Laws of the Impurity of Garments

Laws of Impurity and Purity

Sources

Rav Yosef said: From where do I say this halakha? For these Persians eat pieces of roasted meat [tabahakki] without bread, which shows that meat itself is a food. Abaye said to him: But are the Persians a majority of the world? The halakha follows the customary practice of most of the world and not that of particular locales. Didn’t we learn the following in a baraita? Clothing of the poor, i.e., pieces of cloth measuring three by three fingerbreadths…

Rav Adda bar Ahava raises an objection based upon a mishna (Kelim 28:8): The particularly thick garments and the soft garments are not subject to the standard measure of three by three fingerbreadths, with regard to determining their susceptibility to becoming ritually impure. Because of their particular qualities, such garments are useful only when they are larger and are not considered significant items when they measure three by three. Since the High Priest’s robe is a thick garment…

The Gemara raises an objection against Rava from a baraita discussing ritual impurity that is contracted by treading: If a scarf is ritually impure with impurity imparted by treading, e.g., after a zav sat or lay down upon it, and its owner then designated it as a cover for a Torah scroll, it is pure of the more severe level of ritual impurity, that which is imparted by treading, even without immersion, because it is no longer an object intended to be lied on or sat upon…

Sanhedrin 48a:4

The Gemara relates: Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Nuri stood on his feet and, contrary to this statement, said: And what shall the people of Babylonia, who have only sesame oil, do? And what shall the people of Media, who have only nut oil, do? And what shall the people of Alexandria, who have only radish oil, do? And what shall the people of Cappadocia, who have neither this nor that but only naphtha, do? Rather, you have a prohibition only with regard to those substances with regard to which the Sages said: One may not light with them. All other oils are permitted…

Shabbat 26a:7-26b:3

The Gemara asks: What is the practical difference between the opinions of Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Elazar? Is there an item that is fit to become ritually impure, but is not actually susceptible to impurity? Abaye said: A patch of cloth less than three by three fingerbreadths presents a practical difference between the two opinions. According to the one who says that any garment fit to become ritually impure must be laundered, this patch of cloth is also fit to become ritually impure, as if the owner wants…

If one placed it in a box, everyone agrees that it can become ritually impure because his placing the cloth in a box indicates that he considers the cloth significant and is keeping it in order to use it. They only disagreed in a case where one hung the garment on a dryer, i.e., a stake in the wall, or where he placed it behind a door. Rabbi Eliezer held: From the fact that he did not throw it in the garbage dump, it is certainly on his mind and he is planning to use it…

So too, a piece of cloth three by three handbreadths in size is susceptible to ritual impurity imparted by treading, but a piece of cloth three by three handbreadths less one hair [nima] is not susceptible to ritual impurity imparted by treading.

Rosh Hashanah 13a:6

from where does Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar derive that it can become ritually impure? The Gemara answers: In his opinion, it is derived from the verse that speaks of the ritual impurity of creeping animals: “Or a garment, or skin, or sack” (Leviticus 11:32). The additional “or” comes to include items that are not generally included in the definition of garment. As it was taught in a baraita: From the fact that it says garment, I have derived nothing other than a whole garment…

Similarly, food in the volume of an egg-bulk transmits the ritual impurity of food, while food in the volume of an egg-bulk less a small amount equal to the volume of a sesame seed does not transmit impurity of food. Similarly, a garment that is three by three handbreadths is susceptible to ritual impurity imparted by treading if a man who experiences a gonorrhea-like discharge [zav] sits or lies on it, while if it is three by three handbreadths less one thread, a tiny measurement…

Menachot 103b:17

Rava said, this is the reasoning behind Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion with regard to lighting the wick: Because he holds that one may neither light on Shabbat using a wick that is not slightly singed and prepared for lighting nor light with rags that were not singed before Shabbat. If a person singes the wick slightly before lighting it, it will burn well. A wick that has not been singed does not burn well and will not show the appropriate deference to Shabbat…

Similarly, the Sages taught in a baraita: A woven fabric of any size can become ritually impure, and an ornament of any size can become ritually impure. An object that is half woven fabric and half ornament of any size can become ritually impure. And a sack is added to the category of garment; it too is ritually impure due to woven fabric.

What is the minimum measure for a cloth to contract impurity? Three handbreadths by three handbreadths to contract the impurity of a support for a zav, precisely three fingerbreadths by three fingerbreadths together with the loose hanging strands to contract the impurity stemming from a human corpse or other types of impurity.
With regard to what does the above apply? To clothes of wool or flax. If, however, clothes were made from other fabrics, they do not contract any type of impurity unless they are three handbreadths by three handbreadths…

Mishneh Torah, Vessels 22

Laws of Impurity and Purityדיני טומאה וטהרה

Laws of Contracting Impurity from a Corpse

Laws of Impurity of Tombs and Burial

Laws of Impurity of a Tent Containing a Corpse

Laws of Prevention of Impurity in a Tent Containing a Corpse

Laws of Processing the Red Heifer

Laws of Kiddush Mei Chatat

Laws of Purification by Mei Chatat

Laws of Tsara'at of a Person

Laws of the Impurity of a Metsora and His Purification

Laws of Tsara'at of Clothing

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