Questions tagged [tamei-tahor-ritual-purity]
Questions related to the Torah concepts of *tumah* and *taharah* - ritual impurity and purity.
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How did the Greeks make the menora-oil impure?
The Gemara in Shabbos 21b famously writes "Mai Chanukah"- what is Chanukah? The Gemara elaborates:
When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary
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Why is the Mitzvah of Parah Adumah considered a reward?
The Gemara (Sotah 17a) says that the Mitzvah of Parah Adumah was given as a reward for Avraham Avinu’s humility, and Rashi explains that it’s considered a reward, because A. It purifies. B. It atones ...
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Can a Kohen come in contact with any corpse in order to reach a Meis Mitzvah?
If there is a Meis Mitzvah, and the only way to get to it is by becoming impure by another corpse - not a Meis Mitzvah - is a Kohen allowed to do so?
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Is a dead bat impure?
The Torah lists the ״עטלף״ which is generally translated to mean “a bat”, among the non kosher birds, but does that mean that it is considered a bird for every purpose, like when it comes to the laws ...
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Was there an alert system in place in the Mikdash for cases of an invalid shechita creating tum'as neveila?
Was there a טומאה alert/lockdown system in the מקדש mentioned in Shas or anywhere else?
Each בהמה that was sacrificed would carry an inherent risk of טומאת נבלה if something went wrong with the ...
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Apparent contradiction between two Gemaras
The Gemara (Bechoros 9b) says that according to the Chachamim, foods which their benefit is forbidden is still considered food with regards to the laws of purity, including Orlah and Kilei Hakerem, ...
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Can one remove the impurity of Tzara’at on a garment by dying it?
The Mishnah in Negaim 11:3 says that colored garments cannot become impure from signs of Tzara’at.
The question is: if a plain garment already has signs of Tzara’at on it, if one dyed it afterwards, ...
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Looking at impure phenomenon
This question posits that, as per the extent of my research, the source for pregnant women not gazing at tameh animals is from the sefer kav hayashar 2:7. Which doesn't mention anything about pregnant ...
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Making tamei tahor and tahor tamei - Negaim
Chazal make a big deal out the fact that the ashes of the Parah Adumah are מטהר את הטמא and מטמא את הטהור. It is considered to be the thing that made Parah Adumah inexplicable even to Shlomo Hamelech.
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Tumat met on the London Underground
Apparently part of London's subway network causes problems for kohanim because it is underneath a museum that includes human remains:
Due to the Science Museum and the Underground entrance sharing ...
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Can a refrigirator become Tameh if Pushed by a Niddah? [duplicate]
If a refrigerator was given tumah by a niddah. How do you purify it?
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If a baal keri goes to the Mikvah at night are they still a Tevul Yom?
Certain types of tumah, like a baal keri, immerse in a Mikvah and then will be known as a tevul yom, meaning they are impure until the evening.
What happens if they go to a Mikvah after sundown? Are ...
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Angels of impurity before marriage?
I cam across an article here stating that before we marry, each person has an 'angel of impurity' attached to them from birth.
https://www.dailyhalacha.com/WeeklyParasha.asp?ParashaClipID=754
I ...
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Question about Leviticus 11:43 [duplicate]
The verse in Leviticus 11:43 speaks about becoming unclean by eating "unclean" animals.
You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping creature that creeps, and you shall not ...
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Ritual immersion with washing of the body?
I would like to know if the ritual immersion that is prescribed in the Torah requires one to wash himself as well. From what I see, the law tells you only to immerse yourself and not to wash yourself (...
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Can angels become tamei?
What it says on the tin really.
Are there any sources dealing with the question of angels and tumah?
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Touching A Tanach Before Netilat Yadayim
Can one touch a Tanach, not Torah scroll, before doing netilat yadayim?
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How did temple priests and visitors go about relieving themselves without desecrating the sanctity of the Beit Hamikdash?
Judaism has very strict rules around human waste and separating God from such things. You may not even speak God's names within a restroom.
This leads to my question regarding the temple priesthood ...
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Hyssop: a herb that purifies?
Hyssop, אזוב, is used several times in the Torah in purification processes. See for example Shemos 12:22, where Moshe Rabbeinu summoned all the elders of Israel and told them:
Take a bunch of hyssop, ...
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Should a man say a bracha if immersing in a mikvah?
Should a man say a bracha, according to halachic sources, when immersing in a mikvah? (since there is no obligation on him).
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Tevilas Ezra on Shabbos
Does any source speak about טבילת עזרא specifically in the context of שבת?
I am asking because relations on שבת is indicated to be a preferred/ideal time (based on certain sources (e.g. בבא קמא פב ע&...
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Does the Oral Torah have a law against 'common' animals?
I am a Christian who is researching how other religions influenced Christianity throughout its history. Having found that some of my fellow believers in the Hebrew Roots movement hold the belief that ...
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If one plants tamei terumah, is the gedulin [product] also tamei?
Mishnah Terumos 9:4 explains that, if one plants terumah, then the product which grows (gedulin) is also terumah drabannan.
My question - if the seeds planted were tamei terumah, is the product also ...
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Receiving animal based organ transplants
I was looking at the idea of receiving an organ transplanted from an animal as in this question. One issue which was not raised is that of tum'ah. Though the transplant might be acceptable for many ...
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Wearing gloves while dealing with food
Are gloves a barrier for tumah water and food if one didn’t do morning netilat yadayim?
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Consumption of Foods and Liquids Touched By One Who Didn’t Do Morning Netilat Yadayim
My first question is when did the opinion of ruach ra’ah no longer being present today begin? My second question is, are we allowed to consume the foods and drinks touched by one who didn’t do netilat ...
