Siman - Shabbos Daf 64

• Sack

The Gemara brings a Baraisa which lists articles that are mekabel tumah from a dead sheretz. Included in this list is שק, (sack) which is made from goats' hair that is spun into coarse thread. The Baraisa additionally teaches that just as sack (which is mentioned straight out in the Torah that it is mekabel tumah from a sheretz) is made from spun and woven thread, so too only items that are made from spun and woven thread are mekabel tumah from a sheretz. This would exclude ropes and measuring strings from being mekabel tumah since they are made from goats’ hair that has been twisted, but not spun.

• Offering for impure thoughts

The Gemara brings the passuk in the parsha when the army returns from battle against Midiyan that says, ויקצף מאה על פקדי החיל – Moshe was angry with the commanders of the army, and seeks to understand what made him angry.

Rav Nachman said in the name of Rabba bar Avuha that when Moshe saw the commanders offer an atonement gift he suspected that perhaps the soldiers who fought in the campaign had sinned with the Moabite and Midianite women. The warriors explained to Moshe that even though they did not sin with the bnos Midyan, they sought to bring a kapara for their improper thoughts

• מראית עין

Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, כל מקום שאסרו חכמים מפני מראית העין אפילו בחדרי חדרים אסור – Wherever the Rabbonim prohibited an act because they were concerned that it gives the appearance of wrongdoing, the act is prohibited even in one’s most private chambers.

The Gemara explains that this rule is subject to a machlokes Tannaim brought in a Baraisa.

According to one opinion, if one’s clothes became soaked with rainwater on Shabbos, one may spread them out to dry in a secluded area but not in an area open to public view, lest people suspect he washed them on Shabbos. This Tanna does not hold of the rule of כל מקום וכו'. Rebbe Elazar and Rebbe Shimon forbid one to do so even in a secluded area, because כל מקום וכו'.