior is rendered unclean. If the impurity was above the hive, then everything directly above it is rendered impure all the way up to the sky.