Skip to main content
Meaning in Mitzvot -
Lesson 113

Kedoshim - Nida (Ritual Impurity)

21.09.2014
Text file

In last week's parsha, we learned about the prohibition on marital relations when the woman has the status of "nidah" (a woman in her time of ritual impurity - Vayikra 18:19); this week we learn that this is a particularly serious prohibition, with the punishment of karet, a type of excision from the Jewish people (Vayikra 20:18.)

 

One profound approach to the subject of ritual impurity views tum'a (impurity) as a frustrated potential for holiness.  The paradigm of this state is a human corpse.  Such a body was only recently the abode of a holy divine soul; now it has reverted, sickeningly, to a lifeless carcass.

 

Many kinds of tum'a and ru'ach ra'ah ("evil spirit") fit this approach.  Since our potential for holiness is expressed in action, sleep is a time when this potential is constrained, explaining the ru'ach ra'ah present on waking.  Fingernails, when attached, are an integral part of the soul's abode; when detached, their connection to spirituality is severed, thus explaining the need to wash the hands after cutting the nails; the same insight applies to the need to wash hands after letting blood (SA OC 4:18-19.)

 

This approach applies with particular force to a woman who has her period or to a man who has emitted seed.  In this case, the lost potential for life is not only in the fact that part of the body has been lost (the menstrual blood or the seminal fluid), but also in the fact that in each case there is also a lost opportunity to create new life.  A woman usually experiences her period only if her egg cells have not been fertilized; a man's seed likewise embodies his contribution to the couple's ability to create new life.  So we can understand that nidah and keri (a male who has had an emission of seed) are not merely ru'ach ra'ah but rather actual tum'a.

 

And even if the woman gives birth or the man's seed results in conception, so that the potential for new life is realized and not frustrated, this potential is still lost to the person himself.  The newborn baby is vibrant with life, but this life is no longer part of the mother; the same goes for the new embryo, which is no longer part of the father.  So the above explanation extends to the case of the tum'a of a new mother or the keri of a man who had relations which resulted in conception.

 

We still need to explain the particular prohibitions that relate to each kind of tum'a.   Usually, tum'a limits entry into different areas of the Mikdash (Temple), and contact with sanctified food.  This is true even today.  Those who are lenient to visit the permitted areas of Har Ha-Bayit (Temple Mount) go first to the mikveh (ritual cleansing waters), and a Kohen (priest) who wants to eat challah (the tithe separated from all dough mixtures) from outside Eretz Yisrael must also immerse (Rema OC 457:2.)

 

However, the tum'a of nidah gives the woman the status of an "erva" – lit. "nakedness", a term which is usually reserved for a woman who is forbidden to a man due to a close family relation.  Such a prohibition on relations with household members is found in most cultures, and clearly distinguishes between ordinary family intimacy and more profound marital intimacy.

 

In a way, it shouldn't be surprising that a wife should be considered an erva.  After all, a married couple are also household members!  A periodic status of erva between the partners emphasizes that ordinary family intimacy must also be part of their relationship.  Of course, nidah applies to all women and not only to a wife, and this implies that any relationship of physical intimacy should be within the framework of a family.

 

The timing of this period of erva coincides with a woman's period of tum'a.  The marital relationship is meant to be one of intense spiritual intimacy, and any kind of tum'a can interfere with this.  For this reason, many men also immerse before marital intimacy.

 

By creating a period of time when a woman is considered an erva, a blood relative, the nidah prohibition teaches that physical intimacy requires a foundation of ordinary family intimacy.  And by limiting the time of physical closeness to the period of a women's purity, it teaches that marital union is meant to encompass a deep spiritual communion.

 

 

This website is constantly being improved. We would appreciate hearing from you. Questions and comments on the classes are welcome, as is help in tagging, categorizing, and creating brief summaries of the classes. Thank you for being part of the Torat Har Etzion community!