Keilim 26:9 - 27:1

עור שהוא טמא מדרס – as for example a rug and things similar to it.

אף העושה מטפחת מן העור – which is impure through treading.

טמאה – the towel/kerchief, for the towel/kerchief is similar to the rug, for sometimes he sits upon it. But if he cut the ritually impure chairs of hide and made of them towels/kerchiefs, since ) (it is something from vessels that were broken. But however, they are susceptible to receive ritual impurity from here onwards, as is taught in the Mishnah about in Chapter 24 [Mishnah 12].

הבגד מיטמא משום חמשה שמות – as it is explained further on: because of receptacle, because of sitting, because of overshadowing [of a tent], because of a web [and] because of three fingerbreadths square. And each one of them, its measurement is different one from the other. How so? A cloth [of wool or linen] that has a receptacle, such as the piece of leather in which jewels are bound up, that is taught In the Mishnah above (Tractate Kelim, Chapter 26, Mishnah 2), or a receptacle of [olive] oil or a receptacle of wax, its measure is with a little bit., [and because of defilement by sitting, if it was defiled] though the treading of a person with gonorrhea, its measure is not less than three handbreadths by three handbreadths square. But if it became a tent of overshadowing for a corpse, as it is written (Numbers 19:18): “[A person who is pure shall take hyssop, dip it in the water,] and sprinkle on the tent [and on all the vessels and people who were there],” there is no defiling with less than a handbreadth by a handbreadth square. But if it is a belt/אבנט or a girdle/חגור, it becomes defiled because of the web, even though it does not have the measurement to be fit to be called a cloth, for it does not have the width of three fingers, even so, it is impure because it is a web. And we derive it from a sack. Just as a sack is spun and woven, even all that is spun and woven. And all of the rest of the defilements, the cloth is not defiled nor does it defile with less than three fingers square, for it is not important neither to the poor nor the rich and is not called a cloth.

משום ארבעה שמות – that it lacks the measurement of three fingerbreadths square.

העור משום שלשה – for it lacks [the measurement] because of three fingerbreadths square and because of a web.

העץ משום שנים – that it lacks the defilement of tents, as it is taught I the Mishnah in [Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 2, Mishnah 3] the Chapter במה מדליקין/With what do we kindle [Shabbat candles]? “No product from a tree can contract “tent” uncleanness [except for flax].” And it also doesn’t have because of a web, and also because of three fingerbreadths square.

החרס משום אחד – because it is a receptacle alone But it doesn’t have all of these that we have mentioned (of the rest of the five). And it also does not have [defilement through] treading, as it is written concerning the treading of a person with gonorrhea (Leviticus 15:5): “Anyone who touches his bedding [shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain impure until evening].” He makes an analogy between “his bedding” to him, just as he who has ritual purity in the ritual bath/Mikveh, even all who have purity in the ritual bath, excluding earthenware that does not have purity in a ritual bath that does not become lying for a person with gonorrhea/a flux.

איל לו אחרויים – that an earthenware vessel is not susceptible to receive ritual impurity from its outside, as it is written (Leviticus 11:33): “And if any of hose fall into an earthen vessel, everything inside shall be impure [and -the vessel – itself you shall break].” If it came in contact with defilement from its outside, it was not defiled at all.

שהוא מיטמא משום אריג – which is not the case with a hide, for even if he cut it into thin straps and wove them, it is not considered a web/weaving.