All entities - whether humans or keilim - that become impure because of contact with a human corpse contract impurity that lasts seven days. What is implied? When a person or a k'li touch an entity that imparts the impurity associated with a corpse when touched or contract impurity through ohel from one of the entities that impart impurity through ohel, or carry an entity that imparts the impurity associated with a corpse when carried, he or it contract impurity that lasts seven days, as Numbers 19:14 states: "Anyone who enters the tent and anything that is inside the tent will be impure for seven days."
A person who becomes impure because of a corpse and keilim which such a person touches contract impurity that lasts seven days, as Numbers 31:24 states: "And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day and become pure." If, by contrast, a person touches a person who contracted impurity because of a corpse - whether he touched him after he disengaged himself from the corpse that imparted impurity to him or whether he is still touching the corpse - the second person is impure only until the evening, as ibid. 19:22 states: "And the soul that touches it will be impure until the evening." This is the Scriptural Law. According to Rabbinic Law, if one touches a corpse and touches another person while he is still touching the corpse, they both contract impurity that lasts seven days, as if the second person touched the corpse itself. In what context does this apply? With regard to partaking of terumah and sacrificial food. By contrast, a nazirite or one who brings a Paschal sacrifice who are touched by a person who touched a corpse only becomes impure until the evening as is Scriptural Law, whether the first person is still touching the corpse or whether he is not.
When keilim become impure due to contact with a corpse, whether because they were touched or because they were under the same shelter, one who touches them is considered like one who touches a corpse itself. Just as a corpse imparts impurity that lasts seven days to whatever touches it, whether a person or a k'li, so too, when a k'li became impure due to contact with a corpse, it and other keilim, or a person who touches it contract impurity that lasts seven days, as implied by Numbers 19:16: "one slain by the sword or a corpse." According to the Oral Tradition, it was taught that a sword is like a corpse. This also applies to other keilim, whether they are metal utensils, keilim that can be purified by immersion, or garments. These concepts can also be inferred from ibid. 31:19 which states: "Everyone who killed a person and everyone who touched a corpse must purify himself." Would one think that a person who shot an arrow or threw a stone and killed another person would become impure for seven days? Instead, this is speaking about a person who kills with a sword or the like who becomes impure because he touched the k'li with which he killed, for that k'li touched a corpse. What is the source from which we learn that keilim that touch a person who touched keilim that became impure because of contact with a corpse become impure? It is written: "And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day and become pure." This teaches that any person who contracts impurity that lasts seven days imparts impurity that lasts seven days to his garments.
📅 Seven-Day Impurity
All humans and vessels that contract corpse impurity — through touch, carrying, or ohel — are impure for seven days. Vessels touched by a person who touched a corpse also become impure for seven days (derived from the war with Midian passage). By Rabbinic law, if someone touches a corpse and immediately touches another person while still in contact, both are impure for seven days.
4/8
The Chain of Impurity: Seven Days vs. Until Evening
Thus in summary: When a person touches a corpse and then touches another person, the first contracts impurity that lasts seven days and the second, impurity that lasts until the evening. When keilim touch a corpse and then other keilim touch them, they both contract impurity that lasts seven days. An entity whose connection is of the third degree, whether a person or a k'li, contracts only the impurity that lasts until the evening. When keilim are touching a corpse and a person touches those keilim and other keilim, all three contract the impurity that lasts seven days. An entity whose connection is of the fourth degree contracts only the impurity that lasts until the evening.
When does the above apply? With regard to terumah and sacrificial food. With regard to liability for karet for entering the Temple or partaking of sacrificial foods, by contrast, only the first two are liable - the first person who touched the corpse and the second person who touched him - as mandated by Scriptural Law, as Numbers 19:22 states: "Everything which is touched by the impure person becomes impure." When, by contrast, one touches keilim that were touched by an impure person or one touches a person who touches keilim that touched a corpse, he is exempt, as we explained in Hilchot Bi'at HaMikdash. For these matters, although part of the Oral Tradition, are not considered as Scriptural Law. The rationale is that it was only explicitly stated in the Torah that one who became impure because of contact with a corpse becomes a primary source of impurity and secondly, that an entity, whether a person or a k'li,that touches him becomes impure, becoming a first degree derivative of impurity.
🔗 Chain of Transmission
Person 1 touches corpse = seven days. Person 2 touches Person 1 = until evening. Vessels touching a corpse = seven days; vessels touching those vessels = seven days; but the third in the chain is only until evening. The chain: corpse → person/vessel (7 days) → person/vessel (7 days) → third (until evening). Only first two are liable for karet if they enter the Temple.
5/8
Earthenware Vessels and the General Principles of Impurity
When an earthenware container touched a corpse or was in the same structure as it, it contracts ritual impurity. It does not impart ritual impurity, neither to a person, nor to another earthenware container, nor to any other k'li. For an earthenware container never becomes a primary source of ritual impurity, neither with regard to impurity stemming from a corpse or other sources of impurity. This is Scriptural Law, even though it is part of Oral Tradition.
This is a great general principle with regard to ritual impurity. Any primary source of ritual impurity imparts ritual impurity to humans, garments, and utensils, whether metal implements, utensils that can be purified by immersion, or earthenware containers. Any entity that imparts impurity to a person or keilim when touched is called a primary source of ritual impurity. Any derivative of ritual impurity imparts ritual impurity to food and drink, but it does not impart impurity to a person or keilim, neither to earthenware containers, nor to other keilim and garments.
