Oholot

ʾOholoth (אׇהֳלוֹת‎, 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]

There is no Gemara for Oholot in either the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud.

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]

References

1.  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "OHALOT ("Tents")". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
2. כלך אצל נגעים ואהלות
3. Midrash Tehillim 1
4. Jerusalem Talmud, Moed Kattan 2:5
5. אנציקלופדיה יהודית - אהלות
6. Jastrow, אָהֳלוֹת
7. Concordance, אֹהֶל  (שם עצם)