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.