Shabbos 2:3 - 2:4

כל היוצא מן העץ אין מדליקין בו – to make of it a wick.

אלא פשתן – which is called a tree, as it is written (Joshua 2:6): “[Now she had taken them up to the roof] and hidden them under some stalks of flax [which she had lying on the roof],” and nevertheless, we kindle with wicks that we make from this. But hemp and vine wool do not come from the tree, but they are kinds of seeds, therefore, we kindle from them. And flax also is a kind of seed and it is not necessary to include it, but because it is called a tree, as it written: “and hidden under some stalks of flax.”

אינו מטמא טומאת אהלים – if he made from them a tent and the dead person underneath it is like the rest of the house and does not require sprinkling and immersion, for the tent itself is not susceptible to becoming impure other than the utensils that are underneath it.

אלא פשתן – for the tent itself is impure, as it is written (Numbers 19:18): “and sprinkle on the tent” and we derive “tent,” “tent” from the Tabernacle, as it is written concerning it (Exodus 40:19): “He spread the tent over the Tabernacle,” but there was nothing in the tent of the Tabernacle that comes out from the wood other than flax as it written (Exodus 26:1): “[As for the Tabernacle,] make it of ten strips of cloth; make these of fine twisted linen.”

שקפלה – in the manner that the wicks are grown.

הבהבה – on the flame in order that it will be charred and kindle nicely and we are dealing with a cloth that has confined three fingers in length by three fingers in length.

טמאה היא – that is folded is not voided from being considered as cloth since it has not parched.

טהורה היא – that is folded is voided from being considered as cloth and it is as if it does not have three-by-three, and anything that is less than three-by-three is pure from being defiled either by plagues (i.e., suspected leprosy) and defilement through contact with the dead.

אין מדליקין בה – we are dealing with the case of a Jewish holy day that occurs on the Eve of the Sabbath (i.e., Friday) for the prohibition of Muktzeh/that which is not counted upon for use on the Sabbath or Holy Days (i.e., which is prohibited to be handled on these days) and we do not start a fire with shards of utensils that were broken on that day that were [considered as] “born” but we may start a fire with utensils that are appropriate to be carried which everyone has, the individual who is kindling [the fire] must kindle most of what comes out from the wick outside of the candle before he removes his hands. Therefore, the reason of Rabbi Eliezer who said that we don’t kindle it holds that something that is folded does not removed from the notion of a utensil for when I kindle it a bit, since there is three-by-three defined exactly, it is considered a utensil, for less than three-by-three is not a utensil, and when one kindles with one’s hands to complete the majority of what comes out from it, it is found that he is kindling a shard of a utensil that was broken on the Jewish holy day/Yom Tov, and when we say that one may kindle a fire with utensils, specifically it refers that one has not come in contact with it after it has become defective. But Rabbi Akiva states that we kindle with it as he holds that something folded is removed from the status of a utensil for when it is folded from the eve of the Jewish holy day/Yom Tov, it does not grow wicks on the Jewish holy day and hence we find that we don’t have ere shards of a utensil that was broken on the Jewish holy day, and therefore we kindle it. And the Halakha follows Rabbi Akiva.

שפופרת של ביצה – the upper hard shell that the egg is lying within.

בשביל שתהא מנטפת – drop by drop into the candle and the reason is a decree lest he be supplied from it and since he set it aside for the candle, he is liable because of [the prohibition] of extinguishing.