{"id":45242,"date":"2018-12-05T12:16:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T10:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45242"},"modified":"2022-06-30T12:48:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T09:48:41","slug":"sorry-but-were-getting-niddah-all-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sorry-but-were-getting-niddah-all-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, But We&#8217;re Getting Niddah* All Wrong."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[742,600],"acf":{"old_id":"45242","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33859,"related_cahpter":"105","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The laws of *menstrual impurity don\u2019t seem to be what the Author intended...","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a troubling irony in our modern treatment of the laws of impurity. On the whole, in the absence of the Temple, these laws are no longer relevant to everyday life. The one very important exception are the laws of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">niddah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, menstrual impurity, which remain in effect, defining and challenging the most intimate aspects of people&#8217;s lives to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But here&#8217;s the irony. If all of the laws of purity were still practiced, we probably wouldn&#8217;t have any problem differentiating between them, and maintaining as distinct the unique laws of each type. As chapter 15 emphasizes, not all impurities are created equal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But because <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">niddah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the last vestige of purity law, it has, over time, folded within itself aspects of other, more demanding types of impurity. This is troubling in a practical sense, causing the time that a couple cannot be intimate to extend significantly every month, and in some cases, causing serious challenges to bearing children. It&#8217;s also troubling philosophically, erasing a fundamental distinction between types of impurities that the Torah intends to make.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 15 makes this crystal clear. Four paragraphs, four different situations, the first two of men, the second two of women. The first and last paragraphs speak of impurity caused by an abnormal emission. These very clearly contrast the middle two paragraphs, which speak of impurity caused by a normal emission. The difference is seen immediately in the amount of text devoted to the abnormal cases, 24 verses, as opposed to only 9 which deal with normal impurity. More fundamentally, abnormal impurity requires a 7-day time-out of purity, and then the bringing of sacrifices to achieve atonement. Normal impurity just takes time, and a good cleaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As if to ensure that the banality of this impurity is not lost on the reader, the Torah finishes its treatment of the topic with a law which leaves out some very important information. If a man sleeps with a woman during her <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">niddah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> impurity&#8230;he too becomes impure. No mention of what the Torah will explain in three more chapters, that this action is abominable, and punishable by karet, and defiles the land, etc, etc. Within the context of chapter 15, the point seems to be- sometimes people are impure. Occasional brushes with small tastes of death are a fact of life. This needs to be observed, respected, and moved on from in good time, and without too much pomp and circumstance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In today&#8217;s practice of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">niddah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we&#8217;ve lost the natural, low-key attitude the Torah presents us, and the price we pay is high.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>illustration: Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":45245,"id":45245,"title":"niddah-main-1661","filename":"niddah-main-1661.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/niddah-main-1661.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sorry-but-were-getting-niddah-all-wrong\/niddah-main-1661\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"niddah-main-1661","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":45242,"date":"2018-12-05 10:28:57","modified":"2018-12-05 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