A chest whose opening is on top [can become] tamei with corpse-tumah. If it became damaged at [its] top, it [can become] tamei with corpse-tumah. If it became damaged at [its] bottom, it is tahor. Its compartments are tamei and are not considered connected to it.

[R egarding] a shepherd’s pouch that became damaged, the pocket within it is tamei, and is not [considered] connected to it. [Regarding] a waterskin whose side pouches hold [liquid] together with it, and [those pouches] became damaged, they are tahor, because they do not accept [liquids] in the normal fashion.

A chest whose opening is on its side [can become] tamei with midras tumah and with corpse-tumah. R’ Yose says: When is this so? When it is not ten handbreadths high, and it has no rim [of] one handbreadth. If [the chest] became damaged at [its] top, it [can become] tamei with corpse-tumah. If it became damaged at [its] bottom, R’ Meir rules it tamei. But the Sages rule it tahor because [when] the primary [function of a utensil] is disabled, [its] secondary [function] is [considered] disabled [as well].

[Regarding] a mashpeles-container that became too damaged to hold pomegranates, R’ Meir rules it tamei. But the Sages rule it tahor, because [when] the primary [function of a utensil] is disabled, [its] secondary [function] is [considered] disabled [as well].