Leviticus 15:1-33 Shalom Sat 6/10/17

Our whole chapter has to do with the marital relationship, men and women, and re- lated things. This is termed "the flow of life fluids" by the Jewish Study Bible, recognizing that this has to do with the personal organs of marriage. There is a rather involved discussion concerning these matters in the rabbinic literature, and it speaks of these matters rather matter of factly. Our Scripture itself speaks of such matters as marital relationship in quite picturesque language, and makes no apolo- gies for so doing. However, we will try to remain discreet in our discussions. Leviticus 15:31 “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their un- cleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.” The bottom line is to maintain personal and cor- porate purity in order that a Thrice Holy God may remain, or abide, within the Camp of Israel. Why we do what we do is so that we can remain in intimate rela- tionship with God. It is to keep our hearts and minds in such a state that God can dwell there without a rival, and to keep our lives, our homes, our sanctuaries in like manner. We want ADONAI to be in us, with us, for us, around us, etc. This text concerns maintaining personal purity in the Camp of Israel so that the Mishkan might dwell in their midst without becoming defiled by their impurity. These impurities threatened first of all the status of the entire community if not ap- propriately handled. If not properly attended, the whole camp could become im- pure and render the Mishkan ineffective to deal with their impurities. The concept is that their impurities extended from their own tents to affect the purity of the Tabernacle itself. The very next text deals with the Day of Yom Kippur, which in part was the cleansing of the various vessels of the Mishkan from the impurities of the camp so that it might function for their salvation for another year. The primary objective of expiatory rites like the ones set forth in chapter 16 was to maintain a pure sanctuary. An impure, or defiled, sanctuary induced God to withdraw His presence from the Israelite community. Obviously, the greatest threat to the purity of the sanctuary came from the priesthood itself, whose mem- bers functioned within its sacred precincts and who bore primary responsibility for its maintenance. The sanctuary was also threatened by major transgressions of the laws of purity involving the entire Israelite community or by the failure of individual Israelites to attend to their own purification—for example, after cont- amination by a corpse. This occurred because such serious impurities were con-

- 1 - sidered to be contagious and thereby ultimately affected the sanctuary, which was located within the area of settlement. As long as impurity persisted, God re- mained offended, so to speak, and the danger of His wrath and possible alien- ation was imminent.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 99. We are then dealing with very personal matters concerning men and women, and their marital organs. Our text deals with both normal secretions and abnormal se- cretions due to infections. In both cases, it can make a man or woman impure. Our Mitzvot are directed toward "the children of Israel," v. 2, rather than the priest. Prior to this, we have the role of the priest in examining and determining Tzara'at. But in our present case, it is the individual's of Israel that are being addressed, and who must give care to the issues. literally "sons of Israel." Obviously ,בְּ נֵי יִשְׂרָ אֵ ל ,The Hebrew text is b'nei Israel from our text, this is a very general term, and includes both men and women. Whenever there is a man involved in the address, you will use this term. If there are no men present, then you may address the "daughters of Israel." In our present situation, it is the individual Israelite that must examine and determine the issue, and then carry out the proper cleansing, including the seeking out of the priest at the appropriate time. The Chiastic structure, a typical Hebrew way of expression, found often in the He- brew Scriptures, can be seen. A. Introduction (vv 1–2a) B. Abnormal discharges from a male (vv 2–15) C. Normal discharges from a male (vv 16–17) D. Marital Relations (v 18) C´. Normal discharges from a female (vv 19–24) B´. Abnormal discharges from a female (vv 25–30) A´. Concluding exhortation and summary statement (vv 31–33)

Typically, it is at the center point, point D in our example, that the focus is to be placed. In this case the Act of Marriage. Hegg made the following observations: A number of things can be gleaned from this structure that can aid us in its proper interpretation. First, the discharges spoken of are of two types: normal and abnormal. While these may be clearly delineated in one section, the parallel section may presume upon the structure to identify the type. Secondly, the pri- mary issue here is life versus death, emphasized by the fact that marital relations,