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Water from washing that ran onto sleeves- Is it tumah?
If after raising hands for netilat yadayim the water from the hands ran down onto sleeves, is that water on the sleeves then rendered tumah?
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Are hands rendered tumah if water flowed down after second or third pour?
When performing morning netilat yadayim, are the hands rendered tumah if during the second or third pour the water is poured above the wrists?
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Touching the hands of a Jew who didn't wash netilat yadayim in the morning
When one has performed netilat yadayim in the morning, however after their hands are dry, touched or shook the hands of a Jew who hasn't washed their hands, but their hands are also dry, would they ...
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Why is Pesach Sheni the only "second chance"? [duplicate]
In Parashat Behaalotcha we read of a group of individuals who were unable for Halachic reasons to celebrate Pesach. On the fourteenth day of Nisan, when they had been mandated to bring the Pesach ...
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At what point does a corpse become so decomposed as to no longer defile?
As we all know, contact with a dead animal or person brings ritual impurity. But we also know that "dust we are and to dust we shall return." Most of the soil around us is organic matter ...
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Why are אוכלי חולין בטהרה called "בני הכנסת"?
Zavim, chapter 3, mishna 2, lists a bunch of cases in which someone is deemed tame (ritually impure) by decree of the rabbis. However, it concludes,
וְכֻלָּן טְהוֹרִין לִבְנֵי הַכְּנֶסֶת וּטְמֵאִין ...
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Does tumah applies in any way to Bnei Noach? [duplicate]
As gentiles also worshipped in the Holy Temple, I wonder if ritual impurity also applied to them
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Machshirin and being satisfied with wetting
Mishnah Machshirin 3:3 explains that a loaf of bread which is placed over the top of a wine cask and absorbs wine fumes is considered hechsher. But why is this the case, because there is no reason to ...
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Talking In Bathrooms
The Rema in או"ח סי' ג סעיף ב says that it is impermissible to talk in the bathroom. The Mishna Berura adds the Gemara in Berachos 65b, that even in order to let someone trying to enter know that ...
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Is fishing line mekabel-tumah? Can it be used in schach?
סכך cannot be made of a דבר המקבל טומאה, there is a company that make a reed mat that is held together (מעמד) with fishing line and it comes with instructions to put some wood on top of it so that it ...
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1:1 correspondence of spiritual purity to spiritual impurity?
I’ve always held the belief that the amount of spiritual purity in the world is equal to the amount of spiritual impurity. I think I heard this idea before, however, I do not know the source. My ...
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Discussion of tumah issues when a Kohen Gadol died on Yom Kippur
I was wondering if there is any discussion anywhere of the tumah complications that occurred when the Kohen Gadol died in the Kodesh Kodashim.
At an initial glance the issue one would need to worry ...
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How can tumah pass through a cupboard?
Ohalot 4:1 says that where there is a source of tumah beneath a cupboard, everything in the house is tamei.
ArtScroll adds that the things in the cupboard remain tahor: “the tumah penetrates into the ...
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What was the spiritual significance of the blood being used as a means of atonement, dedication, and purification?
Blood played a significant role within Israelite Culture ceremoniously and ritualistically. For example (including but not limited to) for confirmation of a covenant, as part of the dedication of the ...
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How did King Shlomo have General Yoav killed in the tent of the Aron (that had an Altar too), didn't everything become impure?
By killing Yoav inside the tent the Aron and the Altar that were there became impure. Wasn't this a problem? See 1 Kings 2 (28 -34).
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Hargasha nowdays
There are various reasons that the Poskim nowadays give to explain that there still is a concept of Nidda Min Hatorah despite women not having a Hargasha. From what I have managed to see, there seem ...
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Can a non-kohen touch non-kosher animals (dead or alive)?
Is this correct: Non-kohanim may touch non-kosher animals (live or dead), including שרצים, but must avoid doing so when going to the Beis Hamikdash (for the holidays or otherwise).
Are kohanim always ...
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IDF ceremony on the Temple Mount
Last year someone sent me this video. It shows an IDF "misdar", a kind of military formation/inspection/ceremony (not really sure how to translate it) on the Temple Mount after it was freed ...
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Is contamination from lack of kashrut reversible? [duplicate]
We are taught the kashrut mitzvot are meant to elevate our holiness and avoid spiritual contamination. What of an uneducated Jew that for most of his/her life did not keep kosher and eventually became ...
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Does Tumah Wear Off or Expire from an Object?
Does tumah contracted from a niddah wear off or expire? Like a seat that she sat on? According to the times when the Temple stood?
*edited
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After a טמא מת gets הזאות and is still טמא until טבילה והערב שמש, is this a new טומאה or the remains of the original טומאה?
Are the הזאות really מטהר him completely, only now is חל a completely new טומאה? Or is this טומאה that he still has the remainder of the old טומאה; the הזאות aren't מטהר him completely and leave over ...
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Do the items a Baal Keri touch become impure?
So I understand it is said that Ezra's decree no longer applies today. However if one was still Baal Keri would he transfer his tumah to any object (literally any) that he touched?
Say someone had a ...
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How can a table be a sheni l'tum'ah?
Mishna Berachos 8:3 says:
בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, מְקַנֵּחַ יָדָיו בַּמַּפָּה וּמַנִּיחָהּ עַל הַשֻּׁלְחָן. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, עַל הַכֶּסֶת:
Bet Shammai says: he wipes his hand with a towel ...
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If humans build the third temple, would the builders be required to be cleared of "purity standards" for the project?
We are taught that when we came to Israel, King David could not build the temple because he had blood on his hands. Though he was acting under divine command and in the interest of the nation, he ...
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