Commentary for Sanhedrin 96:4

ת"ש אמר לאומן עשה לי תיק של ספר או נרתיק של תפילין עד שלא נשתמש בהן קודש מותר להשתמש בהן חול נשתמש בהן קודש אסור להשתמש בהן חול

Rabina said to Raba: Is there any place where the dead lie while the shroud is beingwoven?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., surely one does not wait for a person to die and delay the funeral while a shroud is being woven. In that case, the dispute of Abaye and Raba, whether a shroud woven for the dead (which means when the person is actually dead) may be used for other purposes, is entirely an imaginary one, such circumstances being inconceivable. ');">¹¹</span> Yes, he answered; e.g., itis so with the dead ofHarpania.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Or Neharpania (v. D.S. a.l.), a town in Babylon in the Mesene district, v. Obermeyer, op. cit., p. 197.] According to Rashi, its inhabitants were so poor that they could not afford to prepare the shrouds beforehand, and only after a death occurred was a public collection made, and a shroud hastily woven. [According to Obermeyer, op. cit., p. 201, the corpse in the meantime was lying naked in accordance with the Zoroastrian practice which the Jews of that town seemed to have adopted which forbade the covering or dressing of a corpse with any cloth but one that had been specially woven and prepared for the purpose.] ');">¹²</span>

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