Tohorot (tractate)

Last updated August 20, 2023

Tohorot (Hebrew: טָהֳרוֹת, literally "Purities") is a tractate in the Mishnah and Tosefta, treating especially of the lesser degrees of uncleanness the effects of which last until sunset only. In most editions of the Mishnah it is the fifth tractate in the order Tohorot. It is divided into ten chapters, comprising ninety-six paragraphs in all.^[1]

Chapter 1: The thirteen regulations concerning the nebelah of a bird, i.e., a fowl not ritually slaughtered; what quantity of such fowl causes uncleanness as nebelah, and what quantity uncleanness merely as other unclean foods; which parts are not included to make up the minimum required quantity; from which moment a head of cattle not ritually slaughtered acquires a lesser degree of uncleanness, i.e., that of ordinary foods, and when the higher degree of impurity, that of the nebelah; which parts are included in order to make up the minimum quantity for the lesser degree, but not for the higher degree (§§ 1-4); the mixing of different unclean foods to make up the required quantity—the size of an egg; cases in which, when the parts possess different degrees of impurity, the entire quantity becomes unclean either in the lesser or in the higher degree (§§ 5-6); parts of a mass of dough or a loaf of bread connected with or touching each other; how the uncleanness of one part affects the others (§§ 7-9).
Chapter 2: How foods become impure when touched by an unclean person (§ 1); how a person becomes unclean through partaking of impure food (§ 2); difference between foods not sanctified, those constituting " terumah ", and other sanctified foods, as regards their becoming unclean in the various degrees (§§ 3-8).
Chapter 3: Impurity of beverages when in a liquid state, and when they have solidified; which drinks acquire the same degree of uncleanness in the liquid as in the solid state (§§ 1-3); how unclean foods become clean by a change of the prescribed quantity (§ 4); the degree of uncleanness of a thing is judged from the condition in which it is found (§ 5); doubtful cases of uncleanness, when it is not known whether the unclean parts have been touched by the person in question; the difference between reasoning and unreasoning beings in such cases; cases in which it is doubtful whether an animal has transferred impurity from unclean drinks to foods (§§ 6-8).
Chapter 4: Doubtful cases of impurity (§§ 1-4); six cases in which terumah is burned because of suspected impurity (§§ 5-6); doubtful cases of impurity in which the sages declared the object to be clean; other doubtful cases in which the sages declared the object to be permissible (§§ 7-12).
Chapter 5: Regulations concerning various cases of doubtful impurity.
Chapter 6: Difference between private domain ("reshut ha-yaḥid") and public domain ("reshut harabbim") with reference to cases of doubtful impurity: in the former in all doubtful cases objects are to be declared unclean; in the latter, clean (§§ 1-5); different localities which are considered private domain with reference to the Sabbath, but public domain with regard to cases of doubtful impurity (§§ 6-10).
Chapter 7: Various cases in which a thing is rendered unclean by being touched by a person ignorant of the law (" am ha-aretz "): as such a person does not observe the laws of cleanliness, his touch is necessarily unclean. Cases in which one must suspect an am ha-aretz of having touched foods and drinks, although he, personally, may have had nothing to do with them. If, for example, the wife of an am ha-aretz is seen to attend to the fire in a stove on which a pot containing terumah is standing, it must be assumed that she, although attending to the fire only, has touched the food also; women being generally curious to find out what their neighbors are cooking, she would most likely remove the cover of the pot in order to discover the contents.
Chapter 8: Further regulations concerning precautions to be taken by one conversant with the Law (" chaber ") in order to protect himself against uncleanness caused by the touch of an am ha-aretz (§§ 1-5); what is to be considered fit for human food, thus forming a basis for the regulations concerning the impurity of foods (§ 6); further regulations concerning the impurity of beverages (§§ 7-9).
Chapters 9-10: Concerning olives and the pressing of oil; how they can be rendered unclean. Other regulations concerning cleanness and uncleanness, with special reference to wine-presses.^[1]

Tosefta and Gemara

The Tosefta to this tractate is divided into eleven chapters, and contains many passages elucidating the Mishnaic tractate.^[1]

There is no Gemara for Tohorot in either the Babylonian Talmud or Jerusalem Talmud.

