Three stones were made into two stoves: [If] one of the outer [stones] became tamei, [the part of] the middle [stone] that serves the tamei [stone] is tamei, [and the part] that serves the tahor [stone] is tahor. [If] the tahor [stone] was removed, the middle [stone] becomes entirely tamei. [If] the tamei [stone] was removed, the middle [stone] becomes entirely tahor. [If] the two outer [stones] became tamei: If the middle [stone] was large, one allots as much as is needed to set [a pot] on either side and the remainder is tahor; but if it was small, it is entirely tamei. [If] the middle [stone] was removed: If a large cauldron can be set upon [the stove], it is tamei. If [the stone] was returned, it is tahor. If [the stone] was plastered with clay, it will be susceptible to tumah from when one heats it enough to cook the egg on it.

Two stones were made into a stove and became tamei, [and then] one placed a stone next to [one of the tamei stones] on one side, and a stone next to [the other tamei stone] on the other side: Half of [one tamei stone] is tamei and half of it is tahor, and half of [the other tamei stone] is tamei and half of it is tahor. [If] the tahor [stones] were removed, the others return to their state of tumah.

The stove bases of householders which collapsed: [If it was] less than three handbreadths, it is tamei, since one heats it from below and the pot up above will cook, [but if it was] more than that, it is tahor. [If] one inserted a stone or a pebble it is tahor. [If] he plastered it with clay, it will be susceptible to tumah from then on. [And] this was the response of R’ Yehudah regarding the oven that was placed over the mouth of a pit, or over the mouth of a cistern.

A shelf that has a receptacle for pots is tahor as a stove but tamei as a utensil with a receptacle. [Regarding] its sides: That which touches [the walls] is not tamei as a stove. [Regarding] its wide [side]: R’ Meir rules [it] tahor and R’ Yehudah rules [it] tamei. The same applies if one turns over a basket and builds a stove on it.

A stove that split along its length is tahor, but [if it split] along its width it is tamei. A kupach that split either along its length or along its width is tahor. The courtyard of a stove: When it is three fingerbreadths high it contracts tumah via contact and via airspace, [but if it is] less than this [then] it contracts tumah via contact but does not contract tumah via airspace. How is it measured? R’ Yishmael says: One places the spit from top to bottom and [the area] opposite [the spit] contracts tumah via airspace. R’ Eliezer ben Yaakov says: [If] the stove became tamei, the courtyard becomes tamei, [but if] the courtyard became tamei, the stove does not become tamei.

[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.