Metzora

Purification from Tzara’at

14:1 God spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “The following is the law regarding the procedure that must be followed1 in order to rid the person afflicted with tzara’at of his defilement. The process of his purification must take place during the day.

Once the symptoms of tzara’at have disappeared, he must be brought to the priest who is designated to examine him, but only after

3 the priest has gone outside the camp, since the afflicted person had been banished from the camp2 and may not reenter it until he is pronounced rid of this defilement. The priest must examine him, and if the lesion of tzara’at has healed in the afflicted person,

4 the priest must order someone to take for the person who is to be purified two fowl that are (a) alive and not suffering from a fatal disease and (b)of a species that does not render one spiritually defiled, plus an unpeeled cedar stick at least a cubit [48 cm or 19 inches] long,3 a strip of scarlet wool, and some hyssop. The fowl allude to the fact that tzara’at is a corrective punishment for gossip or slander, which are usually said in the course of the idle chatter that is reminiscent of how fowl chirp. The stick of a tall cedar tree alludes to haughtiness, which is also punishable by tzara’at. The strip of wool dyed with the scarlet blood of a lowly worm and the lowly hyssop allude to the humility the sufferer must learn in order to repent of these sins. The cedar stick and the hyssop must be bound together using the excess length4 of the strip of scarlet wool.

5 The priest must order someone to slaughter one fowl such that its blood drip into an earthenware vessel and onto spring water that has been placed in that vessel. The amount of water that must be placed in the vessel is one quarter of a log [86 ml or 2.91 oz]; any more than this will dilute the fowl’s blood to the point that it will no longer be discernible in the water.

Even though this fowl is from a species normally permitted for consumption and it was slaughtered properly, you may not eat it.5 In order to prevent anyone from eating it, it is buried immediately after being slaughtered.6

6As for the live fowl, the priestmust take it, along with the bundle comprising the cedar stick, the strip of scarlet wool, and the hyssop, and dip the bundle, along with the live fowl, into the blood of the slaughtered fowl that previously dripped onto the spring water.

7 He must then dip his finger into the solution of blood and spring water and sprinkle some of it seven times upon the back of the hand7 of the person being purified from tzara’at, and he will thereby begin to purify him. The priest must then send away the live fowl into the open field. This fowl is permitted for consumption if it is subsequently caught.8

8 The person being purified must then immerse his garments in a mikveh, shave off all the hair on his bodywith a razor9—even those parts of the head that it is normally forbidden to shave10—and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, and he will thus be purified to an additional degree, although not yet completely. After this, he may enter the camp, but he must remain ‘outside his tent,’ i.e., he must not engage in marital relations, for seven days.

9 On the seventh day, he must again shave off all his hair, but this time onlythat which is similar to the hair on his head, his beard, and his eyebrows—i.e., he must shave off all his hair from the places on his body where there is usually a visible, dense growth of hair. He must then again immerse his garments and immerse his flesh in the water of a mikveh, and thus be purified to an even greater degree, although still not yet completely.

10 On the eighth day, he must take two unblemished male lambs in their first year and one unblemished female lamb in its first year, in order to sacrifice them—one as an ascent-offering, one as a guilt-offering, and one as a sin-offering, respectively—as will be described presently. All three of these offerings require accompanying grain-offerings and wine-libations, even though, as you will be taught later,11 guilt-offerings and sin-offerings are not generally accompanied by grain-offerings and wine-libations. Therefore, in addition to the three animals, the person being purified must take three separate tenths of an ephah of fine flour, each mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil as a grain-offering to accompany each animal sacrifice, plus three quarter-hins of wine for the libations accompanying each animal sacrifice.12In addition, he must take one log of olive oil for the purification rites, as will be presently described.

11 The priest who is performing the purification must position the person being purified, together with these things, before God, i.e.,outside the entrance of the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. The person cannot yet actually enter the Tabernacle precincts, since he is still not completely purified of his defilement.

Second Reading 12 The priest must take one male lamb and bring it into the Courtyard in order to sacrifice it as a guilt-offering, along with the log of oil. Before slaughtering the lamb, he must wave them—the lamb and the oil—as a wave-offering before God.

