{"id":45207,"date":"2018-12-04T18:22:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45207"},"modified":"2022-06-29T12:08:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T09:08:23","slug":"the-abominations-of-leviticus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-abominations-of-leviticus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Abominations Of Leviticus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[757,363],"acf":{"old_id":"45207","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"104","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Where do you go when there seems to be no contemporary relevance?","content":"

What can one say about a chapter that appears to be about as far removed from ordinary life as possible? That deals with circumstances and activities that are alien to our modern life and contemporary religious practice?<\/span><\/p>\n

Answer: See the Sages.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, this is the answer given to this implicit question by Rashbam (R. Shmuel ben Meir, grandson to Rashi) in his commentary at the start of the portion of Tazri`a in which this chapter is situated. He said:<\/span><\/p>\n

All the portions of human afflictions (<\/span>nega`im<\/span><\/em>); afflictions to fabrics and houses and their appearances; the accounting of their isolation; white hairs and black and gold hairs; we have no <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/em> [straightforward interpretation] of it nor any human expertise based on reality. Rather, the <\/span>midrash<\/span><\/em> of the Sages, their statutes and traditions received from the earlier Sages; that [alone] is the essence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following his prescription, one would look for answers in the 14 chapters of tractate Nega`im in the Mishnaic order of Taharot. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, if one preferred a modern anthropological interpretation, one might try Mary Douglas: <\/span>Purity and Danger, An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo<\/em>,<\/span>\u00a0(Routledge, 1966), particularly Chapter One: \u201cRitual Uncleanness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Briefly, Douglas defined impurity or uncleanness as anything that a particular society considered out of place or disorderly. In a chapter entitled \u201cThe Abominations of Leviticus,\u201d for instance, she defined kashrut as \u201cboundary setting,\u201d explaining, for example, that pigs were not kosher because they crossed boundaries, having cloven hoofs but not chewing their cud, as the Torah actually notes (Lev. 11:7). We can look for similar parallels in today’s chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":106055,"id":106055,"title":"-62bc1673dd88d--62bc1673dd88elev14-purtiy and danger.jpg","filename":"62bc1673dd88d-62bc1673dd88elev14-purtiy-and-danger.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/62bc1673dd88d-62bc1673dd88elev14-purtiy-and-danger.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-abominations-of-leviticus\/62bc1673dd88d-62bc1673dd88elev14-purtiy-and-danger-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"62bc1673dd88d-62bc1673dd88elev14-purtiy-and-danger-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45207,"date":"2022-06-29 09:08:03","modified":"2022-06-29 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