ʾOhaloth (אוהלות, literally "Tents") is the second tractate of the Order of Tohorot in the Mishnah. It consists of eighteen chapters,[1] which discuss the ritual impurity of corpses, and the peculiar quality they have to make all objects in the same tent-like structure impure as well.
This tractate, along with Nega'im, was considered one of the most difficult tractates;[2] according to a Jewish legend, King David is said to have asked of God that reading the Book of Psalms be considered the equivalent of studying the tractate of Negaim and Oholot.[3]
In the Tosefta and Jerusalem Talmud[4] the name of this tractate is spelled Ahilot (אהילות, "coverings") rather than Oholot (אהלות, "tents"), as its subject is the transfer of tumah through other coverings as well as tents.[5][6] Indeed, the proper plural of "tents" is oholim, not oholot.[7]
Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "OHALOT ("Tents")". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