13Even though this guilt-offering is exceptional in that it must be positioned at the entrance of the Courtyard before being slaughtered, the priest must still slaughter the lamb in the place where one slaughters the sin-offering and the ascent-offering, just like all guilt offerings, i.e., within the holy place, the Courtyard, north of the Outer Altar.13Furthermore, despite the fact that the purification rites require special applications of this offering’s blood, as will be described presently, its blood still must be applied to the Altar and its fat burned up upon the Altar, for regarding these aspects of the priest’s service, the guilt-offering—including this one—is like the sin-offering. Nonetheless, just as the blood of other guilt-offerings is applied to the lower half of the Altar by sprinkling it at the two diagonally opposite corners—unlike the blood of sin-offerings, which is applied to the protrusions of the Altar—so is the case with this guilt-offering. It is a sacrifice of superior holiness like all other guilt-offerings; its blood is therefore applied to the Altar in the same way as that of all other guilt-offerings.

14After the lamb is slaughtered, the priest must take some of the blood of the guilt-offering, and the priest must apply it above the middle ridge of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

15 The priest must then take some of the log of oil and pour itonto the priest’s—i.e., his own—left palm.

16 The priest must then dip his right index finger into some of the oil that is on his left palm, and sprinkle some of the oil with his index finger seven times in the direction of the Holy of Holies, this being considered before God.

17 The priest must then apply some of the remainder of the oil that is in his palm on the middle ridge of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the places where he just applied the blood of the guilt-offering. It does not matter if the blood is still there or if it had been wiped off in the meantime.14

18The priest must then apply what is left over from the oil in the priest’s—i.e., his own—palm upon the head of the person being purified. The priest will thus effect partial atonement for him before God.

19 The priest must then offer up the female lamb as a sin-offering, thereby effecting additional atonement for the person being purified of his defilement. After this, he must slaughter the second male lamb as an ascent-offering.

20As opposed to the guilt-offering and the sin-offering, only parts of which are burned up on the Altar, the priest must bring the entire ascent-offering, just like itsaccompanying grain-offering, up to thetop of the Altar in order to burn it up there. The priests must eat their portions of the guilt- and sin-offerings. The priest will thus effect complete atonement for him, and he will be completelypurified.

Purification from Tzara’at for a Poor Person

Third Reading (Fifth when combined) 21 If he is poor and cannot afford these sacrifices, he can use fowl instead of lambs for the sin-offering and ascent-offering. Thus, he must take one-male lamb as a guilt-offering, first to be waved as a wave-offering, to effect atonement for him, one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as an accompanying grain-offering for the guilt-offering, a quarter-hin of wine for its accompanying libation, a log of oil for the purification rites,

22 and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons (which are even less expensive than turtledoves), according to what he can afford, one as a sin-offering and the other as an ascent-offering.

23 He must bring them to the priest on the eighth day of his purification, to the entrance of the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting, this being considered before God.

24 The priest must then take the guilt-offering lamb and the log of oil, bring them inside the Courtyard, and the priest must wave them as a wave-offering before God.

25 He must slaughter the guilt-offering lamb. The priest must then take some of the blood of the guilt-offering and apply it on the middle ridge of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

26 The priest must then pour some of the oil onto the priest’s—i.e., his own—left palm.

27 The priest must sprinkle with his right index finger some of the oil that is in his left palm, seven times in the direction of the Holy of Holies, this being considered before God.

28 The priest must then apply some of the remainder of the oil that is in his palm onto the middle ridge of the right ear of the person being purified, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the same place where he just applied the blood of the guilt-offering. It does not matter if the blood is still there or if it had been wiped off in the meantime.

29The priest must then apply what is left over from the oil in the priest’s—i.e., his own—palm upon the head of the person being purified, in order to effect partial atonement for him before God.

30 He must then offer up one of the two turtledoves or one of the two young pigeons, whichever the person being purified can afford,

31as part of offering up both of whichever of these two types of fowl he can afford, one as a sin-offering and the other as an ascent-offering. The priest must offer up these fowl after having offered up the grain-offering accompanying the guilt-offering. The priest will thus effect atonement for the person being purified before God.

32 This is the law regarding someone suffering from a lesion of tzara’at but who cannot afford the full array of sacrifices when he is to be purified.”

