Rambam - 3 Chapters a Day

When one makes keilim out of the bones of a fish or its skin, they are not susceptible to ritual impurity, neither according to Scriptural Law, nor according to Rabbinic Law. Similar concepts apply with regard to the green moss that appears at the surface of the water and the like. For all entities that come from the sea are pure, as will be explained in Hilchot Keilim. Accordingly, when one makes a tent from the skin of a fish or from moss growing in the sea, the tent itself is not susceptible to impurity although it conveys impurity to everything under it like other tents.

Keilim made from animal turds, stone implements, or implements made from earth (raw dirt), are not susceptible to ritual impurity, neither according to Scriptural Law, nor according to Rabbinic Law. This applies to the impurity stemming from a human corpse and to other types of impurity.

Similarly, containers that are made to be left in place semi-permanently, e.g., a chest, a cabinet, a container shaped like a beehive which can contain 40 se'ah of a liquid and have a base are not susceptible to ritual impurity, neither according to Scriptural Law, nor according to Rabbinic Law. They are called: oversized wooden containers.

When implements are made from wood, those which are flat are pure, while those that can serve as a container are susceptible to impurity. Similarly, with regard to earthenware implements: those which are flat are pure, while those that can serve as a container are susceptible to impurity. The latter are susceptible to impurity only from their inner space or when moved by a zav. Even when a corpse touches the outer surface of an earthenware container, the container does not contract impurity. If any of the sources of impurity enter the inner space of such a container, they impart impurity even though they do not touch the container.

If an earthenware container was in the same tent as a corpse, it contracts impurity, because the impurity enters its inner space. If it had a cover fastened to it, it and everything in it is pure, as stated in the Torah, for impurity enters it only through its opening and when it is moved by a zav. In the latter instance, it is impure, because he is considered to have touched it in its entirety.

When one makes a gollel from an object that is not susceptible to impurity, e.g., he placed a stone, a vessel made from earth, an oversized wooden container, an earthenware container that was fastened closed, or a fish skin or its bone, on a grave, one who touches these articles contracts the impurity that lasts seven days, because he has touched a gollel. If they ceased serving as a gollel, or the corpse was removed from beneath them, they are pure,

Similarly, when an animal is tied down and made a gollel, anyone who touches it contracts the impurity that lasts seven days as long as it serves as a gollel. If the animal is released, it is pure, like all other animals. Similarly, if a barrel filled with liquids that was fastened closed was made into a gollel for a corpse, one who touches it contracts the impurity that lasts seven days. The barrel and the liquids are pure.

When a beam is used as a gollel for a grave, whether it is standing upright or lying on its side, only the portion that is above the opening of the grave becomes impure. One who touches the end of it which is lying outside the grave is pure.

If one made its head a gollel for a grave and it is standing over the grave like a tree, anyone who touches it within the four handbreadths that are immediately above the grave is impure because of the laws of gollel. If he touches it above four handbreadths, he is pure.

When does the above apply? When he will cut off the upper portions of the beam in the future. If he is not planning to cut them off, the beam is considered as a gollel in its entirety.

If two large stones, four handbreadths by four handbreadths, were used as a gollel, when one stands over either of them, he is impure. If one of them was removed, one who stands over the other is pure. The rationale is that the impurity has a path through which to depart.

When one uses a mound of small stones as a gollel for a grave, only the inner layer which covers the grave per se imparts impurity. One who touches the remainder of the stones is pure.

When a burial vault was hewed out of a large stone, the corpse was placed inside and then one covered it with a gollel, one who touches any portion of the stone is pure. One who touches the gollel is impure. To what can this be compared? To a large pit filled with corpses with a large stone covering its opening. Only the portion above the open space imparts impurity. If one builds a structure over it, it is considered as a closed grave which imparts impurity from all sides.

If a burial vault hewn into the stone was wide at its bottom and narrow at its top, and a corpse was placed within, one who touches it from below is pure, but one who touches it from above is impure. The rationale is that the side portions above are resting over the corpse and are considered like a gollel.

If a burial vault hewn into the stone was wide at its top and narrow at its bottom, one who touches any place on it is impure. If its sides are straight, one who touches it from the handbreadth next to the bottom of the grave and upwards, is impure. If he touches from that handbreadth and lower, he is pure. If one hollowed out a burial vault in a stone and inserted the corpse in it like a nail, one who touches anywhere on the stone's surface is pure, except for the opening through which the corpse was inserted.

The following laws apply to a cave in which a grave is located and to the courtyard in front of the cave. When the courtyard is open, one standing in it is pure as long as he does not touch the lintel of the cave. Different laws apply when the courtyard is covered. If there is an area four handbreadths by four handbreadths or more that is open at the side of the cave, anyone who enters the courtyard is pure. If the open space was less than four handbreadths by four handbreadths, one who enters the courtyard is impure, even though he did not touch the entrance to the cave.

