Thread by @JoelBaden

#Leviticus 11:29-38

Impurity from mice (basically)

So there you are, about to make dinner, and you pull out your nice clay cooking pot, and horror! There’s a dead mouse inside! Truly, even today I’d have trouble ever using that pot again. Just chuck it and get a new one.

This section is about the impurity caused by dead mice (and equivalent small animals). This isn’t about anything you’d eat - but nor is it really about some inherent ickiness to these animals (icky though you may find them).

These get a special section because they appear in a different area of life. No one has ever found a dead camel in their soup bowl. You don’t run across the horse that just happened to crawl into your oven and die there. Dead mice and lizards, though? All the damn time. Still!

In terms of impurity, they’re basically the same. Dead animal = impure. You touch it, you’re impure. The difference here really is that these are likely to touch other stuff you use, because they’re in your house. And those things become impure now too.

But the same rule applies: if it’s impure, all you have to do is wash it. The only real exception is stuff made of pottery. Why? Because it’s porous and absorbent. Ever seen a stain on an unglazed piece of pottery? Instantly permanent. Same with impurity. Permanent.

The law, however, recognizes the risk of prohibiting everything that a dead mouse or lizard touches. Cisterns, and the collected water therein, are too valuable. Silos, and the grain therein, are too valuable. Especially in the arid climate of Israel. So some exceptions are made.

The exception with seeds is particularly interesting, I think. A dead mouse touches a seed, no problem, as long as the seed is dry. If it’s wet, then it’s gotta go. Because they knew that dry seeds are essentially impermeable and last forever. While wet ones begin to open up.

So the impurity laws are deeply related to the realities of the world - even as impurity itself is invisible and invented. But in their mind it is no less real - so it interfaces with the absorbent quality of pottery, or the germination of the seed. It’s part of life.