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Uneven Beams

Ohalot (12:5) | Yisrael Bankier | 40 minutes ago

The Mishnah (12:5) discusses the case of a two story building, where there is no ceiling on either of the two floors. Instead, there are simple cross beams with spaces between them, running between the two floors and a second set by the roof. The second case is where the beams are aligned such that the higher beams cover the spaces between the beams below. The Mishnah teaches that if tumat ha’met is beneath any of the beams, the tumah would spread beneath all the beams, but not above them. We shall try to explain this case.

The Bartenura explains very simply that, despite the different beams being at different levels, due to this alignment, it is considered like one ceiling.

The Mishnah Achrona cites Gemara Sukkah (22a) that explains that the law in our Mishnah is only if the beams are a tephach wide. That is because at that width, we can apply the principle of gud achit. In other words, we view the upper beams as if it they drop down to between the lower beams. Similarly, gud asik, that the lower beams are raised up to between the higher beams. In that way we have single consistent covering. If however, the beams are less than a tephach wide, then there would not be an ohel above (or below) the tumah and it would only make tameh anything above or below it.¹

The Mishnah Achrona addresses the questions of if the bottom beams were a tephach wide but the top beams were narrower. Initially he assumes that since we could apply gud asik from the bottom beams to reach upward, then the tumah would spread underneath all the beams. He however concludes that since the upper beams are less than a tephach – less than the minimum ohel – they are insignificant and cannot combine.

We find a similar discussion in the Grach (Sukkah 5:12). He initially presents the perspective that for ohalot, this principle of chavut rami (viewing the top beams as if they are dropped down between the lower ones) as only really necessary for Schach that is at different level. For tumat ohel however, as long as we have several ohalot one next to the other, even if they are at different heights, tumah will pass from one to the next. Why then does the Gemara suggest that chavut rami also applies for tumot ohel. That would be in the case where the upper beams are a tephach wide and the lower ones are narrower. Chavut rami would be necessary then to make the bottom narrow beams also to be part of the ohel.

He however rejects this understanding. We will learn (14:5) about the case of two projections (zizim) on the outside of a house, each at least a tephach wide, one higher than the other. One of the variations of the case is where there is a tephach space between the two zizim, the tumah is located between the two and the upper ziz overhangs the lower one. If it extends by a tephach or more, then underneath the lower ziz is tameh. If however, the overhang is less than a tephach, then underneath that overhang is tameh, but underneath the lower ziz is tahor. According to the explanation thus far, the ruling is difficult to understand. Since they are both ohalot, one would expect that that space below the bottom ohel should also be tameh.

He therefore understands that for tumah to spread from one ohel to the next they must be considered as one consistent ohel. If they are different heights, then chavut rami is necessary to achieve that end. In the case where the overhang is less than a tephach, it is not wide enough to apply the principle of chavut rami. That is why even though the two ohel are in contact on the horizontal plane, they are not considered one ohel for tumah to pass from one to the next and the region below the lower ziz remains tahor. Furthermore he explains, from the fact that the Gemara states that we view the lower ones as if they are above and the upper ones as if they are below, for tumah to pass underneath all the beams – for them to be considered one ohel – all the beams would need to be a tephach wide, both the upper and lower ones.

¹ The Mishnah Achrona however suggests that if the tumah was between the upper and lower beams, then it would lot spread to the region below the lower beam. That is because, as we discuss in the last two issues, we apply the principle of levud when it results in leniency.

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