#Leviticus 11:24-28
Impurity! (Part one of many)
The laws of Leviticus 11 aren’t only, or even mostly, about what you can eat. Here we turn our attention to what animals create impurity, and how to remove it. And understanding impurity is central to understanding P.
Impurity! (Part one of many)
The laws of Leviticus 11 aren’t only, or even mostly, about what you can eat. Here we turn our attention to what animals create impurity, and how to remove it. And understanding impurity is central to understanding P.
So let’s start with what creates it. In this case, it’s physically touching the carcasses of certain non-kosher animals. But it isn’t their non-kosher-ness that makes them transmit impurity, since kosher carcasses do too (see 11:39). We’re just starting with these.
The animals at stake here are the large land animals that aren’t kosher, but that an Israelite might be likely to touch the carcass of. That is, mostly, domestic animals: donkeys, camels, dogs, cats. Because they’re common, touching them while alive is totally fine.
Actually, touching them while dead is totally fine too: you have to remove the bodies, after all. They simply make you impure for a bit. And - I can’t emphasize this enough - there’s nothing wrong with being impure. It happens to everyone all the damn time.
So now what do you do once you’ve become impure through touching a dead animal? Oh man, what a process. You won’t believe it: you…take a bath and wait until evening. Ta-da! You’re pure again. (At least from the dead animal touching.)
This is what we call a minor impurity. Happens all the time, not a big deal, a little bath and some elapsed time and you’re good. And this how just about all impurity gets removed from the human body. (There are other considerations for removing it from the sanctuary.)
Yes, these laws encourage hygiene. And yes, that has gotten Jews in trouble in the less hygienic periods of the past two millennia. Higher survival rates during, say, the plague looked awfully suspicious to the goyim who couldn’t be bothered to wash their damn hands.
As long as you perform the most basic hygiene, you will have taken care of the impurity that attaches to your person. And you’ll smell better, too.
This impurity is pretty easy to wrap your head around. It gets more complicated. But not yet!
This impurity is pretty easy to wrap your head around. It gets more complicated. But not yet!
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