Keilim 15:6-16:1

Keilim 15:6

Musicians’ harps are susceptible to impurity but those of the Leviim (used in the Temple service) are insusceptible. All liquids are susceptible to impurity but those of the Temple slaughter area are insusceptible. All scrolls convey ritual impurity to one’s hands except for the Torah scroll of the Temple courtyard. A hobby horse is insusceptible to ritual impurity; a stomach instrument (a guitar, perhaps?), a leg-shaped instrument and a tambourine are susceptible to impurity (because they have hollows); Rabbi Yehuda says that a tambourine is also susceptible to impurity as a seat because a mourning woman sits on it. A rat trap is susceptible to impurity but a mouse trap is insusceptible.

Keilim 16:1

A wooden utensil that is broken into two parts is purified except for a folding table, a dish with compartments for different foods, and a homeowner’s footstool. Rabbi Yehuda also includes a bowl and a Babylonian cup. Wooden utensils become susceptible to impurity as follows: a bed and a cot become susceptible after they are rubbed with fish skin (as sandpaper). If one decided not to sand them, they are susceptible to impurity without sanding. Rabbi Meir says that a bed becomes susceptible to impurity once three rows have been woven between its ropes.