- 2 - (the means by which life is initiated), is at the center of the structure, and thus holds the prominent position in the passage. Bodily discharges may signal dis- ease--the presence of death. And even marital relations, sanctioned and com- manded by God ("be fruitful and multiply"), passes to the next generation the death promised to Adam because of his sin (Romans 5:12ff). Even in the initia- tion of life, death continues to be passed on. Yet God is the God of life, not the God of death. In this apparent antimony, as creatures who carry the fallenness of our race, we mingle death with life, and this puts us in a category opposite to that of God who is all life and no death. Impurity and death are bound together in the purity laws. In our daily living, we are constantly reminded that we are mortal, and therefore have no hope unless the Giver of Life comes to our rescue. Once again, our Halachah turns us to God and causes us to seek His salvation as our only Hope.--Tim Hegg, Parashah 86, p. 2. Leviticus 15:1-15 Abnormal Secretions from the Male In each case mentioned, if anyone touches what the man or what he has touched, or is touched by the man, they are unclean until evening, must bathe and wash their clothes, and then they will be clean. If the man touches an earthenware vessel, it must be broken, but anything wooden must be washed in water. In chapter 15 we observe, perhaps more clearly than elsewhere in Leviticus, the virtual inter-changeability of two conditions: illness and impurity. The laws here may refer to illness simply as impurity and to the termination of illness and the regaining of health as the resumption of purity. By classifying illness and disease as forms of impurity, the Israelite priesthood placed them in the realm of reli- gious concern. It was probably thought that impurity was contagious or, to put it another way, that the effects of abnormal discharges—and, to a lesser degree, of normal emissions and menstruation—were contagious. Impure persons were prohibited from entering the sanctuary. In stark contrast, it must be remembered that in all other ancient Near Eastern religions everything that pertained to sexuality had a role in cult and ritual.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 92. We have a description apparently of some kind of issue, usually regarded as affect- ing the urinary system, that can either cause a flow or a blockage in the man. The basic word used is the Hebrew or zuv. The most basic meaning is "to flow." bwøz (zub) flow, gush, issue, discharge. (ASV and RSV similar, except that RSV

- 3 - uses “discharge” in place of “issue.” ) bwøz (zub) issue, discharge. The basic idea is a movement of liquid, flowing from one location to another. The root is used only in the Qal stem. It occurs fifty-four times, including both the verb and noun. The word usually occurs in one of three contexts. 1. The movement of water in a stream, Water is said to have “gushed” forth from the rock struck by Moses in the wilderness (Ex 17:6; cf. Ps 105:41; Isa 48:21). 2. A characteristic description of Palestine: it is said to be “flowing” with milk and honey. This phrase occurs many times in the OT (e.g. Ex 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Deut 6:3; 11:9; etc.). 3. A discharge, pathological or normal, from the genito-urinary tract. With three exceptions, Lev 22:4; Num 5:2; 2 Sam 3:29, all usages appear in Lev 15. It is used in verses 15:2–15, 32–33 (verb eleven times, noun seven) to refer to a diseased “discharge” from a man (possibly including diarrhea); in verses 15:19– 24 (verb once, noun once) to the discharge of a woman’s menstrual period; and in verses 15:25–30 (verb once, noun five times) to an unnatural discharge of blood from a woman.--Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. yiyeh zav, indicates a flow that ,יִהְיֶה זָב ,The literal Hebrew of our opening verses continues to flow in the man. In other words, this is an ongoing problem for the man indicating something that is not normal. The Hebrew zav is a participle, and thus "one who is flowing." This is the sign of the problem. This is perhaps made worse when the flow can no longer flow when it becomes sealed up, or obstructed. The main point to be made here is this people had a careful and fully informed medical knowledge. Many people go to great lengths to identify some specific illness that would match what little our text provides us. It is best to simply leave it quite general, just as our text does. Our text in fact uses this same word zav whether dealing with the man or with the woman, while we recognize that we could be dealing with very different issues. The person who has the zav must be cleansed once again after the zav is gone, much like the Metzora of last chapter, and mark off 7 days, after which he shall bathe in water and wash his clothes. Then on the 8th day he must make the sacrifices again like the Metzora. Hegg likens the 7 days to the cycle of 7 festivals, which then leads to the 8th day after Sukkot, and a symbol of resurrection. Just as he noted with the Metzora, it

