Commentary for Shabbat 54:9

והיוצא מן העץ אינו מטמא טומאת אהלים אלא פשתן: מנלן אמר רבי אלעזר גמר אהל אהל

Abaye said: R. Simeon b. Eleazar and Symmachos said the same thing. R. Simeon b. Eleazar, as stated.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Supra, 26a bottom, and note a.l. ');">¹⁷</span> Symmachos, for it was taught: Symmachos said: If one covers it [the booth] with spun [flax], it is unfit, because it may be defiled by leprosy. With whom [does that agree]? With this Tanna. For we learnt: The warp and the woof are defiled by leprosy immediately:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' After spinning, though given no further treatment. ');">¹⁸</span> this is R. Meir's ruling. But R. Judah maintained: The warp, when it is removed;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' From the kettle in which it is boiled. Maim. Neg. XI, 8 appears to read: when it has been boiled. ');">¹⁹</span> the wool, immediately; and bundles of [wet] flax,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jast. Rashi: unspun flax; Tosaf.: spun flax. ');">²⁰</span> after bleaching.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Thus Symmachos, who rules that it is liable to leprous defilement immediately it is spun (this being the reason that it may not be used as a covering of the booth, v. p. 114, n. 8.), agrees with R. Meir. ');">²¹</span> <b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. WHATEVER COMES FORTH FROM A TREE ['EZ] YOU MAY NOT LIGHT [THE SABBATH LAMP] THEREWITH,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Using it as a wick. ');">²²</span> SAVE FLAX; AND WHATEVER COMES FORTH FROM A TREE CANNOT BE DEFILED WITH THE UNCLEANNESS OF TENTS,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If a tent or awning of such material overshadows a dead body, it does not become unclean, just as the roof of a house which contains a dead body is not unclean, though all utensils under the same roof or covering are defiled. ');">²³</span> EXCEPT LINEN.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the tent is of linen, that itself is defiled. ');">²⁴</span> <b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. How do we know that flax is designated tree ['ez]? Said Mar Zutra, Because Scripture saith, But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks ['ez] of the flax.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Josh. II, 6. ');">²⁵</span> AND WHATEVER COMES FORTH FROM A TREE CANNOT BE DEFILED WITH THE UNCLEANNESS OF TENTS, EXCEPT LINEN. How do we know it? — Said R. Eleazar, The meaning of tent [ohel] is learnt

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