Tzara’at on Homes

Fourth Reading (Sixth when combined)33 God spoke to Moses, instructing him to convey His words15 to Aaron, for him to say in turn to the Israelites in God’s name,

34 “When you enter Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, you will dispossess the nations who presently occupy the land and be able to inhabit the homes they inhabit now. Of these nations, the Amorites in particular are fully aware of God’s promise to Abraham that you will dispossess them.16 But since, in that very promise, God stated that their dispossession will be a punishment for their sins, they also cherish the hope that God will likewise someday punish you for your sins and exile you from the land, at which time they will be free to repossess it and move back into their homes. Thus, some of them17 have been stashing their gold in the walls of their houses ever since you left Egypt.18 Therefore, do not fret when I place a tzara’at-lesion upon a house in the land of your possession, for even if, on that account, you are forced to demolish your house, you will thereby reveal these hidden treasures and gain considerable wealth.

35When a lesion appears on a house, the owner of the house must come and tell the priest about it, saying, ‘Something resembling a lesion has appeared on my house.’ Even if the owner is familiar with the signs of tzara’at and is sure that the lesion is tzara’at, he must not state this fact decisively; rather, he must leave that to the priest.

36 The priest must order that the house be cleared out before he, the priest, comes inside to examine the lesion, so that everything in the house not become ritually defiled if he indeed pronounces the lesion to be tzara’at, for even if the lesion is tzara’at, nothing in the house becomes defiled until the priest pronounces it to be so. True, the wooden or metal utensils in the house can later be purified of ritual defilement by immersing them in a mikveh, and the food in the house can be consumed by someone who happens to be defiled at the time. However, as you know, earthenware vessels cannot be purified of ritual defilement by immersion,19 so once these become ritually defiled, they may never again be used for ritually undefiled food. It is therefore for the sake of these vessels that the house must be emptied out.

The repercussions of the ritual defilement contracted by a house afflicted with tzara’at or quarantined for suspected tzara’at are the same as those for the ritual defilement of a man who has suffered two or more discrete non-seminal discharges20 (which will be discussed in detail later21).

After this, the priest must come to examine the house.

37 He must examine the lesion. If the lesion on the walls of the house (a) appears on the stones of the walls,22 (b) covers at least an area equivalent to a rectangle two of whose sides are equal to the diameter of a Cilician bean and whose two other sides are equal to twice the diameter of a Cilician bean23 [308 mm² or 0.48 in²], and (c) consists of pure green or pure red sunken-looking stains (or stains of a mixture of both colors24), appearing to be deeper than the wall,

38 then the priest must go out of the house, to the entrance of the house, and he must quarantine the house for seven days (see Figure 1).

39 Then the priest must return on the seventh day and examine the house. If the lesion has disappeared or turned a lighter or darker shade of red or green, the affected area must be scraped and the priest must then pronounce the house rid of this defilement.25

If, however, the lesion has spread on the walls of the house, the house must be purged, as follows:

40 The priest must order that the stones upon which the lesion is found be removed, and those who remove them must dispose of[myw1] them outside the city, to a designated place that either already is or that will thereby become defiled. As long as defiled stones are in this place, anyone who enters it will become defiled.

41In addition to removing the affected stones, the workers must scrape out the house from the inside, but only all around the vicinity of the removed stones. They must pour out the mortardust that they removed outside the city—specifically, into a defiled place, as they did with the stones.

42 They must then take other, unaffectedstones and bring them to replace the removed stones. One of the workers must take other mortar dust, and plaster the new stones into the wall of the house.

43After this purging process, the house must be quarantined for another week. The seventh day of the first quarantine week also counts as the first day of the second quarantine week.26 If, after this, the lesion erupts again in the house—after the workers had removed the stones, and after the wall of the house had been scraped around the area of the removed stones, and after the wall had been repaired and re-plastered—the house must be demolished, as will be described presently.27 If the lesion does not reappear, the priest must declare the house rid of this defilement and purify it by means of the procedure that will be described later.28

44As stated, the priest must examine the house after the first week of quarantine. If the lesion did not spread during the first week of quarantine, the priest must quarantine the house for a second week, after which he must come and examine it again. If the lesion has disappeared or turned a lighter or darker shade of red or green, the affected area must be removed and the priest must then pronounce the house rid of this defilement and proceed to purify it according to the process that will be described later.29

If, however, the lesion in the house spread during the second week, the affected stones must be removed, the area around them scraped, all that was removed deposited in a place designated for defilement outside the city, the wall re-plastered with unaffected stones, and the house quarantined for a third week. The seventh day of the second quarantine week also counts as the first day of the third quarantine week.30 If the tzara’at returns after this third week, this indicates conclusively that it is an onerous tzara’at-lesion in the house; the house is defiled.

