Impurity is placed directly below the skylight of a house (not under any roof). What is the ruling?
Halacha 1: When impurity is positioned solely under the skylight (not under the roof), the entire house is pure. The skylight allows the impurity to exit upward, preventing it from spreading under the roof.
Question 2
A person places their foot over a skylight that is a handbreadth by a handbreadth. Impurity is under the roof (not under the skylight). What happens?
Halacha 1: By placing their foot over the skylight (with a handbreadth opening), the person creates a unified ohel encompassing both the house and the skylight zone. Everything — including the house, the skylight zone, and the person — becomes impure.
Question 3
A raven holds an olive-sized portion of a corpse in its beak over a small skylight (less than a handbreadth square). Is the house impure?
Halacha 2: Even without a cubic handbreadth skylight, if an olive-sized portion from a corpse is in the airspace of the skylight (e.g., in a raven's mouth), the house is impure.
Question 4
A non-impurity-susceptible object is placed over the lower of two aligned skylights. What is the ruling?
Halacha 3: Placing a non-susceptible object (which cannot itself contract impurity) over the lower skylight blocks impurity from rising to the loft. The house remains impure, but the loft is saved.
Question 5
What happens if the ceiling of a house has a crack as wide as a plumb line (kav hamashkelet)?
Halacha 6: A crack in the ceiling as wide as a plumb line separates the house into two distinct ohels. Impurity in the inner portion does not cross to the outer portion — each side is independent.