[If] someone leaves workers in his house, [everything in] the house is tamei. [These are the] words of R’ Meir. But the Sages say: Nothing [in the house] is tamei except for [those items in] the area that they can stretch out their hands and touch.

[If] the wife of a chaver left the wife of an am haaretz grinding in her house; [if] the mill stopped, [everything in] the house is tamei. [If] the mill did not stop, nothing [in the house] is tamei except for [those items in] the area that she can stretch out her hand and touch. [If] there were two [women], then in either case, [everything in] the house is tamei, since one grinds and one examines; these are the words of R’ Meir. But the Sages say: Nothing [in the house] is tamei except for [those items in] the area that they can stretch out their hand and touch.

[If] someone leaves an am haaretz in his house to guard it, when he can see those who enter and those who leave, the food, drink, and open earthenware vessels are tamei. But the beds, seats, and sealed earthenware vessels are tahor. But if he cannot see those who enter or those who leave, even [if the am haaretz guard has] to be carried [or] even if he is bound, everything is tamei.

If the [tax] collectors entered into the house, [everything in] the house is tamei, If there is an idolater with them, they are be-lieved to say, “We have not entered,” but they are not believed to say, “We have entered, but we have not touched.”  [If] thieves entered into a house, nothing [in the house] is tamei except for [those items in] the area where the thieves walked. And what do they render tamei? The food, drinks, and open earthenware vessels. But the beds, seats, and sealed earthenware ves-sels are tahor. If there is an idolater or woman with them, everything [in the house] is tamei.

[If] one placed his clothes in a cubbyhole of the bathhouse attendants, R’ Elazar ben Azaryah [rules that they are] tahor, but the Sages say: Until he gives him the key or seal, or until he makes a sign.  [If] one leaves his utensils from this winepressing [season] to the coming winepressing [season], his utensils are tahor. And with an Israelite, until he says, “I had in mind to guard them.”

[If] someone was tahor, and diverted his attention from eating, R’ Yehudah [rules him] tahor, since it is the way of tamei [peo-ple] to separate from him. But the Sages [rule him] tamei.  [If] his hands were tahor, and he diverted his at-tention from eating, even though he said, “I know that my hands have not become contaminated,” his hands are tamei, because [a person’s] hands are active.

[If] a woman entered [her home] in order to bring out bread to a poor man, and she went out and found him standing next to loaves of terumah, and similarly, [if] a woman went outside and found her friend stirring coals under a pot of terumah, R’ Akiva [rules] tamei while the Sages [rule] tahor. R’ Elazar ben Pila said: Why does R’ Akiva [rule it] tamei while the Sages [rule it] ta-hor? Because women are gluttonous, and she is suspected of uncovering the pot of her friend in order to know what she is cooking.

[If] one lives together with an am haaretz in a courtyard, and [he] forgot utensils in the courtyard, even sealed [earthenware] barrels or a sealed [earthenware] oven, these are tamei. R’ Yehudah [rules] the oven tahor when it is sealed. R’ Yose says: Even the oven is tamei, until he makes a partition for it [that is] ten handbreadths high.

[If] one deposits utensils with an am haaretz, they become tamei with corpse tumah and they become tamei [through] midras. If he knows that he eats terumah, they are tahor from corpse tumah, but they are tamei [through] midras. R’ Yose says: If he gave him a chest full of clothes, when [the lid] presses [down on the clothes], they become tamei midras; if [the lid] does not press [down on the clothes], they become tamei with a light tumah, even if the key is in the owner’s hand.

[If] one loses [an object] during the day and finds it the [same] day, [it is] tahor. During the day and he found it during the night; during the night and he it during the day; during the day and he found it the following day, [it is] tamei. This is the rule: Wherev-er the [entire] night or part of it passes over it, [it is] tamei. [If] one spreads out clothes in the pub-lic domain, they are tahor; in the private domain, they are tamei. And if he was watching them, they are tahor. [If] they fell and he went to bring them, they are tamei. [If] his bucket fell into the well of an am haaretz, and he went to bring [something] with which to raise it, [it is] tamei, since it was left in the domain of the am haaretz for a short time.

[If] one left his house open and found it open, locked and found it locked, open and found it locked, [it is] tahor. Locked and he found it open, R’ Meir [rules it] tamei. But the Sages [rule it] tahor, for there were thieves but they changed their minds and went on their way.

[If] the wife of an am haaretz entered the house of a chaver, in order to bring out his son, daughter or animal, [everything in] the house is tahor since she entered without permission.

They stated a general rule concerning taharos: Any item designated as food for a human is tamei until it becomes unfit [even] as food for a dog. But anything that is not designated as food for a human is tahor, until he designates it for a human. How so? [If] a pigeon fell into a vat and he intended to bring it up for a gentile, it is tamei; for a dog, it is tahor. R’ Yochanan ben Nuri [rules it] tamei. [If] a deaf-mute, one who is mentally deranged or a minor had intent, it is tahor; if he raised it up, it is tamei, for they have an act but not intent.

If the outsides of utensils became tamei through [contact with tamei] liquids, R’ Eliezer says: They can convey tumah to liq-uids but they cannot render foods unfit. R’ Yehoshua says: They can convey tumah to liquids and they can render foods unfit. Shimon, the brother of Azaryah, says: Neither this nor that. Rather, liquids that have become tamei from the outsides of the utensils can convey tumah to one, [which] can [then] render [another] one unfit; [thus,] this one says: “That which conveys tumah to you cannot convey tumah to me, yet, you can convey tumah to me!”