45 He must demolish the house, its stones, its wood, and all the mortar-dust of the house, and he must take them outside the city, to a defiled place.

46 Anyone entering the house during any of the days of one of its ‘initial’ quarantines—i.e., a quarantine that is not preceded by purging—will become ritually defiled until the evening.

47The garments that this person is wearing, however, do not become ritually defiled unless he lies down in the house or otherwise tarries there, in which case he must immerse his garments in a mikveh—but only if he tarries in the house for the amount of time usually taken by someone eating half a loaf of bread (approximately 4 minutes31). Only in such a case must he immerse his garments in a mikveh.

In contrast, a person who enters the house during a ‘successional’ quarantine—i.e., one that is preceded by purging—is not rendered ritually defiled. Nonetheless, anyone entering a house that has been declared defiled becomes ritually defiled, even if for some reason the house was purged before being demolished.

48 If the priest comes and examines the house after the first week of quarantine and finds that the tzara’at-lesion has not spread, and then, after having the house quarantined for a second week, the priest comes again and examines the lesion a second time, and the lesion again did not spread in the house from the time that the house had been re-plastered at the end of the first week, then the procedure to be followed is the same as if the lesion had spread during the second week of quarantine: the affected stones must be removed, the area around them scraped, all that was removed deposited in a place designated for defilement outside the city, the wall re-plastered with unaffected stones, and the house quarantined for a third week. If the lesion reappears after this, the house is defiled and must be demolished. If the lesion does not reappear after the third week of quarantine, the priest must pronounce the house rid of this defilement, because the lesion has healed.

49 To ritually purify the house, he must take the same items as must a person being purified from tzara’at:32 two fowl, a cedar stick, a strip of scarlet wool, and some hyssop. The cedar stick and hyssop must be bound together using the strip of scarlet wool.

50 He must slaughter one fowl such that its blood drip into an earthenware vessel and onto spring water that has been placed in that vessel.

51 He must take the bundle comprising the cedar stick, the hyssop, and the strip of scarlet wool, plus the live fowl, and he must dip them into the blood of the slaughtered fowl and into the spring water. He must then dip his finger into the solution of blood and spring water and sprinkle some of it toward the house seven times.

52 He must thus purify the house using the blood of the fowl, the spring water, the live fowl, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the strip of scarlet wool.

53 He must then send away the live fowl outside the city, into the openfield. He will thus effect atonement for the house, and it will be purified from defilement.

Fifth Reading54All this is the law for every lesion of tzara’at, for a netek,

55 for tzara’at of garments and houses,

56 for a wool-white spot, for an egg-membrane-white or lime-white spot, and for a snow-white spot—

57 by which the priest is required to render decisions regarding on which day in the process of the sufferer’s diagnosis or purification process he can be pronounced defiled and on which day he can be pronounced rid of this defilement. This is the law of tzara’at.”

Defilement Contracted by Males via Abnormal Discharges

15:1 God spoke to Moses, instructing him to convey His words33 to Aaron, saying,

2 “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them, ‘The following are the laws governing ritual defilement from discharges originating in the reproductive organs.

If any man has a discharge of a specific type of non-seminal fluid from the orifice of his reproductive organ—this fluid being similar in consistency to the liquid that exudes from barley dough and similar in color to the white of an egg that was incubated so long that it will no longer hatch34—his discharge is itselfritually defiled and renders anyone who touches it ritually defiled.

3In addition, the man experiencing the discharge will also become ritually defiled. This is how he will contract ritual defilement due to his discharge: eitherif his reproductive organ runs freely with his discharge or if his reproductive organ is plugged up by his discharge because the discharge is somewhat more viscous.

The law pertaining to a man who has only one discharge will be given below.35 If a man has two or more discrete discharges, his defilement is sufficient to render him ritually impure to the following degree:

4 Any object intended for reclining upon, upon which the man with the discharge lies will thereby become defiled; and any object intended for sitting upon, upon which he sits will thereby become defiled.

5This is the nature of the defilement that these objects acquire through contact with the man with the discharge:

It was mentioned previously36 that only food and drink contract ritual defilement indirectly; people and implements do not. The exception to this is when the medium of transmission is an object upon which a man suffering from a discharge has reclined or sat. Such objects transmit ritual defilement even to people and implements (including garments), as follows:

Anyone who touches an object that the man with the dischargereclined upon, or reclines on such an object even without touching it (for example, by reclining upon any number of ritually undefiled blankets that are spread over a bed upon which the man with the discharge reclined), becomes ritually defiled. In addition, any garments that this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain ritually defiled until evening, at which time he and his garments will become rid of this defilement.