When a corpse is located in a closed structure or in one which had an opening, but its doorframe was destroyed and it was closed up, it imparts impurity to all its surroundings. Anyone who touches the back or the roof of the structure contracts the impurity that lasts seven days, because it is like a closed grave.

If an entrance had been opened in it, even if it was closed up, as long as the doorframe was not destroyed, one who touches the back of the structure or its roof, is pure. Only the area in front of the door is impure.

How large is the measure of a doorway? If an entire corpse is in the building, the entrance must be four handbreadths. If there is only an olive-sized portion of a corpse, the entrance must be a handbreadth. Any portion larger than an olive-sized portion is considered as an entire corpse and requires an entrance of four handbreadths

The following rules apply when there is a corpse in a building that has many entrances. When they are all closed, they all impart ritual impurity. One who sits near any of the entrances under the roof that protrudes over the entrance becomes impure.

If one of them was opened or one intended to remove the corpse through one of them even though he had this thought after the person died and even if he intended to remove it through a window that is four handbreadths by four handbreadths, this saves all the other entrances. Only the entrance that is open or about which he thought imparts impurity. The others are pure, because they are closed and the building is not considered as a closed grave. Similarly, if one began hollowing out an opening through which to remove the corpse, when he has hollowed out an area four handbreadths by four handbreadths, this saves all the other entrances.

If there was a closed entrance and he intended to remove the corpse through it and began to open it, once he opens it, it saves all the other entrances. If the building had many windows, but they were all closed, they are all pure. If they are open, they all impart impurity, but they do not save the entrances.

When there is a small entrance inside a large entrance, anything that covers either of them imparts impurity. If one intended to remove the corpse through the smaller entrance, the smaller entrance purifies the larger one. If they are both of equal size, anything that covers either of them imparts impurity. If one intended to remove the corpse through either of them, it purifies the other.

If the building had one entrance in the north and one entrance in the south and one intended to remove the corpse through the northern entrance, that entrance imparts impurity. If, afterwards, the brother or the relatives of the deceased came and said: "We will remove it only from the southern entrance," the southern entrance replaces and purifies the northern entrance provided one does not say so as a ruse. If he says so as a ruse, they both impart impurity.

The following rules apply when several houses open to an exedra and a corpse is located in one of the houses. If the usual practice was to remove the corpse through the exedra, the gateway and the houses become impure. If not, the gateway is impure and the houses are pure.

If there is a closed room in a house and a corpse was brought into the room through an open window, the outer portion of the house is pure. The rationale is that the impurity goes back and departs through the same window that it entered.

A grave does not impart impurity to the area around it unless there is empty space a handbreadth long, a handbreadth wide and a handbreadth high above the corpse. Should that condition be met, even if one built a structure over the space of one cubic handbreadth until the heavens, it imparts impurity in its entirety, because the entire structure is considered as a grave.

If the impurity was flush against the covering and there was not an empty space of a cubic handbreadth, the impurity pierces through and ascends and pierces through and descends. The only ones who are impure are those who touch the space above the impurity, stand over it from above, touch the space below it, or stand below it. If, however, one touches the side of the building, he is pure.

This is a great general principle with regard to the impurity stemming from a corpse: If the impurity is flush with its covering, the impurity pierces through and ascends until the heavens and pierces through and descends until the depths, but does not impart impurity to those on the sides.

What is implied? There is a heap of grain or a pile of stones with an olive-sized portion of a corpse in its midst. There are keilim next to the source of impurity, but they are not touching it. Those keilim are pure, but any k'li in the pile that is directly above or below the impurity is impure, because the impurity pierces through and ascends and pierces through and descends. If there was empty space, a handbreadth long, a handbreadth wide and a handbreadth high above the corpse, it is considered as a closed grave and it imparts impurity from all sides.

When a building was filled with earth or pebbles, it is as if the house no longer exists. It is like a pile of earth or pebbles. If there was a source of impurity in the midst of the earth, the impurity pierces through and ascends and pierces through and descends, but the keilim in the earth at its sides are pure.

When impurity that was flush against its covering was in a wall and one rested a sukkah against the wall, the sukkah is impure. The rationale is that the wall became one of the sides of a structure containing a corpse. Although the sides of the structure would be pure when touched by a person if it did not have a roof, once a roof was placed over them, everything in the structure is impure, because the impurity is contained in the structure.

When a grave became lost in a field, its earth imparts ritual impurity when one touches or carries it like the earth of a beit hap'ras, for perhaps the grave that was there was crushed and there are bones the size of a barley-corn in its earth. Similarly, one who stands over any portion of the field contracts ritual impurity. If one builds a structure there, everything inside the structure contracts impurity, for perhaps the structure he constructed in that field is constructed over the grave.

