[If the courtyard] was separate from the stove: When it is three fingerbreadths high, it contracts tumah via contact and via airspace, [but if it is] less than this, or it was flat, it is tahor. The feet of a stove: Three of three fingerbreadths contract tumah via contact and via airspace, [but if they are] less than this [then] they are certainly tamei, and even when they are four.

[If] one of [the feet] was removed, [the remaining feet] contract tumah via contact but do not contract tumah via airspace, [these are] the words of R’ Meir; R’ Shimon rules [them] tahor. [If] he made two [feet], one opposite the other, they contract tumah via contact and via airspace, [these are] the words of R’ Meir; R’ Shimon rules [them] tahor. [If] they were higher than three fingerbreadths [then] from three [fingerbreadths] and downward they contract tumah via contact and via airspace [and] from three [fingerbreadths] and upward they contract tumah via contact but do not contract tumah via airspace, [these are] the words of R’ Meir; R’ Shimon rules [them] tahor. [If the feet] extended beyond the edge, [then everything] within three fingerbreadths contracts tumah via contact and via airspace [while everything] outside of three fingerbreadths contracts tumah via contact but does not contract tumah via airspace, [these are] the words of R’ Meir; R’ Shimon rules [it] tahor.

How are these [three fingerbreadths] measured? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: The ruler is placed between [the feet] — [everything] from the ruler and outward is tahor [while everything] from the ruler and inward — including the place of the ruler — is tamei.

[Regarding] an oven that one partitioned with boards or with curtains, if the sheretz is found in one compartment, everything is tamei. [Regarding] a damaged basket plugged up with straw and hanging into the airspace of the oven, [if] a sheretz is in [the basket], the oven is tamei. [If] the sheretz is in the oven, [any] food that is inside [the basket] is tamei. But R’ Eliezer rules [it] tahor. R’ Eliezer said: If [the container] affords protection in the more severe [case of a] corpse, should it not afford protection in the more lenient [case of an] earthenware utensil? They said to him: If it affords protection in the more severe case of a corpse, that is because we can divide tents; should it then afford protection in the more le- nient [case of an] earthenware utensil, given that we cannot divide an earthenware utensil?

If it was whole, and so too a box, and so too a flask, [if] a sheretz is in [the container], the oven is tahor. [And if] the sheretz is in the oven, food within [the container] is tahor. [If] they developed a hole, that which was intended for foods, its measure is with olives. That which was intended for liquids, its measure is with liquids. [With] that which was intended for both, we apply to it the more stringent [measure], [that is,] enough to take in liquid.

[Regarding] a sereedah that is placed on the mouth of an oven and sinks into it and it has no rim, [if] a sheretz is in [the sereedah], the oven is tamei. [If] a sheretz is in the oven, food that is in [the sereedah] is tamei. For only utensils protect from [the tumah of] an earthen- ware utensil. [Regarding] a barrel that is full of tahor beverages and is placed beneath the floor of an oven, [if] a sheretz is in the oven, the barrel and the beverage are tahor. [If the barrel] was inverted and its mouth [opened] to the airspace of the oven, [if] a sheretz is in the oven, beverage sufficient to moisten that is on the bottom of the barrel is tahor.

[R egarding] a pot that is placed in an oven, [if] a sheretz is in the oven, the pot is tahor, for an earthenware utensil does not render utensils tamei. If there was in [the pot] beverage sufficient to moisten, [the beverage] became tamei and transmitted tumah. Thus, this [pot] says: “That which made you tamei did not make me tamei, and [yet] you have made me tamei.”

[Regarding] a chicken that swallowed a sheretz and [then] fell into the airspace of an oven, [the oven] is tahor. But if [the chicken] died, [the oven] is tamei. [If] a sheretz was found in an oven, the bread that is in [the oven becomes] a sheni [l’tumah], for the oven is a starting [level of tumah].

[Regarding] a leaven container [that is] surrounded by a sealed cover and placed into an oven, [if] leaven and a sheretz are in it and the dividing wall is between them, the oven is tamei, but the leaven is tahor. And if there was an olive’s volume [piece] from a corpse, the oven and [everything in] the house are tamei, but the leaven is tahor. But if there is an opening of one tefach, everything is tamei.

[Regarding] a sheretz that is found in the eye of an oven, [or] in the eye of a stove, [or] in the eye of a kupach, from the inner edge and outward, [the oven] is tahor. And if it was in the air, even [if] an olive’s volume of a corpse [was in the eye, the oven] is tahor. And if there is an opening of a tefach [in the eye], everything is tamei.

[If a sheretz] was found in the place for laying the wood, R’ Yehudah says: From the outer edge and inward, [the stove] is tamei. But the Sages say: From the inner edge and outward, [the stove] is tahor. R’ Yose says: From [the point] opposite [where] the pot is set and inward, [the stove] is tamei, from [the point] opposite [where] the pot is set and outward, [the stove] is tahor. [If a sheretz] was found in the place where the bathhouse attendant sits, [or] the place where the dyer sits, [or] the place where those who cook olives sit, [the stove is] tahor. It is tamei only [if the sheretz was found] from the [place where the pot] covers [up the opening] and inward.

A pit that has a place in it for a pot to be set is tamei. And [a pit] of glassmakers, if it has in it a place for a pot to be set, it is tamei. A furnace of lime manufacturers, or [a furnace] of glassware manufacturers, or [a furnace] of potters, is tahor. A purnah, if it has a rim, it is tamei. R’ Yehudah says: If it has istigios [it is tamei]. Rabban Gamliel says: If it has a thin lip [it is tamei].

[Regarding] one whom a t’mei meis touched, who had foods and beverages in his mouth, [if] he inserted his head into a tahor oven, they render it tamei. And a tahor person who had foods or beverages in his mouth, and he inserted his head into the airspace of a tamei [earthenware] oven, they are rendered tamei. [If one] was eating a pressed fig with soiled hands, [and] he inserted his hand into his mouth to remove a pebble, R’ Meir rules [it] tamei, but R’ Yehudah rules [it] tahor. R’ Yose says: If he turned [it] over, it is tamei. [But] if he did not turn [it] over, it is tahor. [If] there was a pundyon in his mouth, R’ Yose says: If [it was] to [relieve] his thirst, it is tamei.