6Similarly, anyone who touches or even sits on an object upon which the man with the discharge sat without touching it, becomes ritually defiled. In addition, any garments that this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain ritually defiled until evening, at which time he and his garments will become rid of this defilement.

In contrast, if the man with the discharge merely touches an object (even an object that is made for reclining or sitting), the touched object transmits defilement only to food and drink, not to people or implements.

7Based on this, it goes without saying that anyone who directly touches the flesh of the man with the discharge becomes ritually defiled, and,in addition, any garments he is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

8 If the man with the discharge spits on an undefiled person, and the saliva either touches the person himself or he carries it (not touching it directly), such a personbecomes ritually defiled, as do any garments he is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

9With regard to any part of a saddle other than the seat (e.g., the pommel or the cantle), if the man with the discharge rides—i.e., leans—upon it, it becomes defiled thereby.

10 Whoever touches any such part of the saddle that was ‘under’ the man with the discharge—i.e., that he leaned upon but did not sit upon—becomes ritually defiled, but his garments do not become defiled. Thus, he is only required to immerse himself in a mikveh and wait until evening in order to become rid of this defilement; he does not have to immerse his garments.

The law regarding the saliva of the man with the discharge also applies to the discharge itself, the man’s vital seed, his urine, and objects on which he has reclined, sat, or ridden. Whoever carries them becomes ritually defiled, as do any garments this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

11 Whomever the man with the discharge touches before the latter immerses himself in a mikveh becomes defiled, even if the man with the discharge had already counted seven consecutive days since the discharge ceased. (In order for immersion to be valid, it is only necessary that the parts of the body exposed when the person immersing stands upright and naked, like his hands, be covered with water, but not interior skin, such as that inside the nose or mouth.) In addition, any garments that the touched person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. The one who was touched under these circumstances must therefore immerse both his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

12As was mentioned previously,37 earthenware vessels only become ritually defiled when a source of defilement is present inside them, not through contact with their outer surface. This principle is true of the ritual defilement transmitted by a man with a discharge, as well, with the following exception: An earthenware vessel that the man with the discharge moves, either directly—by touching it—or indirectly,becomes ritually defiled. (If he merely touches it from the outside without moving it, however, it does not become defiled.) Like any other defiled earthenware vessel, it must be shattered in order to be rid of this defilement.

In contrast, any other—e.g., wooden—vessel that he touches becomes defiled only when he touches it, not when he moves it indirectly, but it becomes defiled even when he touches it from the outside. It must be covered by water, i.e., immersed in a mikveh, to become rid of its ritual defilement.

13 When the man with the discharge is rid of his discharge, i.e., the discharge has clearly ceased, he must count for himself seven consecutive days during which he remains free of the discharge. He must then immerse his garments and immerse his flesh in spring water or other flowing natural water, such as a flowing river. A mikveh of not-naturally-flowing water, such as a man-made pool, a lake, a pond, or the ocean, is not valid for the immersion of a man with this type of discharge.38After proper immersion, he will become undefiled in that he will no longer defile anyone or anything else, and he may consume terumah39 if he is entitled to.

14If he had only two discharges before his flow ceased, he may, after immersion, consume sacrificial meat and enter the Tabernacle precincts. If, however, he had three or more discharges before his flow ceased, he may neither consume sacrificial meat nor enter the Tabernacle precincts after immersing himself until he performs the following rites:40 On the eighth day, he must take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and come before God, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest.

15 The priest must sacrifice them, one as a sin-offering and the other as an ascent-offering, and thus the priest will effect atonement for him from his discharge, before God. He may then consume sacrificial meat and enter the Tabernacle precincts.

Defilement Contracted via Seminal Discharges

Sixth Reading (Seventh when combined)16 A man from whom there issues a discharge of semen must immerse all his flesh in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement. This applies equally to all discharges of semen, whether permitted (i.e., by which a man inseminates his wife through marital relations) or forbidden (all other types41), and whether voluntary or involuntary.

17 Any garment or any leather article that has semen on it must be immersed in the water of a mikveh, after which it will remain defiled until evening, at which time it will become rid of this defilement.

