How does a c'zayit of a body practically get inside the hive when it fills the house (Ohalot 9:9)?

Question

Ohalot 9:9 is part of a perek dealing with a caveret (כורת, a beehive-shape thing) with a piece of a dead body (which is tamei) in various positions, and whether the surrounding house is tamei or tahor.

The mishna reads, in part:

היתה ממלאה את כל הבית ואין בינה לבין הקורות פותח טפח, טמאה בתוכה, הבית טמא.

If it [the caveret] was filling the whole house and there was less than a hand-breadth between it and the beams, if there is impurity inside it, the house is impure.

The question is, if the hive reaches to the roof, how does the (piece of a) body get inside, practically speaking? If it had been inside before the hive was brought in, presumably an ohel would have been made during the transfer, and everything would already be tamei.

An answer of "it doesn't -- the case is to highlight the laws, not be practical" is also acceptable.

_{(This is my brother's question -- he is learning this, not me. I thought it was interesting, so i did a bit of research and posted it. Apologies if i misrepresented any concepts here, as it's been a while since i personally learned this stuff.)}

Answer 1

Firstly the Bartenura already explains that it doesn't mean that it fills the entire house. Rather (as opposed to other cases in the Chapter) it means that the entire beehive is in the house, and it reaches from the floor to the roof. Not that it fills the entire house from wall to wall:

הָיְתָה מְמַלְּאָה אֶת כָּל הַבַּיִת. שֶׁכֻּלָּהּ בְּתוֹךְ הַבַּיִת לִפְנִים וְיוֹשֶׁבֶת עַל שׁוּלֶיהָ וּפִיהָ מַגִּיעַ לִשְׁמֵי קוֹרָה, שֶׁאֵין בֵּינָהּ לַתִּקְרָה פּוֹתֵחַ טֶפַח:‏

(In other cases the beehive is half inside and half outside, and the Din changes depending on which side its opening is, amongst other factors.)

Secondly, as the section you quoted already says, there is some space (but less than a Tefach) between the beehive and the roof. Enough space to get in a Kezayit of a corpse and introduce Tuma.

וְאֵין בֵּינָהּ לְבֵין הַקּוֹרוֹת פּוֹתֵחַ טֶפַח

Thirdly, it's possible that the beehive was brought into the house with the Tuma already inside it.

Answer 2

Why not just assume that the caveret had a lid, which was removed after it was brought into the house?

Answer 3

The Mishna treats in this chapter about two kinds of Kaveret. Both are repeated several times. The first occurrence is in Mishna 3:

בַּמֶּה דְבָרִים אֲמוּרִים, בִּזְמַן שֶׁהִיא כְלִי מְחֻלְחָלֶת. הָיְתָה פְחוּתָה וּפְקוּקָה בְקַשׁ אוֹ אֲפוּצָה, אֵיזוֹ הִיא אֲפוּצָה, כֹּל שֶׁאֵין לָהּ טֶפַח מִמָּקוֹם אֶחָד

1. The first kind "Mechulchelet".

   There are holes on the walls for bees. Little holes (least that one fist) but great enough for the passage of kezayt Bassar.

2. The second kind is with partial walls only.

So we can imagine that the wall of the Kaveret is a little "herniated" at the place of one window of the house, and someone enter a stuck of meat through the hole, the meat enter directly in the Kaveret.

• So Tum'a betocha is solved.

Tum'a babayit. It is possible to enter the meat in the space between the wall of the house and the wall of the Kaveret through a window. there is a space of less than tefach largely sufficient for a Kazayt. and as @Danny Schoemann says the space described concern bottom and the top.

• So, Tum'a Babayt also solved.

Answer 4

The question was how the body gets into the container without being metame the house. So Suppose it was carried in with a live person inside, who then died there...