LEVITICUS XII:1-XIII:59

ON PURITY AND IMPURITY IN JUDAISM

In Parsha Shemini it is warned about the animals that are permitted and those whose meat should not be eaten. All of this is framed within the set of laws about ritual impurity and purity, which is the fundamental theme of our chapters. Contact with certain animals, especially their carcasses, introduced a person into a state of impurity which at the time of the Beit HaMikdashbecame a major impediment. 

The Kohanim had been warned to refrain from personal contact with the corpse of a human being, which is the greatest source of impurity. The reasoning is that the passage from holiness to impurity is proportional, that is, that the being who can acquire the highest degree of holiness is the being who produces the most intense impurity. However, it should be emphasized that caring for a deceased person is a  very important mitzvah, even though the people who take care of the deceased enter a state of impurity. 

At present, everyone is in a state of impurity, because in the absence of the Beit HaMikdash this situation cannot be remedied which requires the sacrifice of the Para-Aduma, the red cow from whose ashes the indispensable element for purification was obtained. This is an additional reason that makes it impossible to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, an activity that demands purity that cannot be obtained today. 

Considering that the burial of a person is a mitzvah, it can be concluded that there is no prohibition against acquiring the state of ritual impurity. During the existence of the Beit HaMikdashthese laws were observed very carefully, because the “unclean” person had no access to the sacred precinct that was the center of the ritual activity of Judaism. 

This fact introduced divisions within society, and the scholars abstained from eating in the homes of those who were ignorant of the details of the law, assuming that they had probably not given the  corresponding Terumah and Maaser to the Kohenand Levi, i.e., they had not set aside a percentage of the harvest for the maintenance of those who dedicated their labors to worship.

In ancient times, the Essenes took care of these laws in particular and therefore kept them apart. The Mishnah teaches that the “garments” of the ignorant were considered unclean for the Pharisees, whose garments, in turn, were unclean for those who ingest Terumah, their garments being unclean for those who ingested Kodesh, the parts of the sacrificed animal that were not consumed by the fire of the altar. Even the garments of those who ate Kodesh were unclean to those who engaged in the ‘waters of purification.’Yosse ben Yoezer was very pious, and yet his apron was unclean to Kodesh.” 

The aforementioned Mishnah implies that there were levels of holiness and purity, which in turn imply a separation between the different groups of society at the time. Today, there is a parallel with Kashrut. Different levels have been created, including the famous Glat Kosher, which means that there was never any doubt about the kashrut of the animal that demanded the ruling of the Shochet, who decides whether the meat is fit for human consumption.

According to the Talmud, the schools of Hillel and Shammaihad serious differences regarding the laws of purity. “Some call impure the cases which the others had purified.” This discussion had an academic character, because in practice they exchanged kitchen utensils. In this way, the difference of opinion between these two great schools never produced a de facto division in society. 

In general, this is the attitude of the Talmud, which records differences of opinion, although Halacha issues a verdict that reflects a single opinion. Judaism has always stimulated divergence of opinions in the intellectual field, but at the same time it has pointed out a specific path to be followed in one’s daily life.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 5  POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 2 PROHIBITIONS

166. Leviticus 12:2,5 The Ritual Uncleanness of a Woman After Giving Birth

167. Leviticus 12:4 A Ritually Unclean Person Does Not Ingest Sacred Sacrifices

168. Leviticus 12:6 The Offering That a Woman Brings After She Gives Birth

169. Leviticus 13:2 The ritual uncleanness of the person who has tzara’at (manifested by a rash on the skin)

170. Leviticus 13:33 Do not cut the hair of a netek injury (type of tzara’at)

171. Leviticus 13:45 A person who has tzara’at or anyone who can transmit ritual impurity to others should not cut his hair and leave his garments torn

172. Leviticus 13:47 Laws Concerning tzara’at of Garments

METZORA

LEVITICUS XIV:1-XV:33

CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATION OF SLANDER

The great biblical expositor and defender of orthodoxy, HaRav Samson Raphael Hirsch of Germany, insisted that tzara’at, the affliction that occupies the attention of the biblical text, should not be confused with leprosy. In the case of leprosy, you should go to the doctor; on the other hand, for the cure of tzara’at, which also presents itself as a skin lesion, the person indicated to examine the wound is the Kohen, who then arranges the remedy for its healing. Because, according to the Talmud, tzara’at is an external manifestation of an internal spiritual evil. According to the Chachamim, the word tzara’at comes from Lashon HaRa, (Lehotzi ra) the perverse use of language to revile one’s neighbor. 

