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Question for Jews who know history/OT?
- Thread starter Sam C
- Start date
I think you mean purifying water vs. water purification...in the Torah, there are several laws regarding impurity and how you can be purified.
Back then, there were a lot of ways of becoming impure: having leprosy from gossiping, being in the same room with a dead body, touching a dead body, touching something the dead body touched, drinking from a clay vessel that was open and in the same room that someone died in, going to a cemetery, killing someone in war, getting your period, touching someone who has their period, touching something a woman getting their period touched, etc. There are lots and lots more ways, I just can't think of them offhand.
It was important to remain pure, since if you were impure you couldn't enter the Temple and give sacrifices, which was a huge part of worship back then.
There were several ways of repurifying yourself, and most of them had to do with immersing yourself in water, called a mikveh. Nowadays, the only reason we use mikvehs is to repurify ourselves is after we get our period, since we can't have sex until we're pure again. (If you're curious, look into the laws of niddah.)
It speaks about this in the Bible in Numbers 5:1, but there are billions of other places it speaks about that I can't find.
Back then, there were a lot of ways of becoming impure: having leprosy from gossiping, being in the same room with a dead body, touching a dead body, touching something the dead body touched, drinking from a clay vessel that was open and in the same room that someone died in, going to a cemetery, killing someone in war, getting your period, touching someone who has their period, touching something a woman getting their period touched, etc. There are lots and lots more ways, I just can't think of them offhand.
It was important to remain pure, since if you were impure you couldn't enter the Temple and give sacrifices, which was a huge part of worship back then.
There were several ways of repurifying yourself, and most of them had to do with immersing yourself in water, called a mikveh. Nowadays, the only reason we use mikvehs is to repurify ourselves is after we get our period, since we can't have sex until we're pure again. (If you're curious, look into the laws of niddah.)
It speaks about this in the Bible in Numbers 5:1, but there are billions of other places it speaks about that I can't find.
i'm not sure wqhat you mean by whater purification, but i'll guess you mean thew immersion fo the self or a garment/instrument IN water to effect purification. on one hand, a person could easily argue that this is to rid the thing/person of germs or bactteria etc. but the impurity is a spiritual condition. so the water isn't about cleanliness, but godliness. we do it because it is commanded. currently, a woman goes to immerse herself in the mikveh AFTER she has bathed and physically cleaned herself. dishes that are dirty cannot be put in the ritualarium. this isn't about the physical but he spiritual and it exists today.
T
Tehilla V
Guest
I don't have long before Shabbos, so this isn't going to be referenced--sorry!
The mikveh is an integral part of every Jewish community. It's where men go to immerse before prayer, and where women immerse after they've completed their cycles so that they can have relations with their husbands. These are current, daily activities in the life of an active Jewish community, at least among the Orthodox.
In addition, a convert must go to the mikveh for immersion before they're halachically Jewish. And every dish, pot or pan I own must be "toiveled"--or dipped in the mikveh--after I buy it and BEFORE I use it.
The mikveh is an integral part of every Jewish community. It's where men go to immerse before prayer, and where women immerse after they've completed their cycles so that they can have relations with their husbands. These are current, daily activities in the life of an active Jewish community, at least among the Orthodox.
In addition, a convert must go to the mikveh for immersion before they're halachically Jewish. And every dish, pot or pan I own must be "toiveled"--or dipped in the mikveh--after I buy it and BEFORE I use it.