Related Research Articles

Seder Zeraim is the first of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and the Talmud, and, apart from the first tractate which concerns the rules for prayers and blessings, primarily deals with the laws of agricultural produce and tithes of the Torah which apply in the Land of Israel, in both their religious and social aspects.

Tohorot is the sixth and last order of the Mishnah. This order deals with the clean/unclean distinction and family purity. This is the longest of the orders in the Mishnah. There are 12 tractates:

Keilim: ; deals with a large array of various utensils and how they fare in terms of purity. 30 chapters, the longest in the Mishnah.
Oholot: ; deals with the uncleanness from a corpse and its peculiar property of defiling people or objects either by the latter "tenting" over the corpse, or by the corpse "tenting" over them, or by the presence of both corpse and person or object under the same roof or tent.
Nega'im: ; deals with the laws of the tzaraath.
Parah: ; deals largely with the laws of the Red Heifer (Para Adumah).
Tohorot: ; deals with miscellaneous laws of purity, especially the actual mechanics of contracting impurity and the laws of the impurity of food.
Mikva'ot: ; deals with the laws of the mikveh.
Niddah: ; deals with the Niddah, a woman either during her menstrual cycle or shortly after having given birth.
Makhshirin:, the liquids that make food susceptible to tumah.
Zavim: ; deals with the laws of a person who has had abnormal genital discharge.
Tevul Yom: deals with a special kind of impurity where the person immerses in a mikveh but is still unclean for the rest of the day.
Yadayim: ; deals with a Rabbinic impurity related to the hands.
Uktzim: ; deals with the impurity of the stalks of fruit.

A terumah, the priestly dues, or more typically, heave offering, is a type of offering in Judaism. The word is generally used for an offering to God, although it is also sometimes used as in ish teramot, a "judge who loves gifts".

Demai (Hebrew: דְּמַאי, is the third tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. It deals with the Jewish legal concept of demai, meaning doubtfully tithed produce, and concerns the laws related to agricultural produce about which it is suspected that certain obligatory tithes have not been separated in accordance with requirements derived from the Torah.

Terumot is the sixth tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah and of the Jerusalem Talmud. This tractate discusses the laws of teruma, a gift of produce that an Israelite farmer was required to set aside and give to a kohen (priest). There were two kinds of terumot given to the priest: the regular heave-offering, known also as the terumah gedolah, which the Israelites were required to give to the priest from the produce of their fields; the other was the terumat ma'aser, namely, the gift that the Levites were required to put aside for the priests from the tithe which ordinary Israelites had been required to give to them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pesachim</span> Third tractate of Seder Moed

Pesachim, also spelled Pesahim, is the third tractate of Seder Moed of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the topics related to the Jewish holiday of Passover, and the Passover sacrifice, both called "Pesach" in Hebrew. The tractate deals with the laws of matza and maror, the prohibitions against owning or consuming chametz (leaven) on the festival, the details of the Paschal lamb that used to be offered at the Temple in Jerusalem, the order of the feast on the first evening of the holiday known as the Passover seder, and the laws of the supplemental "Second Pesach".

Hullin or Chullin is the third tractate of the Mishnah in the Order of Kodashim and deals with the laws of ritual slaughter of animals and birds for meat in ordinary or non-consecrated use, and with the Jewish dietary laws in general, such as the laws governing the prohibition of mixing of meat and dairy.

