Click here for audio

מסכת כלים

פרק כז משנה י

שלשה על שלשה

Three by three (handbreadths of cloth that were tamei midras)

שנחלק

that was split

טהר מן המדרס

is tahor from midras

אבל טמא מגע מדרס

but is tamei for contact with something that was tamei midras (namely, itself).

אמר רבי יוסי

Rabbi Yosi said,

וכי באיזה מדרס נגע זה

"And why, with which midras did this come into contact with?

אלא אם כן נגע בו הזב

Rather, only if the zav touches it

טמא במגע הזב

it it tamei for contact for being in contact with the zav."

 

פרק כז משנה יא

שלשה על שלשה

Three by three (handbreadths of cloth)

באשפות

(that was found) in the trash heaps,

בריא וצורר מלח

(will still be susceptible to tumah if it is) whole and can wrap up salt (otherwise, having been discarded, this material was shown to have no value, and loses its status as a utensil);

בבית

in a house,

או בריא

(will still be susceptible to tumah if it is) either whole

או צורר מלח

or able to wrap up salt.

כמה מלח יהא צורר

How much salt must one wrap up?

רבע

A quarter (of a kav);

רבי יהודה אומר

Rabbi Yehuda says

בדקה

of fine (salt),

וחכמים אומרים

and the Sages say

בגסה

of coarse (salt);

אלו ואלו מתכונים להקל

both of them intend to be lenient. (Requiring the material to be of a stronger weave in order to be susceptible to tumah would be the more lenient position, and both sides of this dispute held that theirs required stronger material.  According to Rabbi Yehuda, a quarter-kav volume of fine salt is heavier, and so the the three by three piece of cloth would have to be stronger than that for coarse salt; the Sages hold that since coarse salt is rougher and more abrasive than the fine salt, the material used to wrap that quality of salt must be stronger.)

רבי שמעון אומר

Rabbi Shimon says

שוים

they are equivalent,

שלשה על שלשה באשפות

three by three (handbreadths of cloth) in the trash heaps

לשלש על שלש בבית

to three by three (fingerbreadths of cloth) in a house (in that both are not susceptible to the tumah of midras, but are susceptible to other types of tumah).

            

לרפואת מרים חיה בת ברכה בתוך שאר חולי ישראל