Here, we'll talk about a person who sells land to be used as a burial ground, but they didn't discuss how much land would be handed over or what the layout would be. So what do we assume the layout and the amount of land to be?
The Mishnah says that if somebody sells his friend a piece of land and the buyer is going to make a cemetery there, the person who accepts a contract to build a cemetery or burial ground for his friend has to make the interior of a burial cave in that burial ground, which is basically what we'll call the lobby, the opening for the cave. Within that cave, he has to dig eight different spots that are going to be used as burial places. A coffin is going to be put inside each of the eight burial spots. There are three on one side of the cave, three on the other side, and two on the back wall opposite the entrance. The burial recesses themselves are where the coffin is put. The length is 400. The height has to be seven tefachim (handbreadths), and the width has to be six tefachim. This was enough to fit a coffin in the times of the Mishnah.
There is a second opinion about the size of the burial cave. Rabbi Shimon says that the interior of the cave—that lobby—has to be six amot (cubits) by eight amot. And there have to be 13 openings in the walls of each cave where a coffin could go. So, not eight as the Tanna Kama (first tanna) said, but 13 according to Rabbi Shimon. Arba'ah mi-kan ve'arba'ah mi-kan, u-sheloshah kenegdan. There have to be four on one side of the cave, four on the other side of the cave, and three on the back wall opposite the entrance to the cave. Ve'echad mi-yemin ha-petach ve'echad mi-smol. Two other spots for a coffin have to be put in the corners of the back wall: one on the right, one on the right side of the back of the cave, and one on the left side of the cave. So you end up with a total of 13 according to Rabbi Shimon.
Now we'll have a machloket (dispute) about the layout of the burial ground. Ve'oseh chatzer al pi ha-me'arah. He has to make a courtyard that opens into the burial caves. You have to make a courtyard because what we've been discussing so far is each cave, but there would be multiple caves in each burial ground. Ve'oseh chatzer al pi ha-me'arah. You have to make a courtyard that opens into each burial cave and sort of attaches them. Shesh al shesh. It has to be six by six amot. Kimlo ha-mitah ve-kovreha. It's enough room for the coffin and those who are burying it to stand. U-fote'ach le-tochah shtei me'arot. He has to dig two burial caves that open into that courtyard. Ve'echad mi-kan ve'echad mi-kan. One to one side of the courtyard and one to the other side of the courtyard.
According to this Tanna, basically the whole layout of the burial ground that a person is selling or contracting to have built has a central courtyard and then two burial caves on opposite sides of that courtyard. Let's picture it as a square. Two sides of the courtyard don't lead anywhere; two lead into the burial caves. Rabbi Shimon omer, arba le'arba ruchoteha. Rabbi Shimon says, no: there have to be four burial caves connected to the courtyard. So when somebody is contracted to build a burial cemetery, he has to have four burial caves, according to Rabbi Shimon, not two as mentioned by the Tanna Kama. And all four sides of the courtyard have to have those different kokhin: the burial caves plus the kokhin, the different recesses that have a body. Rabbi Shimon is again the one with that same opinion, which had a lot more: 13 per cave. So according to Rabbi Shimon, it's 13 times four on every single cemetery that's being contracted to build. That's a total of 52 on each cemetery. By contrast, according to the Tanna Kama, each burial cave has a total of eight, and there have to be only two caves. So he ends up with only 16 on each cemetery, a very big difference.
The difference between the Tanna Kama and Rabbi Shimon is the concern that people who are part of the burial party are going to leave the kokhin—leave the courtyard—and walk over graves. According to the Tanna Kama, he's worried that if we don't give them a clear opening from the courtyard to leave, they're going to step on graves, and it will be a disgrace. According to Rabbi Shimon, he's not nervous about people walking over graves, and therefore he says you could build graves in more directions.
A final opinion says that the size and number of burial caves are not always the same. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel omer, ha-kol lefi ha-sela. According to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, everything depends on the type of ground and the place where the burial ground is being made. The number of caves, the number of burial caves in the burial ground, and the number of recesses in each burial grave all depend on how hard the ground is. If the ground is very hard and rocky, and it's very difficult to dig there, then maybe two small burial caves, four by six, would be enough. But if the soil is very soft and you could dig there, then maybe you would say that four large caves, six by eight amot, would be the right way.