There is a stringency with the land of the nations that there is not with a beit haperas, and with a beit haperas that there is not with the land of the nations: That with the land of the nations, virgin [soil] that has not been defiled, and then becomes defiled when one enters it, and it cannot be purified from its defilement, which is not the case with a beit haperas. The stringency with a beit haperas is that even if the four sides surrounding it are pure, behold, it still has the presumption of a beit haperas. The land of the nations: If one is able to enter it in a state of purity, it is pure. And how close must one be to be able to enter it in a state of purity? Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, even one furrow, behold, that interrupts. Said Rabbi Shimon, I could feed priests foods prepared in purity in a tannery that is in Tzidon (i.e., north of the Land of Israel), or that is in the towns that are in Lebanon, because they are adjacent to the sea or to the river. They said to him, behold, the idols interrupt. § The presumption of the roads of those who come up from Babylonia: Even though they are absorbed within the land of the nations, they are pure. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, up until a place that a person can turn to the right and the left without embarrassment. Towns that have been absorbed within the Land of Israel, such as Susita and its neighbors, [and] Ashkelon and its neighbors, even though they are exempt from tithes and from the [laws of] the sabbatical year, they are not considered [part of] the land of the nations.

One who enters the land of the nations in chest or in a cupboard is pure. In a coach, in a wagon, or in a boat, or on a raft, he is impure. One who inserts his head and the majority of his body into the land of the nations is impure. An earthenware vessel that entered the airspace of the land of the nations is impure. Benches and cathedras (a cushioned chair with a back) whose majority entered the land of the nations are impure.

Everyone can convert [an Israelite dwelling] into a "dwelling places of the nations," even a slave, even a maidservant, and even a eunuch, and even a minor of nine years and one day. An idolater that is married, and a Samaritan that is married, an idolater whose slaves are Samaritans, and a Samaritan whose slaves are idolaters, make a "dwelling place of the nations." Regarding "suspending" the laws of dwelling places of the nations (i.e., in connection with eating terumah and consecrated foods), Rabbi Yosei b'Rabbi Yehuda says, they only burn it. And how long must [a Gentile] stay in [a dwelling] in order that it requires inspection? Aba Yudan a man of Tzidon in the name of Rabbi Eliezer [says], forty days, even if he does not have a wife, and the halacha is according to his words. [If] this one was entering and that one was leaving, and [neither] remained there for forty days, it is pure, and if [one of them] remained there for forty days, it is impure with corpse-impurity. A [Gentile] watchman: [If] he remains there for forty days [without leaving], it is impure. When he is one that [is permitted] to come and go, even though he remains there forty days, it is pure because he has the presumption of one who watches*. Everyone is trusted to watch [the dwelling], and even a slave, and even a woman, and even a eunuch, and even a minor of nine years and one day.

Sewer-pipes that travel from the land of the nations into the Land of Israel: He makes two* grates for them and he reduces [their circumference] until it is less than a handbreadth.

How do they inspect a dwelling place of the nations (Mishnah Oholot 18:8). An Israelite enters first, and afterwards a priest. Even if they found that [the dwelling place] was inlaid with alabaster or with mosaic (פספס) (see GR"A), it is impure.

A store is not subject to the laws of "dwelling places of the nations" (Mishnah Oholot 18:10). Even if it was destroyed, behold, it is impure and is not [subject to the laws of] dwelling places of the nations.* And a beit haperas outside the Land [of Israel], horse-mangers*, and workshops, and public baths, and a gate-house, and a reservoir, and the open spaces of the courtyard, and fruit-shelters*, and the way stations, and the temporary huts (succot), the field-huts, and the tents, are not subject to the laws of dwelling places of the nations. Armories and wineries [of gentiles]: Rabbi Yehuda renders them impure and Rabbi Yosei renders them pure*. A gate-house and the open spaces of the courtyard: At a time that they are intermingled with dwelling places of the nations, they are impure on account of the laws of dwelling places of the nations. And double-rows of colonnades: Even if they become intermingled with dwelling places of the nations, they are not subject to the laws of dwelling-places of the nations.

And what is the "east of Caesarea" (Mishnah Oholot 18:9)? From opposite its titraphlon, until opposite its wine press. Yehuda the Baker testified about the northeast, that it is [considered] pure, and the remainder of all of it is impure on account of [being part of] the land of the nations.

One who travels from Akko to Cheziv in our days: The road is [considered] pure on account of being [part of] the land of the nations, and it is liable in tithes and in [the laws of] the sabbatical year, unless it is known [with certainty] that it is exempt. From the left-hand side to the west of the road is impure on account of being the land of the nations, and exempt from tithes and from [the laws of] the sabbatical year, unless it is known [with certainty] that it is liable, until Cheziv. Rabbi Yishmael b'Rabbi Yosei says in the name of his father, until Laclabi*.

Originally, they would say that the borders [of Ashkelon (MS Vienna)], from Kever HaGadol* until the Negev, and until Tar'in, were impure. And the Sages voted on them (i.e., the borders), and rendered them pure. Rabbi Yehuda ben Yaakov from Beit Guvria, and Yaakov b'Rabbi Yitzchak from Beit Gufnin, testified about Caesarea, that [the Israelites] had always had it in their possession, but that the Sages permitted it, that it no longer be counted [as part of the Land of Israel*]. Said Rabbi Chanin, that same year was the sabbatical year, and the idolaters went to their circuses, and they left the marketplace full of produce, and the Israelites came and plundered it. Upon their return, they said, "Come, let us go to the Sages, lest they permit pigs to them." Said Rabbi Zerika, on the fifth day of the second Adar, twenty-four elders voted on it and they permitted it, for everyone was entering inside it.

It so happened with Rebbi and Rabbi Yishmael b'Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Eliezer HaKappar (Bar Kappara), that they spent the Sabbath in the store of Pazi* ("non-Jew") and then altered to "idolater" due to censorship; see also Tosefta Yevamot 14:11, where a similar phenomenon occurs with גייס in Lod, and Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair was sitting before them. They said to him, "Ashkelon, what is your (pl.) ruling about it (i.e., whether it is considered a dwelling place of the nations)?" He said to them, "They sell wheat in their basilicas, and they join their Pesach offerings in the evening." They said to him, "What is the ruling for one who traveled in it from the land of the nations?" He said to them, "Once he lingers in it forty days." They said to him, "In that case, come (pl.) and we will vote on it, whether to exempt it from tithes or not." Rabbi Yishmael b'Rabbi Yosei did not vote with them. When he removed [himself], he* said, "Rabbi, for what reason are you not voting with us?" He said to him, "Concerning one impurity that I [previously] rendered impure, I [have] rendered it pure. [But] not tithes. I am afraid of the Supreme Sanhedrin, lest they cut off my head!"