- 4 - is like one coming back to life from the dead, for the one kept away from the community of faith, and most particularly away from the Presence of God at the Mishkan, is now restored to both. While the washing is to prepare him to re-en- ter the Camp, it is the sacrifices that enable him or once again worship ADONAI at the Mishkan. We will note once again that the Zav must immerse in mayim chaim, living water. Prior to this verse, the one who touches that which the Zav touched, must simply bathe in water, and the stipulation mayim chaim does not appear. Even though the Hebrew verb rahats , “to wash,” has no direct object, as it does in verse 13 below, it is clear from the context that here the law requires bathing oneself completely. A good illustration of this usage is provided in 2 Kings 5:14. Naaman, instructed by the prophet Elisha to “wash” (rahats) in the waters of the Jordan, understood this to mean complete immersion, a point noted by Hoffmann.--JPS Torah Com- mentary, p. 94. This note is in connection to the one touching any object touched by the Zav, and not the Zav himself. Contact by carrying objects requires the usual severity. In rabbinic law, massa', “carrying,” is one of the major categories of contact that renders persons and objects impure. The other four are: magga', “touching”; moshav, “sitting”; mishkav, “lying”; and merkav, “riding.” Furthermore, rabbinic law carefully distinguishes between different levels of impurity. 'Av ha-tum'ah, “a primary cat- egory of impurity,” renders other persons and objects actively impure, which is to say, capable of transmitting impurity on their own. The second category con- cerns those persons and objects that are contaminated through such primary im- purity. Called ri'shon le-tum'ah, “impurity of the first order,” this category does not render other persons or objects sources of impurity.--JPS Torah Commen- tary, p. 94-95. Leviticus 15:16-18 Normal Secretions from the Male We now must determine if we are dealing with two separate issues here, or if all of this is descriptive of the Act of Marriage. Concerning v. 16-17, most identify this as a secretion apart from the Act of Marriage. The sense of Hebrew shikhvat zera' is “a flowing of semen.” As Ibn Ezra explains, this statement pertains to an in- voluntary emission of semen. In Deuteronomy 23:11 this is called mikreh lailah, “a nocturnal emission.” In rabbinic law, a person in this situation is called tevul yom, “one who is to immerse himself on the same day.”--JPS Torah Commen- tary, p. 96.

- 5 - Then we move on to the Act of Marriage in v. 18. We must note along with the JPS Torah Commentary, that which causes the impurity for the woman, is not the secretion from the male, but the Act of Marriage itself. We should be reminded that in preparation to meet with ADOANI at Sinai to begin with, the people were warned to consecrate themselves for the third day, they were to wash in water, and they were not to have marital relations, Exodus 19:10-15; 1 Samuel 21:5-6; 2 Samuel 11:4. We should note at least two things at this point: One, such procreation is com- manded by God and is fulfillment of the command to "be fruitful and multiply." Many suggest the issue is the result of Original Sin, the Fall of Man. Second, many of the false religions of the land of Cana'an involved the sexual act as part of their worship. The very act itself was greatly celebrated in these false religions. But in Israel, God is recognized as the Author of Life and of Fertility of the Earth, of the livestock, and of the people of God. That was to be separated from man's own act of procreation. Leviticus 15:19-24 The Normal Secretions from a Woman We turn now to the issue of , the woman in her normal monthly cycle. This passage is the basis of the sanctity of the Jewish home, for it contains the laws of niddah, and niddus, the monthly period when husband and wife may not cohabit. It is significant that this mitzvah is known as purity of the family. Just as the ritual that binds man and woman to each other is called sanctification, for Jewish marriage is an exercise in bringing sanctity to the human relationship that can most easily become an act of degradation, so the maintenance of this sanctity throughout the years during which the home is built and the future brought into the world depends upon the constant purity of the family and the partners who create it. It is instructive that Jewish women throughout the cen- turies took the lead, often at great personal sacrifice and hardship, in maintain- ing this purity, and thereby building their families on a summit of holiness. It was because of such devotion that Ramban could write that the climax of the Ex- odus did not come until the Tabernacle was erected, because it was symbolic of the holiness of the Patriarchal Jewish home. Unlike the contamination of a male discharge, which has virtually no applica- tion in the absence of the Temple and sanctities that must be kept ritually pure, the female discharge discussed in this passage still has the applicability of the niddah laws.--The , p. 103.

