Hot answers tagged tamei-tahor-ritual-purity
13
Masturbation per se does not change one's halachik status at all, although it does generate an obligation to repent.
Ezra originally established that a man who is impure from any seminal emmision (not just masturbatory) cannot say shema, pray or say other blessings until he has gone to the mikva. However this decree was later rescended, and the law and the ...
12
I recommend that you take a look at the commentary of R' Samson Raphael Hirsch on Leviticus 12, and in particular 12:5. I'll try to summarize the pertinent points here, but I won't do his beautiful thoughts and words justice.
The "uncleanliess" you're referring to is "tum-a." According to R' Hirsch, tum-a is a mental condition that would prevent a person ...
11
The Shulchan Aruch rules (YD 373:2) that the prohibition of contracting impurity from a corpse does not apply to female descendants of Kohanim. His source is the Mishna in Kiddushin 1:7 which lists 3 biblical prohibitions which do not apply to females: this one, destroying the 5 corners of one's beard, and rounding off the corners of one's hair ("peyos").
11
See this mp3 by Rabbi Aharon Kahn, summarized by Joel Rich here:
Once a Kohain is ritually impure due to contact with dead, is there any prohibition of further impurity? This makes a difference for med students and pulpit rabbis.
The simple understanding is that for non-Kohens, yes we're all tamei so it makes no difference. You want to live in your own ...
10
Per the Shach in Yorah Deah Siman 369:2 and the Taz in 369:4 since in current times there is no Tahara in Eretz Yisroel therefore there is no additional prohibition for a Kohain to leave Eretz Yisroel over a non Kohain.
10
This is a matter of dispute in the Mishna Oholos 2:2. Rabbi Eliezer says one quarter kav worth of ash does transmit impurity, whilst the Sages say it does not transmit impurity at all. Rambam (Hilchos Tumas Meis 3:9-10) rules like the Sages.
10
Yes, someone who eats impure food becomes impure themselves (Rambam Shar Avot Hatumah 8:10).
However, this needs some perspective. Niddah is one kind of impurity, and another one is that of a corpse (see Numbers 19). The procedure for purifying oneself of Niddah-impurity is by using a mikvah which can and is done today regularly. The procedure for purifying ...
9
The premise of your question seems to be that ostensibly religious people never sin, which is obviously absurd. These men are sinners, who are acting in violation of Jewish law, and if their behavior ever became public knowledge, it would scandalize their communities.
The simple reality is that sexual immorality is not, and never has been, exceptional or ...
8
Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet was asked (Responsum 425) why no rabbinic edict requiring unmarried women to regularly purify themselves in the Mivka was ever enacted in order to minimize the transgressions of those who engage in extra-marital sexual contact. (I note the whole basis of the question is that in the days when women regularly or even semi-regularly were ...
7
First of all: the behavior you describe is wrong. Let's make that entirely clear.
I can think of two-and-a-half justifications people may use, to better understand the phenomenon (if it truly is a phenomenon).
1a: Halachically speaking, the Biblical prohibition of "nida" per se only applies to Jewish women. (See Rambam Issurei Biah 4:4). (Rabbinically, all ...
7
Tosafos (Zevachim 102a, ד"ה אני מסגירה) asks this and leaves it unresolved.
Netziv (to Sifri on this verse) suggests two possibilities:
True that she'd be tahor, but she'd be in a state of suspense (not knowing what the outcome would be) until there is a kohen available - a yet-to-be-born son (or grandson) of Elazar or Isamar - who could check it and make ...
7
“Taharas HaKohanim Kehilchoso” 12 (2) (recently published by Moshe Gross, Beit Shemesh) mentions that there is a machlokes about the rabbinic issur of kohanim to be metamei themselves in “Eretz HoAmim”. He quotes a number of sources including many Acharonim that are lenient (including those quoted in the first answer).
He then quotes sources that forbid a ...
7
An improperly slaughtered kosher animal becomes a nevela. This is apparent from the term which appears several times in the Mishna (e.g. Chulin 6:2) and poskim:
השוחט ונתנבלה בידו (one who slaughters
and as a result the animal becomes a
nevela)
This ruling can also be deduced from this Mishna (Chulin 2:4) which comes to teach about nevelot ...
6
See Halachically Speaking Volume 3 Issue 4 (page 4):
Although some poskim say one should wash his hands, the minhag is that one does not have to wash his hands in this situation. The reason is because since that part of the arm is revealed when putting on tefillin it is not considered a place which is normally covered.
See there for sources...
6
First of all, it's not so simple to say that "tum'ah hutrah betzibbur." There is in fact a halachic argument (Pesachim 77a, et al) as to whether it's "hutrah" (completely permitted) or only "dechuyah" (overridden); according to the latter view, tahor oil should still be used if possible. This is in fact the halachah (Rambam, Beis Habechirah 7:23 and Temidin ...