The following laws apply when a person built a house and a loft on top of it in such a field. If the entrance to the loft was directly above the entrance to the house, the loft is pure. Even if the grave was under the lintel of the house, the loft is pure, for there is one structure on top of another structure, as will be explained. If they were not directly above each other, the loft is also impure, for perhaps the entrance to the loft is above the grave and thus the loft is projecting over the grave.

It is permitted to sow any type of seeds in this field, because the roots of the plants growing from the seeds do not reach the grave. One should not, however, plant any fruit trees inside of it, because their roots will reach the corpse.

We operate under the presumption that low hills that are close to a town and near to a cemetery or to the road leading to the cemetery, whether ancient or new, are impure, because women bury fetuses that they miscarry there and lepers bury their limbs there. Different rules apply to those hills which are distant from a town. The new ones are pure, but the ancient ones are impure. The rationale is that perhaps they were close to a town that was destroyed or a road that was lost.

What is meant by a hill close to a town? Any hill that does not have another one closer than it. What is meant by an ancient one? One that no one remembers whether there was a cemetery there or not.

The following laws apply to a field for weeping, i.e., a place near a cemetery where women sit and weep over the departed: Even though its earth is pure, because it has not been established that a corpse is buried there, trees should not be planted there, nor should crops be sown there, so as not to have people frequent it, for perhaps a corpse was buried there. Our Sages had this suspicion, because its owner will have despaired of its use, because it is close to the cemetery. Therefore it is possible that a person will come and bury a corpse there.

One may use the earth of such a place to make ovens to cook sacrificial meat, because it has not been established that impurity was there.

When a grave is discovered on one's property, it is permitted to disinter the corpse and rebury it elsewhere. If it was reburied, the place around the first grave is impure and it is forbidden to benefit from it until it is checked, as will be explained. When it is known that a grave is located in a field, it is forbidden to disinter the corpse and rebury it elsewhere. If it was reburied, the place around the first grave is pure and it is permitted to benefit from it.

When a grave causes harm to people at large, the corpse should be disinterred. Its place is impure and it is forbidden to benefit from it.

The following laws apply when a person encounters a meit mitzvah. If he finds it within the city's Sabbath limits, he should bring it to the cemetery. If he found it outside the Sabbath limits, even in a field of saffron, it acquires its place and should be buried where it is found.

If he found it in the public thoroughfare, he should move it to the side. If an uncultivated field was on one side and a plowed field was on the other side, he should bury it in the uncultivated field. If there was a plowed field on one side and a field that had been sown on the other side, he should bury it in the plowed field. If a field that had been sown was on one side and a vineyard on the other side, it should be buried in the field that had been sown. If there was an orchard on one side and a vineyard on the other, he should bury it in the vineyard, because of the impurity of ohel. If both fields were of equal value, he may bury it wherever he chooses.

When a grave is discovered, it imparts impurity retroactively. If someone comes and says: "it is definitely clear to me that there was not a grave here," even if he is speaking about a period twenty years earlier, the grave does not impart impurity except from the time of its discovery onward.

Whenever a person discovers a grave, a corpse, or a portion of a corpse that would impart impurity through ohel, he should designate it, so that it will not create an obstacle for others.

During Chol HaMoed, agents of the court go out to designate the graves. A designation is not made over a portion of a corpse that is exactly the size of an olive, because ultimately, its size will be reduced in the earth.

With what is the designation made? With lime. It should be mixed and poured over the place of the impurity. The designation should not be placed on the exact perimeters of the impurity, but instead, should extend somewhat on either side so as not to ruin pure articles. The designation should not be extended much beyond the place of the impurity so as not to spoil Eretz Yisrael. A designation is not made on places that are definitely known to be used for burial, for their identity is universally known, only on the places that are doubtful, e.g., a field in which a grave was lost, the low-hanging branches of trees, or rocks jutting out from a wall.

When a person discovers a field that has been designated and does not know what the nature of the problem is, he should follow these guidelines. If it does not have trees, he should assume that a grave was lost in it. If it has trees in it, he should assume that a grave was plowed over in it, as will be explained.

When a person finds a stone that is designated, the area under it is impure. Should there be two such stones, if there is lime between them, the area between them is impure. If there is no lime between them, only on top of them, the following laws apply: If there is a shard between them, they are pure, because they are the remnants of a building. If there is no shard between them, and a light layer of lime was smoothed out over their heads on either side, we assume that this is a designation and they are impure.

If one boundary line of a field is designated, it is impure and the remainder of the field is pure. This applies also if a second or a third boundary line is designated. If all four boundary lines are designated, they are pure and the entire field is impure, for the sign should not be placed far from the place of the impurity.