סגוס עבה (a thick coarse woolen blanket) – This Mishnah was explained above (i.e., Chapter 11) in the chapter "הבית שנסדק"/The house that was split [Mishnah 3]. And since it is necessary to teach about boards/planks, it is taught once again here.

ואם היו של שיש – even if the larger one was a handbreadth above the ground, it is not considered a tent to bring the defilement, since the lower one reduces the airspace because they are considered like the ground. But boards/planks of wood are not considered like the ground at the time when the upper one is a handbreadth higher than the ground, even though the lower one reduces the airspace, the upper one brings the defilement.

טבליות של עץ – that are adjacent to one another and each of them are a handbreadth above the ground and touch at their corners – each other with its neighbor that is near it, and it is the manner of the corners of the boards that they are not a handbreadth wide, therefore, vessels that are underneath the first that the defilement is under it are impure, but that which is under the second are pure.

הנוגע בשניה טמא טומאת שבעה – and even though it is taught in the Mishnah in the first chapter [Mishnah 2] that: “Utensils which touch the corpse and utensils [which touch other] utensils are unclean with the uncleanness of seven [days]. The third, whether man or utensils, is unclean with the uncleanness [that passes at] evening.” But it is taught in the Mishnah there (i.e., at the conclusion of Mishnah 3): “The tent does not come under consideration.” Therefore, the board that the defilement is underneath it is not part of the count (i.e., is not included).

עד שיהא בו ריבוע בפותח טפח (until it has a squared handbreadth) – it is a kind of breached/broken-through chest that has four walls that they would make for a table when the table sits upon it, and that breached chest is called a square. And sometimes, that the table protrudes and extends outside from that square a handbreadth or less or more, and now it states that it needs that the table protrudes outward from that square with an opening of handbreadth, for just as what is within the square does not combine, if defilement is also within the square from the inside, the square interposes and prevents the defilement from passing to the outside.

חביות – many rows of jars [of clay], this one after that one and this over that one.

שהן יושבות על שוליהן – and their mouths are [facing] upward.

או מוטות על צדיהן – and their mouths are from the side.

באויר – in a garden or in a courtyard.

בפותח טפח – with the width of a handbreadth they touch one another.

טומאה בוקעת ועולה – to the sides it teaches [in the Mishnah]. That they lie on their sides, even facing the defilement, nothing is impure other than what is below them and on top of them, but what is within them is pure, since that an earthenware vessel does not become impure on top of it, it protects what is inside of it, and what is not facing the defilement, even that it is under them or above them, is pure. And when they sit on their rims, even what is within is not protected, because there is no interruption from the airspace inside it to the airspace that is outside of it, but the jar itself is defiled, and all of the vessels that are in it are defiled, and even if it is not facing the defilement, as we stated the reason at the conclusion of the chapter הכוורת/The Hive (Chapter 9 of Tractate Ohalot, Mishnah 16).

במה דברים אמורים בטהורות – for since they are pure, they are similar to boards of marble whose bottoms conceal the empty space/cavity of a handbreadth and the defilement bursts through and ascends.

אבל אם היו טמאות – even if they are not above the ground, the upper ones which are a handbreadth above the ground bring the defilement, for the lower ones do not conceal/stop up, since they are impure, this resembles the ones folded over/doubled on each other and boards on top of each other.

או גבוהות מן הארץ פותח טפח – they bring the defilement, and even the pure ones since they touch each other in a width of a handbreadth they are all considered like one tent.

שחצצו – that he made in it a partition (i.e., a room which one partitioned off with boards or tapestry on the sides – walls – or on the ceiling).

מן הצדדין – that the curtains and the boards were placed opposite/corresponding to the walls of the house.

או מן הקורות – that they were placed underneath the ceiling of the house.

כלים שבחצץ טהורים (vessels that are in the space between two partitions/the vacuum) – that the curtains and the boards interpose, and are considered like vessels that are on the roof and like vessels that are outside of the wall.

כלים שבבית טמאים – for there is no interposition for defilement, for this resembles an earthenware vessel that is surrounded with an airtight lid, for if the defilement that is in the house it protects over what is within it, but if the defilement is within it, there is no airtight lid for defilement.

כלים שבחצץ – the vessel that is with the defilement with in the partition.

אם יש פותח טפח – that there is an empty space/cavity which is a handbreadth wide.

ואם לאו טהורים – the vessels that are in the space between the two partitions/the vacuum [are pure]. But a house however is impure.

חצצו מארצו (if one partitioned it off from the floor - laying an additional floor with a vacuum between) – that he covered the bottom [of the floor] of the house with boards or curtains.

טומאה בחצץ – even if it has a handbreadth [in length] by a handbreadth [in width] at the height of a handbreadth [vessels that are in the house are impure].

