Komentarz do Edujot 3:5

קלע – [the sling] that they throw with it stones, like you say (Judges 20:16): “ [Of all this force- 700 picked men -were left handed.] Every one of them could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.” (1 Samuel 25:29): ”But he will fling away the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.”

A sling whose pocket is woven is susceptible to impurity. If it is of leather, Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas pronounces it susceptible to impurity, and the Sages pronounce it not susceptible to impurity. If its finger-hold is broken off, it is not susceptible to impurity; [But if the] string-handle [only] is broken off it is susceptible to impurity. This mishnah discusses when a sling is considered usable and therefore liable to receive impurity. If the pocket is woven, all agree that it is liable to receive impurity. However, if it is of leather, Rabbi Dosa hold that it may not receive impurity. This is based on two rules: 1) a strip of leather must be five handbreadths wide by five handbreadths long in order to receive impurity. Since a sling is not this large, it does not receive impurity due to its size and significance. 2) Rabbi Dosa does not consider the sling to be a “vessel” which inherently is receptive to impurity. The Sages disagree. They hold that a sling is inherently a vessel and therefore the pouch receives impurity no matter what it is made out of and no matter what size its pouch is. If the finger-hold is broken off the sling is unusable, and therefore cannot receive impurity. However, if the string-handle, which is attached to the pouch and is pulled back to throw the rock which is in the sling, is broken, the sling can still receive impurity, since it can be used.

בית קיבול שלה – the place where they put in the stone that they want to throw.

בית אצבע שלה – like a small hole that one puts one’s finger into.

בית הפקיע – the handle that one holds on to when one twirls the sling in the air to release and throw the stone.