Zavim 4:6-7

Zavim 4:6

If a zav was in one pan of a scale and food and beverage were in the other, they are rendered unclean. If a corpse is in the pan of a scale, everything remains clean except for a person. This is a case where a zav is more stringent than a corpse and a corpse is more stringent than a zav. A zav conveys impurity to anything on which he sits or lies and these convey impurity to people and garments; the zav also conveys madaf impurity to things above him so that they convey impurity to food and drink. A corpse doesn’t transmit any such impurities. A corpse is more stringent because it can convey impurity through overshadowing and it conveys seven-day impurity, while a zav doesn’t transmit any such impurity.

Zavim 4:7

If a zav sat on a bed and there were four cloaks under the four legs of the bed, all of them are rendered unclean because the bed can’t stand on three legs (so each is necessary to support the zav); Rabbi Shimon, however, rules them clean. If he rode on an animal and there were four cloaks under the animal’s legs, they remain clean because the animal can stand on three legs. If there was one cloak under the animal’s two front or hind legs, or under one front and one hind leg, it is rendered unclean. Rabbi Yosi says that a horse conveys impurity through its hind legs and a donkey conveys impurity through its front legs because a horse puts its weight on its hind legs and a donkey puts its weight on its front legs. If a zav sat on the beam of an olive press, the utensils in the receptacle of the press are rendered unclean. If he sat on a clothes press, the clothes under it remain clean, though Rabbi Nechemiah rules them unclean.