- 6 - Jewish understanding regards this niddah as a "little death." The reproductive or- gans have prepared themselves for pregnancy, and if that does not occur, then there is the dying off of the preparatory efforts of the body. This results in the niddah, and is thus considered "a little death." Hegg noted that this cycle is both prepara- tion for pregnancy and proof that the woman is still fertile. Thus this flow of blood is both a "little death" and proof that she can still conceive. When the woman begins the monthly cycle, she is unclean for 7 days, or as the JPS Commentary puts it, she will remain in that state for 7 days. She is a zav at this time, and remember that the word niddah basically means "to separate." The woman is to remain separate from anything that must remain pure for the duration of her niddah. Once again we are dealing with contact with the zav, the woman in her niddah. If you contact the impure person, or something the impure has touched, sat upon, slept upon, etc., then you become unclean. In most cases, the one who touches the impure person or thing is to wash himself and his clothes and be impure until the evening. V. 24 however, gives rise to some debate. When a man and a woman lie together during her niddah, the man becomes unclean for 7 days, like the woman. Howev- er, Leviticus 20:18 states that if a woman and a man knowingly lie together during her niddah, that both of them will be "cut off from among their people." Karat is normally something that ADONAI does, rather than a judgment carried out by man. Hegg harmonizes the two verses in that in our text, this happens unknowing- ly and in Leviticus 20:8 there is a blatant disregard for this text. Keil & Delitzsch also agree: The verse before us, on the contrary, refers simply to the possibility of menstruation commencing during the act of conjugal intercourse, when the man would be involuntarily defiled through the unexpected uncleanness of the woman. For our present text, the man is also impure now for 7 days, with the same kind of contact impurity for whatever he touches, or whoever touches him, or whatever he has touched. Now all of this begs the question, Did these ancient Israelite women have a sepa- rate area, a separate bed, chair, etc. for this time of the month? The means of returning to a state of purity is different for the woman. In fact this has generated some debate. Is the time of her impurity for the 7 days of the flow of blood, or is it 7 days after the flow stops? The prevailing halachah, according to Hegg, was that this time period begins after the flow had stopped. This would lit- erally mean that the woman had to observe a period of 14 days. The Karaites among other groups, maintained only the 7 day period. Our text does not specifi-

- 7 - cally state that the woman has to do anything at the end of her niddah. The pre- scription of 7 days for cleansing after the stop of the flow, followed by the sacri- fices on the 8th day are related to the abnormal flow and not to the normal cycle of niddah. Jewish tradition and commentary, based upon the foregoing requirements for the man, have established the necessity of a at the end of her normal cycle. Thus Chabad and other synagogues have provided the means for this monthly mikveh. In every other example of impurity for 7 days, the return to purity re- quires the bathing in water. As we have already noted, this is understood to mean a complete immersion, a mikveh. This can be debated, although many scholars actu- ally hold to the idea of a mikveh. Leviticus 15:25-30 The Abnormal Secretions from a Woman Now we move into that which is abnormal for the woman. The description seems to be much the same, just for an extended period of time. The Chumash made a distinction for the woman who would be a niddah during the normal monthly cy- cle, and a zav once the flow extended beyond the 7th day. Our text literally states "if a woman has a flow of a flow of her blood for many days when it is not the niddah." The Chumash: Only after those seven days can she become a . For at least the next eleven days, any discharge is treated as a zavah flow. Once those eleven days have ended, it is possible fore her to resume the status of a niddah. However, if she had become a major zavah - as described below in (b) - she can become a niddah again only if there were seven uninterrupted days with no discharge. Otherwise, she remains with the zavah status indefinitely - until there are seven "clean" days (). During the eleven-day period when the zavah laws apply, there are two degrees of stringency, as derived from this passaage: (a) minor zavah. If a woman has a discharge during the eleven day period, even if she discharges on two consecutive days, she may immerse herself the next morning, provided there was a cessation of flow before sunset. (b) major zavah. If she has discharges on three consectuive days during the eleven-day period, she is tamei until she counts seven consecutive days without any discharge, following which she immerses herself and brings her offerings.-- p. 105.