Parah (Hebrew: פָּרָה) is the name of a treatise in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, included in the order Tohorot. The Pentateuchal law decrees that a red heifer, "wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke," shall be burned and her ashes mixed with spring water, that the compound so obtained may be used to sprinkle and cleanse every one who becomes unclean. The burning of the heifer and the preparation of the ashes, as well as the fetching of the water and its mixture for sprinkling, were attended by strict ceremonies. The treatise Parah contains a detailed description of these ceremonies, as well as various regulations concerning the purity of the water for sprinkling and its different effects.

Makhshirin is the eighth tractate, in the Mishnah and Tosefta, of the sixth Talmudic order Tohorot ("Purifications"). This tractate contains six chapters, divided respectively into 6, 11, 8, 10, 11, and 8 sections, while the Tosefta has only three chapters and 31 sections. It treats of the effects of liquids in rendering foods with which they may come into contact susceptible, under certain conditions, of Levitical uncleanness.

Zavim is the ninth tractate in the Mishnah and Tosefta of the sixth Talmudic order Tohorot. It deals with the laws of the zav and zavah, based on Leviticus 15.

Tevul Yom is a tractate in the Mishnah and Tosefta; in most editions of the Mishnah it is tenth in the order Tohorot.

Yadayim is a tractate of the Mishnah and the Tosefta, dealing with the impurity of the hands and their ablution. It is eleventh in the order Tohorot in most editions of the Mishnah.

In Jewish law, ṭumah and ṭaharah are the state of being ritually "impure" and "pure", respectively. The Hebrew noun ṭum'ah, meaning "impurity", describes a state of ritual impurity. A person or object which contracts ṭumah is said to be ṭamé, and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and uses until undergoing predefined purification actions that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.

Nazir is a treatise of the Mishnah and the Tosefta and in both Talmuds, devoted chiefly to a discussion of the laws of the Nazirite laid down in Numbers 6:1-21. In the Tosefta its title is Nezirut ("Nazariteness"). In most of the editions of the Mishnah, this treatise is the fourth in the order Nashim, and it is divided into 9 chapters, containing 48 paragraphs in all.

Impurity of the land of the nations is a rabbinic edict stipulating a specified degree of tumah (impurity) on all lands outside the Land of Israel. The demarcation lines of foreign lands effectually included all those lands not settled by the people of Israel during their return from the Babylonian exile during the Second Temple period, and was meant to dissuade the priests of Aaron's lineage from venturing beyond the Land of Israel where graves were unmarked, and who may inadvertently contract corpse uncleanness and thereby eat their bread-offering (Terumah), unawares, in a state of ritual impurity and becoming liable thereby to kareth. The declaration with respect to foreign lands includes also the "virgin soil" of those lands, and was, therefore, a safeguard meant to prevent the priests from inadvertently transgressing the Law of Moses.

Chaber, chaver or ḥaber is a Hebrew term meaning "associate"; "colleague"; "fellow"; "companion"; or "friend". It appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, and is used in various ways in rabbinic sources.

Demai is a Halakhic term meaning "doubtful". The demai status applies to agricultural produce acquired from common people who are suspected of not correctly separating tithes according to Jewish law. As a result, one who acquires demai produce must separate some of the tithes himself, in case this was not done earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handwashing in Judaism</span> Jewish ritual of purifying ones hands by washing them

Jewish law and custom prescribe ritual hand washing in a number of situations. This practice is generally known by the Hebrew term נטילת ידיים‎, which literally means taking up of the hands.

Corpse uncleanness is a state of ritual uncleanness described in Jewish halachic law. It is the highest grade of uncleanness, or defilement, and is contracted by having either directly or indirectly touched, carried or shifted a dead human body, or after having entered a roofed house or chamber where the corpse of a Jew is lying.

Tractate Eduyot is the seventh tractate in the order Nezikin of the Mishnah.

References

1 2 3 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "ṬOHOROT". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Retrieved August 16, 2013.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Jewish-1] 1 2 3 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "ṬOHOROT". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Retrieved August 16, 2013.

[1]

Tohorot (tractate)

Contents

Contents

Tosefta and Gemara

Related Research Articles

References