Today we will complete chapter twenty-eight by learning its tenth Mishnah, and we will begin chapter twenty-nine with Mishnah 1. Maseches Keilim has only thirty chapters, so we are drawing close to its conclusion.
Chapter 28, Mishnah 10:
The sevachah is the hair-net that women would wear on their heads, and it is made by weaving. The Mishnah establishes from when it becomes susceptible to tumah, and it presents two ways of weaving it:
"Sevachah shehischil bah mipiha" - the weaver began at the upper portion, the part that encircles the head, and continued downward - it is tahor, and it does not become susceptible to tumah until he finishes its karkoretah, that is, until he completes the weaving at the bottom, up to the part that extends over the forehead. Only then is it a complete sevachah, and it becomes susceptible to tumah.
"Hischil bah mikarkoretah" - he began specifically from the bottom, from the part that covers the forehead and the eyebrows, and wove upward toward the top of the head - it is tahor until he finishes its peh, the upper portion, and makes it into a complete covering that covers the head and the upper part of the forehead.
The halachah that emerges from here is straightforward: a garment does not become susceptible to tumah until its manufacture is finished, until it is entirely complete.
The other parts of the sevachah:
"Shavis shelah - tamei bifnei atzmo" - the shavis is a sort of band that women would fasten over the sevachah, and it encircles the head from ear to ear. Since it can be removed from one sevachah and placed on another woman's head, it is a garment in its own right and becomes susceptible to tumah.
"HaChutin shelah" - the strings that come out of the sevachah, whether they serve to tie it tightly or whether they are merely decorative, since the sevachah needs to look attractive. These strings are tamei by virtue of their attachment to the sevachah: if the sevachah becomes tamei, they too become tamei; but on their own they do not become susceptible to tumah.
A sevachah that tore: if it tore to the point that it can no longer cover most of the woman's hair - it does not become susceptible to tumah, since the essential function of the sevachah is to cover most of the hair, and once it does not cover most of it, it is no longer a garment fit for its purpose.
In summary: in this Mishnah we learned that the sevachah does not become susceptible to tumah until its manufacture is finished, whether the weaving began from its top or from its bottom; that the shavis is considered a garment in its own right and becomes susceptible to tumah; that the strings of the sevachah are tamei only by virtue of their attachment to it; and that a sevachah that cannot cover most of the hair does not become susceptible to tumah. With this we have completed chapter twenty-eight.
From here we will begin chapter twenty-nine, starting with Mishnah 1.