SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH...
A series of articles on Beit HaMikdash-related topics
by Catriel Sugarman

The Lower Levels of Impurity - the Zav

In last week's TT (662), we noted that there are two categories of Tum'ah, impurity. One form, called in the language of the Sages Tum'at HaKedushot ("spiritual impurity") or Tum'at HaNefashot ("impurity of the soul"), is engendered by illicit sexual relationships or the consumption of forbidden foods. The second category of Tum'ah is called Tum'at HaGeviot, "bodily or ritual impurity". We recalled the Malbim's comment based on the Sifra, Shemini, Parsha 5:106, "The opposite of Tum'at HaNefashot is holiness... the opposite of Tum'at HaGeviot is Tohara, ritual purity".

We noted that it was not sinful to be Tamei - to be in a state of ritual impurity. On the contrary, it may be meritorious (e.g. going to a funeral) or even a Mitzva (e.g. if a neglected corpse was found unburied, even a Kohein Gadol was required to violate ritual purity and immediately attend to its burial, Nazir 7:1). Therefore under normal conditions, it was not unlawful for a Yisrael to be defiled with Tum'at Meit (corpse-impurity, the most virulent form of Tum'ah), or for a Kohein to be defiled with one of the lower forms of impurity. However it was sinful if the Kohein or Yisrael entered the Mikdash complex or ate Kodashim (e.g. sacrificial meat) while Tamei. Since Tum'at HaGeviot is not a contamination of the soul, the Kohein or Yisrael who is ritually impure can remove it by undergoing the proper rite of purification.

If Kohanim/Yisraelim / men/women did not undergo purification for any reason, they were excluded from the Mikdash complex and were proscribed from eating Kodashim until they did. Some who were "infected" with a more severe form of Tum'at HaGeviot such as a Zav, (the man who experienced certain unusual seminal emissions)a Zava, (a woman who had abnormal Nida-like bleeding after the conclusion of her normal menstrual period), a Nida and a Yoledet (the parturient), were excluded from Har HaBayit.

A Metzora, "leper", was excluded from Jerusalem and other walled cities altogether (Keilim 1:7). "A T'mei Meit was permitted to enter the Levitical camp and they said this not only about the T'mei Meit, but even about the dead body itself, for it is said, 'and Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him' (Sh'mot 13:19). 'With him' implies within his area" (Pesachim 67a). Since Moshe was a Levi, he kept the bones of Yosef "with him" in the area of the camp where the Leviyim lived. Centuries later, the term "Levitical Camp" was "translated" in "Mikdash-terms" as signifying Har HaBayit. For this reason, the Sages allowed entry to Har HaBayit to a Yisrael who was contaminated with Tum'at Meit and even to a corpse. And Har HaBayit was an area where those bearing a lesser form of impurity - Zav,Zava, Nida, and Metzora - were barred from entering (Keilim 1:8)!

Aside from Tum'at Meit (acquired by coming into contact with a corpse, being in the same room as a corpse, coming into contact with a grave, etc.), there are eleven lower forms of Tum'at HaGeviot, ritual impurity. 6 are emitted by a living Yisrael.

ZAV - "Any man who will have a discharge (abnormal seminal emissions) from his flesh… " (Vayikra 15:2,3,13-15). If a man is afflicted with two such seminal issues on one day or once on two consecutive days, halachically he becomes a Zav, a "father of impurity", and is capable of rendering people, vessels and food impure.If and when his condition improved and he no longer had this condition, he had to count seven "clean days" i.e. days when he inspected himself and his clothing thoroughly and was able to visually certify that for seven days his aberrant condition had ceased. On the evening of the seventh day he was required to immerse"himself and his clothing in living water" - i.e. flowing spring water. The Zav was the only Tamei who required actual flowing spring water for his immersion; immersion in a Mikveh was not sufficient.

The Sifra comments, "…the Zav (requires immersion) in 'living water', the Metzora does not require (immersion) in living water (Metzora, Parsha 5:151). After the sun set, he could eat Kodashim and on the morrow, he could enter the Mikdash compound. But if he noticed three abnormal issues of semen in one day, or in two days or one issue of semen for three consecutive days, he counted the required "seven clean days", immersed "himself and his clothing in living water", and then became a Mechusar Kapara. On the eighth day he brought to the Mikdash either two turtle doves or young pigeons, one for a Chatat and the other for an Olah. The Mishna reads, "There is no difference between the Zav who makes two observations - and notices marks of an abnormal seminal flow - the Zav who makes three observations - and notices marks of an abnormal seminal flow - except in the matter of the sacrifice" (Megila 1:7)

The Sifra derived a very important halacha from the pasuk, "Whomever the Zav touches without having rinsed his hands in the water, shall immerse his garments and immerse himself in the water, and he remains impure until the evening" (Vayikra 15:11). The Torah says "rinsing of hands" instead of immersion to teach us that only the external 'revealed' parts of the body (e.g. skin, hair) must be immersed, not the "hidden parts" (Metzora, Parsha 2:142). The Malbim comments, "…only visible parts of the body such as hands must be immersed, not the hidden areas - i.e. a person immersing does not have to open his mouth and admit water to "purify" his tongue. The Gemara interpreted the pasuk, "'...and he shall bathe his flesh in water' (Vayikra 15:13), just as the (body's) flesh is exposed, so must (everything that requires contact with water) be exposed" (Kidushin 25a).

The Sages concluded that this halacha applied not only to the Zav but to anyone who required immersion.
I found a fascinating Vayikra Rabba (18:1) which contends that ZIVA (the physiological condition that the Zav has), like Tzara'at, was not an ordinary medical condition. Vayikra Rabba postulates that Ziva like Tzara'at is an extraordinary punishment from On High for specific spiritual deficiencies and sins. Vayikra Rabba reads, "'Remember then thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the evil days come…' (Kohelet 12:1). ("The evil days") refer to old age. If a man sins in his youth, he is stricken with Tzara'at and Zivah…" The Midrash compares Tzara'at with Ziva which means that according to the Midrash, Ziva falls into the same category as Tzara'at, i.e., a sin-caused chastisement from On High. Torah Shleima, commenting on this Midrash, applies to these young transgressors a vivid pasuk in Havakuk 1:7, "…their law and their majesty proceed from themselves". Because of their unbridled arrogance, instead of observing Torah law, they create their own law and as a result, "they are punished with Zivut and Tzara'at." <to be continued>

Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrims Prospective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service