[Regarding] the stopper of a barrel that is loose but does not fall off: R’ Yehudah says: It protects; but the Sages say: It does not protect. [If] its finger-hold is sunk into [the barrel]: [When] a sheretz is inside it, the barrel is tamei; [when] a sheretz is in the barrel, the food inside [the finger-hold] is tamei.

[Regarding] a ball or a coil of reed-grass that were placed over the mouth of a barrel: If one plastered the sides, it has not protected [the uten- sil] until he plasters above them and below them, and the same is true for a woven cloth. [If the cover] was of papyrus or of leather and one tied it with a cord, [then] if one plastered the sides, it has protected [the utensil].