It is not a matter of inventing a slander, but the propagation of some real deficiency of the neighbor, a negative characteristic of the person. That is, telling a truth that presents the other person from a negative perspective. If someone lies, telling one’s neighbor about this fact constitutes Lashon Hara. However, if someone is about to hire a person for a position that requires confidence in his word, it is necessary to warn that that person is lying.

The faculty of speech is perhaps the greatest distinction of the human being above the other creatures that inhabit the earth. Language allows mental abstraction, the construction of models to describe nature. It is the means through which God communicates with man. But, just as it is often the most effective means of development, it is also the most efficient instrument for destruction. With a well-placed word, you can help a person to get a job, while with a slander you can destroy a reputation that took decades to be consolidated.

If the Kohen determined that the skin lesion was indeed tzara’at, it expelled the afflicted person from the community for a period of 7 days, during which time the person had to leave the camp. This seven-day period was also intended to allow the person to examine his or her behavior during his or her journey through the desert. The intention was that he could recognize where the mistake he had made was and what was the damage that his slander had caused. Because the healing of the injury occurred through teshuvah, the recognition of the injury against one’s neighbor and the firm decision not to repeat the mistake in the future.

It should be noted that the prayer of greatest recollection on the day of Yom Kippur is called Kol Nidrei, an affirmation that is not a prayer, but a promise not to break a promise in the future. Once again, the importance of the word is underlined, the promise pledged but unfulfilled.

The Talmud relates that one of the Tana’im asked his servant to go to the market and bring him the most delicious delicacy he could find. Faithfully, the servant returned with the tongue of an animal. When he asked him to bring him the worst food this time, the servant again brought home a tongue. The obvious moral is that with the language one can compose verses, make peace between litigants; but at the same time the reputation of an honest person can be slandered and destroyed.

In other chapters of the Torah, the importance of keeping one’s promise will be emphasized. The first chapters of the Torahtestify that God created the universe with the word. God said and it was done. He expressed His Will, which became physical facts that man can appreciate with his senses. The Torahconsists of words: the word of God and the Ten Commandments are  designated Aseret HaDibrot, the “Ten Words”. The condition of tzara’at teaches that the misused word has a real consequence, an injury to the skin that can be appreciated by all.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 11 POSITIVE MITZVOT

173. Leviticus 14:2 Purification ritual by tzara’at

174. Leviticus 14:9 Shaving the one affected by tzara’at on the seventh day (part of the purification ritual)

175. Leviticus 14:9 Immersion of the unclean individual in a mikveh for ritual purification

176. Leviticus 14:10 The Offering of a Man with tzara’at When He Is Healed of His Affliction

177. Leviticus 14:35 Laws of ritual uncleanness of a house polluted with tzara’at

178. Leviticus 15:2,3 Laws of ritual uncleanness of the person who has emissions, zav, who is the object and cause of his ritual uncleanness

179. Leviticus 15:13,14 Offering of the zav when it is healed of emissions

180. Leviticus 15:16 Laws concerning the ritual uncleanness of semen, which is ritually unclean and causes ritual uncleanness

181. Leviticus 15:19 Laws of ritual uncleanness of the person who is menstruating who acquires ritual uncleanness and causes ritual uncleanness

182. Leviticus 15:25 Laws of ritual uncleanness of the person who is menstruating abnormally who acquires ritual uncleanness and causes ritual uncleanness

183. Leviticus 15:28,29 An offering of a woman zavah, who is menstruating abnormally when she has already been ritually purified