Any entity that touches a primary source of impurity is referred to as a derivative of the first degree. Anything that touches a derivative of the first degree is referred to as a derivative of the second degree. Anything that touches a derivative of the second degree is referred to as a derivative of the third degree. And anything that touches a derivative of the third degree is referred to as a derivative of the fourth degree. A derivative of the first degree and those on a lesser level are called "the offspring of impurity."
Any entity, whether a person or a k'li, which contracts impurity that lasts seven days as a result of contact with a corpse is referred to as tamei meit. The person or the k'li is a primary source of impurity with regard to imparting impurity to terumah and sacrificial food, as we explained. From it, are counted a first degree derivative and a second degree derivative to impart impurity to people and keilim when it is touched, like other primary sources of impurity. It does not impart impurity when carried.
Any entity that contracts impurity that lasts until the evening as a result of contact with an entity that contracted impurity from a corpse is considered as the offspring of impurity. It is a derivative of impurity of the first degree. It is possible that a fourth degree contact with a corpse can be a first derivative of impurity, as we explained with regard to terumah and sacrificial foods.
🏺 Earthenware Rules
An earthenware vessel (kli cheres) touched by a corpse becomes impure but can never become a primary source of impurity (av hatumah). Every primary source imparts impurity to people and all vessels; offspring (rishon) only impart impurity to food and drink. The Rambam defines the chain: av → rishon → sheni → shlishi → revi'i.
6/8
The Ohel Itself and Garments: What Spreads and What Doesn't
When a person or keilim contract impurity because of contact with the lands of the nations or a beit hapras or because he carried such earth or he touched weltering blood, a gollel or a dofek, or entered a shelter where they were located or carried weltering blood, in all instances, these individuals or keilim and the like are all primary sources of impurity by Rabbinic decree. Similarly, garments that contract impurity that lasts seven days because of these entities are all primary sources of impurity by Rabbinic decree.
A tent itself which encompasses a source of impurity contracts impurity that lasts seven days according to Scriptural Law even though the impurity did not touch it. It is like garments that were touched by a corpse, as implied by Numbers 19:18: "And he shall sprinkle on the tent." When does the above apply? When the tent was made from cloth, sackcloth, or a wooden k'li, or a hide, either a hide from an animal or beast that is permitted to be eaten or one which is forbidden to be eaten. These concepts are derived from Exodus 40:19: "And he spread the tent over the Sanctuary." The term "tent" applies only to an entity that is woven or made from hides, as in the Sanctuary. If, by contrast, the structure was made from slats of wood, like a roof, a mat, or the like, or it was bone, or made of metal, it is pure. Needless to say, if it was made from building materials, it is pure. Whenever the Torah uses the expression, "the house is impure," the intent is the person and the keilim in the house. There is no product of wood that becomes impure as a tent except flax.
When garments touch a corpse, even though they are considered as a corpse with regard to imparting impurity that lasts seven days to other entities that touch them, they are not considered as a corpse with regard to imparting impurity when one is under their shelter or when one carries them. The rationale is that the impurity stemming from carrying a corpse itself is not explicitly stated in the Torah, as we explained. And with regard to the impurity imparted by a tent, Numbers 19:14 states: "A man when he will die in a tent." Therefore if one carried garments that touched a corpse without touching the garments, or if one stands over them, they are held over him, or they were in a structure with him, he is pure. Similarly, when a person contracted impurity from a corpse and stood over keilim, they are pure. For one who contracts impurity from a corpse imparts impurity through touch alone.
A corpse does not impart impurity to a seat or a couch that is below him, nor to articles that are placed upon him, only to a k'li that touches a corpse whether it was at its side or it was below the corpse or on top of it. What is implied? There were ten garments one on top of the other and the corpse was on top of them and then there were ten garments on top of him. The garment that is touching him and the second garment which is touching the garment touching him both contract the impurity that lasts seven days. The third garment, whether on top or below, contracts the impurity which lasts until the evening. When does the above - that all the garments or keilim above him and below him are pure - apply? When the impurity was not retzutzah, the laws of ohel do not apply, or there was a stone intervening between them, as will be explained in the appropriate place.
הלכה ט״ו׳
🏠 Ohel as Av
The ohel itself that covers a corpse (e.g., cloth tent) becomes impure for seven days — like a garment that touched a corpse. But garments that touched a corpse do NOT spread impurity through ohel or carrying — only through touch. A person who became impure from a corpse and stands over vessels does NOT make those vessels impure — corpse-impure persons only spread through touch.
7/8
🎓 Key Principles
Chapter 5
⚔️
Sword Like the Corpse A sword or weapon used to kill becomes impure like the corpse itself — 'the sword is like the corpse' — and imparts seven-day impurity to whoever touches it.
🧱
Earthenware Never Becomes an Av An earthenware vessel can contract impurity but can never become a primary source of impurity — it cannot generate seven-day impurity in what it touches.
📏
Four Degrees of Impurity The chain runs: av → rishon (first degree) → sheni → shlishi → revi'i; only avot and rishon can impart impurity to people and vessels; sheni and below only to food and drink.
🪡
Garments Touch Only, Not Carry or Ohel Garments impurified by a corpse spread impurity only through touch — they do not create ohel impurity or carrying impurity to those who stand under or over them.