For the source text click/tap here: Zevachim 94
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The Gemara on our daf asks how the law requiring cleansing would apply to leather. Does leather absorb blood in an ordinary fashion? Can it be cleaned of the blood in the same way that a garment is cleaned?
The basis for the Gemara’s question are the laws of Shabbat that prohibit washing fabrics, where we find a Mishna that teaches that if clothing became soiled with lashleshet (Arukh: chicken excrement; Rashi: something disgusting like saliva or excrement) it can be removed by means of a dry cloth, but if the garment was made of leather then water can be poured on it until it becomes clean.
We explore the use of detergents in talmud and late antique period.