If there is a pillar standing in a house and impurity is flush under it, the impurity pierces through and ascends and pierces through and descends. It imparts impurity only to entities that are directly above or below the impurity. If there is a flower, projecting from the pillar and there are keilim under the flower, the keilim are pure. Impurity is imparted only to the entities under or above the impurity.
If there is open space a handbreadth by a handbreadth and a handbreadth high in the pillar where the impurity is located, it is considered as a closed grave and it imparts impurity to all its surroundings. The entire house is impure because it is standing over a grave.
When there is impurity in a wall and it is an open space a handbreadth by a handbreadth and a handbreadth high, all of the stories built on this wall - even ten - are impure. The rationale is that the wall is considered a closed grave until its highest point. It is the wall for these upper stories and every upper storey is considered to be an ohel over the grave. If he built a structure next to that wall on one side and another structure next to the wall on the other side and a second storey that spans both those structures and thus the top of the impure wall is in the middle of the floor of the second storey, the second storey is impure because it serves as an ohel over a grave. A third storey built over it is pure, because they are one on top of the other and the impure wall is not one of the walls of this storey.
🏛️ Pillars and Walls
Flush impurity under a pillar: pierces only vertically, even a decorative flower projecting from the pillar does not spread it sideways. If there is a cubic handbreadth in the pillar where the impurity is — it is a sealed grave, the entire house is impure. Cubic handbreadth in a wall: all upper stories built on that wall are impure — even 10 stories. A loft built over two houses with the impure wall in its floor: the loft is impure; but a second loft built above is pure (impure wall is not its wall).
The following rules apply when there is a large hole in the thickness of a wall which people would employ for functional purposes which was called a pardisek. If there was impurity within it and it had closed doors, the house is pure. If there is impurity flush in its floor, its wall, or its roof, we consider the entire hole as if it is a solid mass and see where the impurity is located. If it is located in the inner portion of the thickness of the wall, the house is impure. If it is in the outer portion, the house is pure. If it is in the exact center, the house is impure.
If there are two pardiskin - one next to the other or one on top of the other - and there is impurity located in one of them and it is opened, it and the house are impure, but the other one is pure. If there was impurity flush in the walls of the building, we consider the pardiskin as if they were a solid mass and the status of the house depends on the half of the wall in which the impurity is located.
🚪 Pardisek
A pardisek is a large functional niche in a wall (used for storing things). If impurity is placed inside it with its doors closed: the house is pure. If impurity is flush in its floor/wall/ceiling: the entire niche is considered solid and the half-and-half rule applies. Two pardiskin side by side: one open with impurity = its house impure, the other's house is pure. Flush impurity in the wall between them = consider them as if solid, apply half-and-half.
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Impurity at Doorsteps, Dog on Doorstep, and In-Utero Fetus
If there is an olive-sized portion of a corpse attached to the doorstep of the house from the outside, the house is pure. If it was flush below the doorstep, the status of the house depends on the half of the doorstep in which the impurity is located. If it is attached to the lintel, the house is impure.
When a dog ate the flesh of a corpse, died within three days of doing so, and was lying on the doorstep of a house, we consider the place where the impurity is located in his body. If it is under the lintel and inward, the house is impure. If it is beyond the lintel and outward, the house is pure.
The following laws apply when the fetus being carried by a woman dies in her womb. If its head has reached the size of a weaving needle, when her womb opens and the head becomes visible, the house becomes impure because of the fetus even if it has not emerged yet.
🚪 Doorstep Cases
Olive of flesh attached to the outer doorstep: house is pure. Flush under the doorstep: half-and-half rule. Attached to the lintel: house is impure. A dead dog (that ate corpse flesh within 3 days) lying on the doorstep: if the impurity's location in the dog's body is under the lintel and inward = house impure; beyond the lintel outward = house pure. Fetus dying in womb: once its head becomes visible (even before birth), the house becomes impure.
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Childbirth Cases: Two Infants, Miscarriage, and Inner Touch
The following laws apply when the fetus being carried by a woman dies in her womb. If its head has reached the size of a weaving needle, when her womb opens and the head becomes visible, the house becomes impure because of the fetus even if it has not emerged yet.
If a woman was in the midst of labor and went from one house to another and miscarried in the second house, the first house is still impure because of a doubt: perhaps the head of the fetus had emerged while she was there. When does the above apply? When its head did not reach the size of a weaving needle. If, however, its head reached the size of a weaving needle, the first house is pure. For if her womb had opened to that degree, she would not be able to walk unsupported. Therefore if she was being supported by her shoulders and taken from one house to the other, the first is impure because of a doubt, even though its head reached the size of a weaving needle.
When a woman discharged a placenta, the house in which she was located is certainly impure. It can be presumed that there is no placenta without a fetus.
The following laws apply when a woman gave birth to two children, one a viable birth and the other, stillborn. If the stillborn child emerged first, the living child is pure, because he did not touch the stillborn child after he emerged into the world. If the living child emerged first, he is impure, because it is impossible that the stillborn child did not touch him, for the stillborn tumbles out after the living child like a stone that does not have any vitality and cannot hold itself back.
When a woman discharges a stillborn infant - even, as we explained, a tiny fetus - she contracts the impurity that lasts seven days. If the fetus dies within her womb and the midwife extended her hand inside the womb and touched it, the midwife contracts the impurity that lasts seven days, but the woman is pure until the fetus emerges. The impurity of the midwife is a Rabbinical decree, instituted since she may have touched the fetus after it emerged into the vaginal channel. According to Scriptural Law, touching a hidden portion of the body is not considered as touching. Since the fetus is in the mother's inner organs, anyone who touches it is pure. Similar laws apply to one who swallowed an impure ring and then swallowed a pure ring. Although the two certainly touched each other in his digestive system, this is not considered as touch. The impure one is considered as impure and the pure one, as pure.
👶 Childbirth Laws
Woman miscarrying while moving between houses: first house doubly impure if head was small (may have crowned there). A discharged placenta = definite corpse impurity (no placenta without a fetus). Two births — one alive, one stillborn: if stillborn first, the living child is pure. If living first, living child is impure (stillborn tumbles after, unable to control itself). Midwife touching dead fetus in womb: impure 7 days (Rabbinically); mother is pure until fetus exits. Inner touching (inside body) is not legal 'touch' — Scriptural law only.
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🎓 Key Principles
Chapter 25
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Cubic Handbreadth Transforms a Wall Into a Grave When there is a cubic handbreadth of space around impurity within a wall, the entire wall becomes a sealed grave — with impurity spreading through every story built upon it.
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The Pardisek Uses 'Consider It Solid' For a functional wall niche, flush impurity within it is analyzed by treating the niche as if it were solid — then determining which half the impurity would be in to apply the half-and-half rule.
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Birth Order Determines Impurity for Twin Births If a stillborn twin emerges first, the living twin exits into a clear space and is pure. If the living twin exits first, the stillborn follows helplessly behind and inevitably contacts the living child.
🤲
Inner Touch Has No Legal Status Touching something inside one's body — whether a dead fetus in the womb or a ring swallowed together with another ring — is not legally considered 'touch' by Torah law; only Rabbinic decrees apply.