18 A woman with whom a man engages in carnal relations, whereby there was a discharge of semen, becomes defiled just as does the man. They must therefore both immerse themselves in the water of a mikveh, after which they will remain defiled until evening, at which time they will become rid of this defilement.

Defilement Contracted via Menstruation

19Just as men contract ritual defilement from both normal and abnormal discharges from their reproductive organ (i.e., seminal and non-seminal discharges, respectively), women also contract ritual defilement from both normal and abnormal discharges from their reproductive organ (i.e., menstrual blood and non-menstrual blood, respectively). But whereas for men, normal and abnormal discharges are differentiated by the color and consistency of the discharge, for women, normal and abnormal discharges are distinguished solely by the date on which they occur, as follows.42

Starting from the first time in her life that she begins menstruating, a woman begins a somewhat elastic cycle of alternating 7-day menstrual periods and 11-day non-menstrual time spans. Menstruation is considered to last exactly seven days, even if actual bleeding occurs for fewer or more days; during the 11-day spans, whatever uterine bleeding may occur is considered non-menstrual.43 Although every 7-day menstrual period is followed immediately by an 11-day non-menstrual span, the 7-day menstrual period following an 11-day non-menstrual span does not begin until actual bleeding occurs.

To illustrate: A woman’s first 7-day menstrual period begins with the onset of her menarche. As soon as these seven days are over, she begins counting again; any bleeding that occurs during the ensuing 11 days is considered non-menstrual. If she does not bleed during these 11 days, or bleeds on no more than two of them consecutively, she begins her next 7-day menstrual period the next time she starts bleeding, no matter when this occurs. After this second 7-day menstrual period, she counts 11 days again for non-menstrual bleeding, and so on (see Figure 4).

If, however, during an 11-day non-menstrual span, she bleeds for three or more consecutive days, her next 7-day menstrual period is postponed until after she has ceased bleeding and then counted seven full, consecutive days clear of bleeding, as will be explained later. The day on which she next bleeds after these seven clear days is considered the first day of her next 7-day menstrual period, after which she again counts 11 days for non-menstrual bleeding, and so on (see Figure 5).

If the woman bleeds on the last two days of the 11-day non-menstrual span and then continues to bleed on one or more of the subsequent days, these subsequent days of bleeding do not combine with the two days of non-menstrual bleeding to form a 3-or-more-day period of non-menstrual bleeding that must be followed by a 7-day count of clear days. Rather, this subsequent bleeding begins her second menstrual period (see Figure 6).

We will first discuss the ritual defilement that a woman contracts from menstrual bleeding.

If a woman has a uterine discharge, and her discharge, based on the day it begins, is deemed to be menstrual blood, she becomes ritually defiled, as will be described presently. In order not to ritually defile other people or implements, she must refrain from touching them or letting them touch her. She must remain in her state of separation from contactfor exactly seven days, regardless of how long her flow actually lasts. If her discharge has ceased by the end of the seventh day of her menstruation period, she may immerse herself the following evening and thus become rid of this defilement.

During her period of separation, whoever touches her will become ritually defiled and must immerse themselves in a mikveh, after which they will remain defiled until evening, at which time they will become rid of this defilement.

20 Any object intended for reclining upon, upon which she reclines during her period of menstrual separation will thereby become ritually defiled; and any object intended for sitting upon, upon which she sits will thereby become defiled.

21As is the case with a man with a non-seminal discharge, an object upon which a menstruant has reclined or sat transmits ritual defilement even to people and implements, as follows:

Anyone who touches an object that she reclined upon becomes ritually defiled. In addition, any garments that this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

22Similarly, anyone who touches an object upon which she sat becomes ritually defiled. In addition, any garments that this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain ritually defiled until evening, at which time he and his garments will become rid of this defilement.

23Even if he reclines or sits indirectly on an object that shereclined upon or sat upon, he still becomes ritually defiled to the same degree as if he had touched that object.

Similar to a man with a non-seminal discharge, if she spits on someone and her saliva either touches the person himself or he carries it without touching it, he and any garments he is wearing at the time become ritually impure and must be immersed in a mikveh, after which they remain defiled until the evening, at which time they become rid of this defilement.

Furthermore, if someone carries her saliva, menstrual blood, urine, or objects upon which she reclined, sat, or rode, both he and any garments he is wearing at the time become ritually impure and must be immersed in a mikveh, after which they remain defiled until the evening, at which time they become rid of this defilement.