כלים שבבית טמאים – like a gutter/canal that is arched over underneath the house, as is taught in the Mishnah above in Chapter 3 [Mishnah 7]: “If it is a handbreadth wide, and its outlet is not a handbreadth-wide, the uncleanness is in in it - the house is unclean. Uncleanness is in the house – what is in it is clean.”

שארצו של בית כמוהו – when it lacks an opening of a handbreadth.

טומאה בפנים- in the place of the straw.

שכנגד היציאה – a vacant place which is like the width of a cubit from the opening until the wall that is opposite it that they (i.e., people) enter and depart on that path there to remove the straw and to bring it in. But the vessels that are within the vacant space are impure, which resembles the defilement in the vacuum/space of the two partitions of the vessels that are in the house are impure.

טומאה בחוץ – that is in the vacant space from the opening until the wall that is opposite it.

כלים שבפנים – in the place of the straw.

אם יש במקומן טפח על טפח ברום טפח טהורים ואם לאו טמאים – that is in the space between two partitions/in the vacuum also if defilement is in the house, vessels that are in the vacuum where there isn’t in their place a handbreadth are impure.

ואם יש בין התבן ולקורות פותח טפח - that this straw was not nullified to be considered like a vacuum/space of the two partitions and it is like the rest of the belongings that are in the house. But it doesn’t protect on what is inside, whether there is in its place a handbreadth or whether there isn’t in its place a handbreadth [of space].

וכן כרי של תבואה – that they abandoned.

אפילו טומאה בצד הכלים – that the defilement was within the heap of stones, and vessels there were adjacent/near to the defilement within the heap but ae not touching the defilement.

טומאה בוקעת ועולה – but whatever is at its side is pure. And if there is in the place of the defilement a handbreadth [length) by a handbreadth [width] at a height of a handbreadth, it is indeed like a concealed grave and it defiles everything that is around it.

חצר הקבר – he courtyard that surrounds from its four directions four caves of graves.

טהור עד שיהא בה ארבע אמות – all the while that there are four cubits the person who stands in its midst is ritually pure. But less than four cubits, the person who stands in its midst is impure, but if there aren’t there other than three caves from three directions and the fourth direction of the courtyard is open to the airspace of the world, even if he isn’t is not distanced from the opening of the cave other than whatever the amount, he is pure, as long as he doesn’t touch the lintel of the opening of the cave. And these words [apply] when the courtyard of the grave is marked with a partition, but for a mere corpse [it takes only] four cubits for defilement.

גולל לקבר – a covering on the opening of the burial cave.

אלא כנגד הפתח (only the part directly opposite the opening) – of the burial crave. But a person who touches the end that is placed outside of the grave, is ritually pure.

עשה ראשה גולל לקבר – and behold it stands over the burial cave like a tree. A person who comes in contact with it at four handbreadths near the burial cave is impure because of the stone placed on top of a burial cave/top stone, but from four [handbreadths] and above, he is pure.

בזמן שהוא עתיד לגוד – to cut it off. And even though he did not cut it yet. [The word] לגוד is like (Daniel 4:20): “[The holy Watcher whom the king saw descend from heaven and say,] Hew down the tree [and destroy it].”

כולו חיבור – all he while that he did not cut it, and even though he will ultimately cut it down. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

הנוגע בה – all the time that it is a covering on the opening of a burial cave.

טמא טומאת שבעה – as it is written (Numbers 19:16): “And in the open, anyone who touches a person [who was killed or who died naturally, or human bone, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days],” including the stone placed on top of a burial cave/גולל and the frame supporting the movable stone of a tomb/דופק.

והחבית והמשקין טהורים – that an earthenware vessel that is surrounded with an air-tight lid is pure from being defiled in the tent of a corpse, as it states (Numbers 19:15): “And every open vessel, with no lid fastened down, shall be unclean,” but if it is has an air-tight lid upon it, it is pure, and an earthenware vessel that Scripture speaks of is not susceptible to receive defilement from outside it/above it.

רבי מאיר אומר וכו' – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir, but rather even though you don’t have a thing that is a living, breathing creature and it defiles, outside of a human being, nevertheless, they defile because of the top-fitting cover all the while that they are top-fitting covers for a burial cave.

המאהיל על המת ונוגע בכלים – the vessels are impure for a period of seven days because of attachments, as for example, that at the time that he touched the corpse or overshadowed it, a person who touches likewise with vessels.

ואם יש בידיו פותח טפח טמאים – since his hands overshadow over the corpse and over the vessels, they bring the defilement in.

שני בתים – and their openings correspond with one another.

מביא את הטומאה – and they remained as two impure houses. For a tent of his hands combines the defilement as if two halves ae placed in this one (i.e., hand) and that one (i.e., hand).

ואם לאו – that there isn’t an opening of a handbreadth in his hands. A person, however, is impure, as it is taught in the Mishnah further on [Chapter 16, Mishnah 1] and on themselves with whatever amount, but the two houses are ritually pure.