Commentary for Moed Katan 54:3
בראשונה היו מטבילין את הכלים על גבי נדות מתות והיו נדות חיות מתביישות התקינו שיהו מטבילין על גבי כל הנשים מפני כבודן של נדות חיות בראשונה מטבילין על גבי זבין מתים והיו זבין חיים מתביישין התקינו שיהו מטבילין על גב הכל מפני כבודן של זבין חיים
while dying, and the living suffering from a flux felt shamed: they therefore instituted that they should subject to ablution utensils used by all, out of deference to the living suffering from flux.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' MS.M. inserts: Our Rabbis taught.');"><sup>4</sup></span> Formerly the [expense of] taking the dead out [to his burial] fell harder on his near-of-kin than his death so that the dead man's near-of-kin abandoned him and fled, until at last Rabban Gamaliel came [forward] and, disregarding his own dignity, came out [to his burial] in flaxen<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That is, dressed in linen instead of woollen expensive vestments, as had been the custom heretofore. tsrm tssrm');"><sup>5</sup></span> vestments and thereafter the people followed his lead to come out [to burial] in flaxen vestments.
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