Questions tagged [tamei-tahor-ritual-purity]
Questions related to the Torah concepts of *tumah* and *taharah* - ritual impurity and purity.
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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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Different Schach Mats
Does anyone know the difference between the Schach mats that are sold on all the Sukkah websites?
I understand that nylon string connecting the slats is an issue but the Star-k website (see below) ...
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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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נגעים of houses - is the house מקבל טומאה from the נגע, or are the נגע and the house together one object of טומאה
Is the house מקבל טומאה from the נגע, or are the נגע and the house together one 'item/חפצא' of טומאה?
Same question essentially by נגעי אדם and נגעי בגדים as well.
See Kisvei HaGrach siman 65. Please ...
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Does rain purify the earth in a similar way we use water for spiritual purification rituals or does the purification require a human element?
Judaism has different rituals around water and purification. A simple example is washing of the hands after a funeral or cemetery visitation.
My question is this.
Water is used for purification. Is ...
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What is meant by "pure" oil for Hanukka?
The concept of "pure" oil is central to the holiday of Hanukka (see, for example,
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/221817/jewish/Pure-Oil.htm and
https://www.aish.com/...
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Source for pure status of those buried on Har Hazeitim
In this article on Har Hazeitim (Mt. of Olives) it says:
"People buried on the Mount of Olives are exempt from the ritual of atonement that those buried elsewhere must undergo."
Is there a ...
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Contradiction between Mishnah and Tosefta?
Mishnah Keilim 11:4 says:
קלוסטרא, טמאה ... רבי יהושע אומר, שומטה מפתח זה ותולה בחברו בשבת. רבי טרפון אומר, הרי היא לו ככל הכלים, ומטלטלת בחצר
A door bolt is susceptible to impurity ... Rabbi Joshua ...
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שכבת זרע and the purification of the world
In Sanhedrin 108b:3, it says:
אמר רב חסדא ברותחין קלקלו בעבירה וברותחין נידונו
Rav Ḥisda says: With hot semen they sinned, and with hot semen they were punished.
In Torah Ohr 8c-d, the Alter Rebbe ...
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Why does the man who guards the Red Heifer defile his clothes?
Bava Metzia 93a reads: "One who safeguards the red heifer renders his garments impure ... Rabba bar Ulla said: This is a decree, lest he move a limb of the heifer."
But... how does it deter ...
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How can a solid pile of planks be considered an ohel?
Ohalot 15:1 says that a pile of garments, where the uppermost garment is at least a tefach off the ground, counts as an ohel. This is presumably because the uppermost garment is considered the 'roof' ...
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Is the partially generated animal dead?
Chulin, chapter 9, mishna 6, is discussing the ritual impurity imparted by a dead sheretz (animal of any of certain types). Note that the impurity is imparted only by a dead animal. The mishna says (...
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Exact distances and sizes in the Mishna
In many locations in the Mishna, it is mentioned what should be done if something has an exact measurement. For instance in Shekalim:
Coins which were found between the [chest inscribed] “shekels” ...
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Machshirin 1:6: Chazon Ish's defence's of Bartenura's peirush
Machshirin 1:6 contains three clauses:
When someone blows on lentils, the Sages say this counts as b'chi yutan.
When someone hides their vegetables in a river from thieves, this doesn't count as b'...
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Why isn't a cemetery a public domain for the laws of tumah?
Tohorot 3:7 explains why, when it comes to tumah, we are lenient in the case of a child found "to the side of a cemetery" (namely because he can't be interrogated).
My question is, though, ...
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Why is marble not considered a stone?
Hilchot Tumat Tzara'at 14:8:
הַלְּבֵנִים וְהַשַּׁיִשׁ אֵינָן חֲשׁוּבִין כַּאֲבָנִים
Bricks and Marble aren't considered stones.
What is the reason for this decision?
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Mikdash David, Kuntres Tohorot 3:4
The Artscroll elucidated Mishnah (Oholot 4:1) contains a footnote referring to Mikdash David, Kuntres Tohorot 3:4 (d'h והנה זה). Can anyone help me find a copy of this source?
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