Also, with regard to any part of a saddle other than the seat (e.g., the pommel or the cantle), if sheleans on without sitting on it and then someone touches it, only he himself becomes ritually defiled, not his garments. Thus, he is only required to immerse himself in a mikveh and wait until evening in order to become rid of this defilement; he does not have to immerse his garments.

In contrast, if she merely touches an object (even an object made for reclining or sitting), the touched object transmits defilement only to food and drink, not to people or implements.

In addition, however, the stringency regarding earthenware vessels that applies to a man with a non-seminal discharge also applies to a menstruant: If she moves such a vessel, even indirectly, it becomes ritually defiled.

24You will be taught later that it is forbidden to engage in carnal relations with a menstruant.44 If a man nonetheless does engage in carnal relations with her, the ritual defilement caused by her menstruation will be transmitted to him and he will be defiled for seven days, counting from the day on which they conducted relations, regardless of on which day of her seven-day count they occurred. He will become defiled exactly in the same way she is defiled: Any object intended for reclining upon, upon which he reclines will thereby become defiled, and so forth, as just stated.

Defilement Contracted by Women via Abnormal Discharges

25We will now discuss the ritual defilement that a woman contracts from non-menstrual bleeding.

If a woman bleeds for only one day or two consecutive days during her 11-day non-menstrual span, and then passes one full day clear of bleeding, she may immerse herself in a mikveh on that clear day, after which she becomes rid of this defilement. On the evening following her immersion, she is permitted to eat all consecrated food to which she is entitled, including sacrificial meat, and to enter the Tabernacle precincts.

If, however, her bleeding continues for three or more consecutive days, the law is different:

A woman whose discharge of uterine blood flows for more than two days, i.e., a minimum of three days, andthese three or more days occur outside of but immediately following the 7-day span of her menstrual separation; or she has a discharge of blood for three or more days after the 7-day span of her menstrual separation but removed from it by between one and ten intervening days, then, in either such case,she will be ritually defiled all the days of her defiling discharge, in the same manner that she is ritually defiled during the days of her menstrual separation.

26Thus, any object intended for reclining upon, upon which she reclines throughout the duration of her discharge will be treated—with regard to becoming defiled and defiling other entities—the same way as an object intended for reclining upon is treated during her period of menstrual separation. Similarly, any object intended for sitting upon, upon which she sits will thereby become defiled in the same way such an object becomes defiled during her period of menstrual defilement.

27 Anyone who touches such objects will become ritually defiled. In addition, any garments that this person is touching or otherwise wearing while this ritual impurity is being transmitted to him also become ritually defiled. He must therefore immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water of a mikveh, after which he will remain defiled until evening, at which time he will become rid of this defilement.

28 If she becomes rid of her discharge, i.e., the discharge clearly ceases, she must count for herself seven consecutive days during which she remains free of any discharge. After this, she may immerse herself in a mikveh on the seventh day45 and thus become undefiled in that she will no longer defile anyone or anything else, and she may consume terumah46 if she is entitled to, but she may still not consume sacrificial meat or enter the Tabernacle precincts.

Seventh Reading29 On the eighth day, she must take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest after coming with them to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

30 The priest must sacrifice them, one as a sin-offering and the other as an ascent-offering, and thus the priest will effect atonement for her, before God, from the defilement of her discharge. She may then consume sacrificial meat and enter the Tabernacle precincts.’

Conclusion; Defilement Contracted by Men via Minor Abnormal Discharges

Maftir31Tell the court: ‘You must thus separate the Israelites from their defilement, so that they not die on account of their defilement as part of the punishment of excision for defiling My Sanctuary, which is in their midst, by entering it while ritually defiled.

32The following is a summary ofthe law pertaining to a man who has an abnormal discharge; this type of ritual defilement includes several cases, which we will now list in order of increasing severity.

The first is that of a man who has a single abnormal discharge.The defilement contracted by a man who has a single abnormal discharge is the same as that of a man who has a seminal emission:47This single discharge causes him to become defiled only for the rest of that day, during which he may immerse himself in a mikveh, after which he remains defiled until evening, at which time he becomes totally rid of this defilement. (The laws pertaining to a man who has two or more abnormal discharges were given above.48)

33The other cases of ritual defilement contracted from bodily discharges are, in order of increasing stringency: a menstruating woman; someone who has an abnormal discharge followed by a second or third abnormal discharge, whether male or female; and a man who engages in carnal relations with a defiled woman, all of whose laws were given above.’ ”49