6
If you mean technical ritual impurity (tum'ah) - then that's not an issue; all Jews nowadays are presumed tamei (and if they live in the Diaspora, then they are impure anyway, since all places outside of Eretz Yisrael are tamei by Rabbinical decree).
If you mean that he feels unworthy - that's not a good reason to not perform birkas kohanim; that would ...
6
In general, one's status does not change, and one should not feel that one is prohibited from learning or davening. That said, it is important to take steps to rectify this very serious sin.
Aside from the necessary steps for teshuva regardless of the sin, one should go to the mikvah as soon as possible - if one is not available, a shower will do - and ...
6
Anything which can contract impurity cannot block impurity from passing through it (Megillah 26b, Shulchan Aruch YD 371:1). A vessel can only contract impurity if it is made from cloth, sackcloth, leather, bone, wood, metal, or earthenware (Rambam Keilim 1:1, see Leviticus 11:32-33 and Numbers 31:22). Plastic therefore cannot contract impurity, so it can ...
5
Chazal has said that if we begin a mitzvah that we cannot complete on our own, G-d will complete it for us. We could not part the waters at the Sea, alone, but we had to take the first step into the water. See, e.g. Rashi to Exodus 14:15. Moreover, we accept that as mortal humans, we may not be perfect, per se, but that if we make efforts to seek perfect ...
5
Based on this article there are a number of points to consider
Anything that absorbs tumah cannot serve as a separation (Rema to Yoreh Deah 371:1)
Anything that is metal or even plated with metal absorbs tumah (see note 15 in article)
If someone enters a forbidden area in a "box or tower that moves through the air" he becomes tameh because a moving ...
4
In , Hilchos Shechitah » Chapter 3, Halacha 18, the Rambam writes:
Whenever we have used the term "unacceptable," the animal is a nevelah and if a person partakes of an olive-sized portion of it, he is liable for lashes for partaking of a nevelah. For only an acceptable slaughter as commanded by Moses our teacher of blessed memory prevents an animal from ...
4
I Googled it and came up with this page (see top left). It says to look at Zohar Chadash Yisro 31a.
In the Zohar, it is referred to as ארבעים ותשע חילי דמסאבותא
3
Let me add a couple things, based on English-language responsa on the Institute for Dayanim website.
"Cleaning off Zera" says the principal halacha is that you can pray even with semen on your clothing. It adds that if you masturbated, it's "proper" to wash your bedsheets to remove semen. The responsum uses the term "proper", not the term "obligatory". ...
3
It's actually almost entirely still operative. People and utensils transmit and accept impurity just like they always did. What has changed is a lack of impetus to purify one's self in most instances. There are essentially three ways of overcoming a given impurity:
Metzora's Korbanot: A Metzora is impure and he can only become pure again by bringing ...
2
There are a number of issues:
A flying object/tent is not considered a tent to separate.
Something that is Mekabel Tum'ah cannot separate.
A Kohen may not put himself in a circumstance of Tum'ah upon which a Nazir would have to shave and start over Nezirus.
The fact that the airplane MAY fly over Jewish Graves would probably be because it's like flying ...
2
you've come to the right place.
More on the subject here, but in short:
If someone is a [male] Kohen, they're prohibited from any additional contact with the dead -- thus it's problematic for a Kohen to handle cadavers. (If you have no particular reason to believe someone is a Kohen, we generally don't worry about it.)
Other than that, today we're not ...
2
A large part of your answer is already suggested in the question - since the purification process for contact with a corpse is not possible nowadays. Another important point is that even in the time of the Temple, observing a state of purity was only required in order to eat sacrificial/holy foods, and since we don't have these it's not as important to ...
2
I asked my Rabbi about this a while ago, and he agreed with me that it's assur for anyone, Cohen or Yisroel, to go to the Bodies Exhibit (other than medical students). The exhibit displays desecrated human bodies, and it would be assur to go be entertained by it. If a Cohen is a medical student, then for pikuach nefesh he (along with any other medical ...
2
http://www.ravaviner.com/2009/02/cohanim-and-kivrei-tzaddikim-graves-of.html
In Iturei Cohanim (Sivan 5766 #261),
Rav Aviner was asked, is it
permissible for a cohain to enter
Ma’arat Ha-Machpelah? He answered that
there is a dispute, but Maran Ha-Rav
Kook did not enter. Similarly, in the
weekly parashah sheet "Olam Katan"
(#169), Rav ...
2
I've asked this question one rav posek (Rav Ehuda Gantz, from Ramot Dalet, Jerusalem).
He told me that in order to make any broha (on the head-Tefilin in our case) it is enough to clean the hands on the clothes (מידי דמנקי). After finishing putting the head-Tefilin one can wash his hands before the praying, without any problems of pausing between arm- and ...
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