Bava Batra 101a — the Talmud in English

And their width, six

handbreadths, which is one cubit.

Rabbi Shimon says: One makes the interior of the burial cave six cubits

wide,

by eight

cubits in length.

And one opens into it thirteen burial niches, four on this side,

in the long wall to the right of the entrance,

and four on this side,

in the long wall to the left of the entrance. Since it is eight cubits long, it is possible to make four niches: one cubit for each niche, three cubits for the spaces between them, and half a cubit at each end of the wall.

And three

niches

opposite them,

in the middle wall opposite the entrance, which is six cubits long: three cubits for the niches, two cubits for the spaces between them, and half a cubit at each end.

And one to the right of the entrance, and one to the left,

making thirteen niches. The Gemara will explain where these two niches were made.

And one makes a courtyard at the mouth of the cave.

The contractor or the purchaser of a place in which to make a grave makes a courtyard, an open area above, in front of the cave,

six by six

cubits,

the size of a bier and those who carry it,

so that the bearers can enter there with the bier.

And one opens into it,

into the courtyard,

two caves.

One on this side,

the one just mentioned,

and one on this side,

another cave opposite it; that is, there are two caves opening onto the courtyard, each containing eight niches. The bearers enter with the bier from the two unoccupied sides of the courtyard, so that they will not have to walk over burial caves.

Rabbi Shimon says:

One opens into the courtyard

four

caves,

on its four sides

of the courtyard, and each cave contains thirteen niches.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Everything depends on the rock.

If the cave is hewn in hard rock, there is no need to leave a cubit between one niche and the next, and it is possible to make even more than thirteen niches in a cave. If the soil is soft, one must leave more than a cubit between one niche and the next, and one should not make more than four or five niches in a cave. The same applies to the number of caves in the courtyard: according to the strength of the ground, one increases or decreases the number of caves.

Gemara:

We raise a difficulty:

These two,

those two niches to the right and left of the entrance, according to Rabbi Shimon,

where does he place them?

Where does he make them?

If outside,

if he makes them in the wall of the cave’s entrance, immediately to the right and left of the entrance, directly beneath the courtyard,

they will be trampled,

for the bearers who linger in the courtyard with the bier will walk over the graves beneath them.

Furthermore, we learned

in tractate Oholot:

One who stands in the courtyard of a grave is ritually pure.

Yet according to Rabbi Shimon, one who stands in the courtyard of a grave forms a tent over the graves beneath him; how, then, can he be pure?

And we answer:

Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: He makes them like a bolt.

He hews them vertically, like a door bolt that descends from above to below. Thus, he makes these two niches upright on the two sides of the entrance, four cubits high and one cubit by one cubit wide, and the deceased “stand” inside them. Since the niches are adjacent to the wall of the cave, the people above do not walk over them, because they do not come so close to the entrance of the cave.

And we raise an objection: Is it possible to bury the deceased in a standing position?