One who alters a leather vessel from [one type of] simple vessel (i.e., without a receptacle) to [another type of] simple vessel: It is impure. From one with a receptacle to one without a receptacle: It is pure. And as to clothing, all are impure. Said Rabbi Yehuda, my colleagues used to say, [with respect to] a sack and a leather hide and a reed mat that are used patch up one another, [the purity status of the patch] of the one is not nullified by [virtue of being patched onto the larger area of] the other. A sack and a leather hide and a reed mat that were torn: If they are placed on a chair and one's flesh can touch the chair, it is impure, and if not, it is pure*, and if not, it is impure" (GR"A, and see Kel. 27:12); if the tear was so large that the material cannot even cover the seat of a chair, then the material has no useful purpose and is thereby pure. A sack and a leather skin and a reed mat that were thrown into a dung heap are impure. A strip of cloth that was used to patch up a basket requires intention [regarding its new usage] after it is separated [from the rest of the cloth]. A poor-man's cloak that was worn out: If the majority of its edges remain intact, even if it does not have an area of three-by-three, it is impure. [If] the majority of its edges do not remain intact, [then] if it has an area of three-by-three, it is impure, and if not, it is pure. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, if it has an area of three-by-three, it is impure, and if not, it is pure. [If] there were davdolin* that came out of it, all that are opposite the border [of the material] are [considered] joined, and all that are not opposite the border are not [considered] joined.

A goatskin bag that a priest cut open to use it to remove loaves of terumah from the oven (i.e., as an oven mitt) is pure. A leather hide that was placed on the table in order to eat on it is impure, and its measure [for purposes of impurity] is a handbreadth. The hand-hold and the covering of a window*, behold, they are measured doubled (i.e., folded over). This is the general rule: That which comes doubled is measured doubled; that which comes simple is measured simple. [And with what midras-impurity did [a divided piece of cloth] come in contact?*] Rabbi Yosei concedes that if there were two -- this one on top of that one -- that one did not nullify the other. Three by three inside the house, behold, it is impure, for the entire house is [considered to have the properties] of a concealed location. [If] he found it behind the door or in his clothing or a pundion (a type of coin) was bundled in it, or a needle was stuck through it, or it was used to plug up a small basket or a large basket, it is pure, and it will never become impure unless he dies it for [use as part of] a garment. Rabbi Shimon says, [if] he uses it for something that is susceptible to impurity, it is impure, and for something that is not susceptible to impurity, it is pure.

A three-by-three fingerbreadth [piece of fabric], all of which was made from two threads that ran alongside each other, is impure (contra Kel. 27:12, "pure"). Rabbi Yosei b'Rabbi Yehuda says, if all of it was made of two threads that ran alongside each other, it is impure, [but] if it had a fringe, it is pure. Less than three-by-three that was adapted to stop up a hole in a public bath, or to empty out a cooking-pot, or to wipe millstones (Kel. 28:2): If it is from that the prepared (i.e., previously designated for that purpose), it is impure, but [if] not from the prepared, it is pure, the words of Rabbi Eliezer, [and] Rabbi Yehoshua says, whether it is from the prepared or whether it is not from the prepared, it is pure, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says, Rabbi Eliezer says, whether it is from the prepared or whether it is not from the prepared, it is impure, [and] Rabbi Yehoshua says, whether it is from the prepared or whether it is not from the prepared, it is pure. Rabbi Akiva says, from the prepared, it is impure, and not from the prepared, it is pure.

A three-by-three fingerbreadth [piece of fabric] that was used as a compress, an emollient, or a plaster is pure. A three-by-three handbreadth [piece of fabric] that was used as a compress, an emollient, or a plaster is impure. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says, [for] a compress, it is pure*; [for] an emollient or a plaster, it is impure, and so too would Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel say, one who makes a compress from frankincense spices (סממנין, see Shab. 74b:3) -- it is pure, and from grasses -- it is impure, because it is poured out. A leather compress -- it is pure; a [leather] emollient or a plaster -- it is impure. Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon say, the words of Rabban Gamaliel (Kel. 28:4) are preferable in regards to the coverings of scrolls, and we agree with his words. Rabbi Yehuda says, even for those of a burying-woman (i.e., a mother who buries her infant in such a covering)*. Similarly, Rabbi Elazar bar Tzadok says, those [placed on] a reading-desk for a scroll are pure, and for its carrying case are impure. And the stand that is on it is [considered] joined for purposes of impurity and sprinkling.

The head-covering of an old woman (Kel. 29:1) that was defiled with midras-impurity, and they used it for [covering] a scroll: Rabbi Meir renders it pure and Rabbi Yosei renders it impure. All vessels descend into susceptibility for impurity by intention, but they cannot rise from their susceptibility to impurity except by a change-effecting action. Rabbi Yehuda says, a change-effecting action can only cause ruin (i.e., alter an object's status for the worse).