- 8 - We should be reminded of the woman with the issue of blood, Matthew 9:20-22; Luke 8:43-48. Here is a case in the Apostolic Writings of a woman who could be described as a zavah for 18 years! The main point of the text, is that her flow has extended beyond the normal 7 days. Others suggest any such flow of blood not connected with the normal monthly cy- cle. Just as with the male with an abnormal flow, the woman is to begin counting 7 days after the flow has stopped, then she can bathe in water and be clean. After the cleansing, she is to bring the two birds for sacrifices in order that she might return to the sacrifices and festivals at the Mishkan. We have already noted the slow restoration process. First, to be clean and able to enter the camp and return to fellowship with people. Second, to make the appro- priate sacrifices in order to once again approach the True and Living God. Since this is an abnormal flow of blood, this woman must offer sacrifices as part of her ritual cleansing. It is also instructive that the law requires a woman to make a sacrifice and that in cases of recovery from uncleanness caused by an abnormal discharge the sacrificial requirements for her full restoration to the community are the same as those for a man (vv 14–15). This reveals that a woman had significant standing in Israel’s cult and that she had access to the area around the altar for making an offering. While it does not say that she is to wash her clothes and bathe in water, these requirements may be assumed.--Word Biblical Commentary, p. 213. We come then again to our summary statement concerning all the Torah con- cerning impurity. The Children of Israel were to keep themselves clean, separated from uncleanness, in order that the Wrath of God not be riled up, and break forth upon them. To defile the Sanctuary, the means by which God ordained that He might dwell among His Chosen People was an act of defiance against the Torah, His teaching in Holiness. It is to disregard the Holiness of our God and the pur- pose of the Mishkan. ...to separate one’s self, signifies here deliverance from the state of uncleanness, purification from it. Continuance in it was followed by death, not merely in the particular instance in which an unclean man ventured to enter the sanctuary, but as a general fact, because uncleanness as irreconcil- able with the calling of Israel to be a holy nation, in the midst of which Jehovah the Holy One had His dwelling-place (Lev. 11:44), and continuance in unclean- ness without the prescribed purification was a disregard of the holiness of Jeho-

- 9 - vah, and involved rebellion against Him and His ordinances of grace.--Keil & Delitzsch. The word in v. 31 concerning keeping the children of Israel separate from unclean- ness, is the same word from which we Nazarite vow. This is the Torah for one with either a normal or an abnormal flow. In the subsequent development of Jewish religion, chapter 15 of Leviticus is best remembered for the limitations placed on sexual relations between man and wife during her menstrual period. The requirement that a woman bathe after her pe- riod has continued to be upheld by observant Jewish women just prior to mar- riage, and thereafter.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 99. Our interpretation of our text is vital for the women of our community if they are indeed going to be Torah pursuant. The practical expression of this understanding will have to do with whether or not we understand that a woman needs to immerse monthly after her niddah or not. As expressed already, the Jewish women of today are called to just such a practice by Chabad if by no one else. They are seeking to make a way for such practical expression of Torah for the women of their commu- nities. We must do the same for our understanding of what Torah requires. In following these laws of ritual purity a person learned to control sexual pas- sion. In addition, disciplined, moral expression of passion coupled with cleanli- ness in regard to discharges from the genitals had the by-product of curtailing venereal diseases and other kinds of illness that are sexually transmitted. In fact, the requirement of bathing for anyone who had become unclean by contact with any discharge, either directly or indirectly, promoted the general health of the ancient community. Good sexual hygiene increased the fertility of both males and females and fostered the birth of healthy offspring. Thus these laws encour- aged natural increase in the people of God. They offered very practical ways to promote the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham of numerous offspring, so numerous that their number would be greater than that of the stars in heaven (Gen 15:5; 22:17).--Word Biblical Commentary, p. 214.

There are 7 of the Traditional 613 Mitzvot contained in our Parashah: 15:2 PC 104 Zav 15:13-15 PC 74 Offering brought by a Zav

- 10 - 15:16 PC 105 Semen 15:16 PC 109 Immersing in a ritual bath (Mikveh) 15:19-24 PC 99 The Menstruant 15:25-28 PC 106 Zavah 15:29-30 PC 75 Offering brought by a Zavah While we acknowledge that there is no Temple today, and thus these purity laws are of none effect, the Jewish interpretation continues to require the mikveh of the woman once a month. This idea of maintaining purity is a complicated issue. However, since we are not approaching the Temple in that way today, it would seem to be a mute point. The issue as stated above, is to be able to approach God via the Tabernacle and later via the Temple.

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