It is not that restraint is more sacred than release. It is not that release is more sacred than restraint. Sanctity arises when a person knows which is called for when.
In the mystical tradition we call this rhythm rutzo v'shov:
(יד) וְהַחַיּ֖וֹת רָצ֣וֹא וָשׁ֑וֹב כְּמַרְאֵ֖ה הַבָּזָֽק׃
(14) The creatures dashed rutzo v'shov/running and returning, appearing like lightning.
(ו) עשר ספירות בלי מה צפייתן כמראה הבזק ותכליתן אין להן קץ ודברו בהן ברצוא ושוב ולמאמרו כסופה ירדופו ולפני כסאו הם משתחוים:
(6) Ten Sefirot/capacities-Without-What: Their visage is like the look of a flash of lightning, their limit has no end. [Goddess's] word is in them, "rutzo v'shov/running and returning" [Ezekiel 1:14]. Like a whirlwind they pursue, before [Goddess's] throne they bow.
What do we learn about bodies, gender, and impurity in the following Levitical texts? How do these rules differ from pre-modern rabbinical "laws"?
(טז) וְאִ֕ישׁ כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א מִמֶּ֖נּוּ שִׁכְבַת־זָ֑רַע וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֛יִם אֶת־כׇּל־בְּשָׂר֖וֹ וְטָמֵ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (יז) וְכׇל־בֶּ֣גֶד וְכׇל־ע֔וֹר אֲשֶׁר־יִהְיֶ֥ה עָלָ֖יו שִׁכְבַת־זָ֑רַע וְכֻבַּ֥ס בַּמַּ֖יִם וְטָמֵ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (יח) וְאִשָּׁ֕ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשְׁכַּ֥ב אִ֛ישׁ אֹתָ֖הּ שִׁכְבַת־זָ֑רַע וְרָחֲצ֣וּ בַמַּ֔יִם וְטָמְא֖וּ עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ {פ} (יט) וְאִשָּׁה֙ כִּֽי־תִהְיֶ֣ה זָבָ֔ה דָּ֛ם יִהְיֶ֥ה זֹבָ֖הּ בִּבְשָׂרָ֑הּ שִׁבְעַ֤ת יָמִים֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה בְנִדָּתָ֔הּ וְכׇל־הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ בָּ֖הּ יִטְמָ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (כ) וְכֹל֩ אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּשְׁכַּ֥ב עָלָ֛יו בְּנִדָּתָ֖הּ יִטְמָ֑א וְכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־תֵּשֵׁ֥ב עָלָ֖יו יִטְמָֽא׃ (כא) וְכׇל־הַנֹּגֵ֖עַ בְּמִשְׁכָּבָ֑הּ יְכַבֵּ֧ס בְּגָדָ֛יו וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֖יִם וְטָמֵ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (כב) וְכׇ֨ל־הַנֹּגֵ֔עַ בְּכׇל־כְּלִ֖י אֲשֶׁר־תֵּשֵׁ֣ב עָלָ֑יו יְכַבֵּ֧ס בְּגָדָ֛יו וְרָחַ֥ץ בַּמַּ֖יִם וְטָמֵ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (כג) וְאִ֨ם עַֽל־הַמִּשְׁכָּ֜ב ה֗וּא א֧וֹ עַֽל־הַכְּלִ֛י אֲשֶׁר־הִ֥וא יֹשֶֽׁבֶת־עָלָ֖יו בְּנׇגְעוֹ־ב֑וֹ יִטְמָ֖א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃ (כד) וְאִ֡ם שָׁכֹב֩ יִשְׁכַּ֨ב אִ֜ישׁ אֹתָ֗הּ וּתְהִ֤י נִדָּתָהּ֙ עָלָ֔יו וְטָמֵ֖א שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים וְכׇל־הַמִּשְׁכָּ֛ב אֲשֶׁר־יִשְׁכַּ֥ב עָלָ֖יו יִטְמָֽא׃ {ס}
(16) When a man has an emission of semen he shall bathe his whole body in water and remain tamei/impure until evening. (17) All cloth or leather on which semen falls shall be washed in water and remain impure until evening. (18) And a woman who a man lies with and has a seminal emission with-- both shall bathe in water and remain impure until evening.
(19) When a woman has a discharge, her discharge being blood from her body, she shall remain in her niddah/menstrual separation seven days; whoever touches her shall be impure until evening. (20) Anything that she lies on during her menstrual separation shall be impure; and anything that she sits on shall be impure. (21) All those who touch her bedding shall wash their clothes, bathe in water, and remain impure until evening; (22) and all those who touch any object on which she has sat shall wash their clothes, bathe in water, and remain impure until evening. (23) Be it the bedding or be it the object on which she has sat, on touching it one shall be impure until evening. (24) And if a man lies with her, her menstrual separation applies to him; he shall be impure seven days, and any bedding on which he lies shall become impure.
(יט) וְאֶל־אִשָּׁ֖ה בְּנִדַּ֣ת טֻמְאָתָ֑הּ לֹ֣א תִקְרַ֔ב לְגַלּ֖וֹת עֶרְוָתָֽהּ׃
(19) Do not come near a woman during her tamei nidah/menstrual period of impurity to uncover her nakedness.
(יח) וְ֠אִ֠ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־יִשְׁכַּ֨ב אֶת־אִשָּׁ֜ה דָּוָ֗ה וְגִלָּ֤ה אֶת־עֶרְוָתָהּ֙ אֶת־מְקֹרָ֣הּ הֶֽעֱרָ֔ה וְהִ֕וא גִּלְּתָ֖ה אֶת־מְק֣וֹר דָּמֶ֑יהָ וְנִכְרְת֥וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֖ם מִקֶּ֥רֶב עַמָּֽם׃
(18) If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual condition and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow and she has exposed her blood flow; both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
The only mention of washing (not immersion) and menstruation in the Bible:
(ב) וַיְהִ֣י ׀ לְעֵ֣ת הָעֶ֗רֶב וַיָּ֨קׇם דָּוִ֜ד מֵעַ֤ל מִשְׁכָּבוֹ֙ וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ֙ עַל־גַּ֣ג בֵּית־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וַיַּ֥רְא אִשָּׁ֛ה רֹחֶ֖צֶת מֵעַ֣ל הַגָּ֑ג וְהָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה טוֹבַ֥ת מַרְאֶ֖ה מְאֹֽד׃ (ג) וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח דָּוִ֔ד וַיִּדְרֹ֖שׁ לָאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֲלוֹא־זֹאת֙ בַּת־שֶׁ֣בַע בַּת־אֱלִיעָ֔ם אֵ֖שֶׁת אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַֽחִתִּֽי׃ (ד) וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ דָּוִ֨ד מַלְאָכִ֜ים וַיִּקָּחֶ֗הָ וַתָּב֤וֹא אֵלָיו֙ וַיִּשְׁכַּ֣ב עִמָּ֔הּ וְהִ֥יא מִתְקַדֶּ֖שֶׁת מִטֻּמְאָתָ֑הּ וַתָּ֖שׇׁב אֶל־בֵּיתָֽהּ׃
(2) Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself. The woman was very beautiful, (3) and the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (4) David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home.
Water and niddah appears in a very different and non-gendered context in the Bible, immediately prior to the death of Miriam:
(ט) וְאָסַ֣ף ׀ אִ֣ישׁ טָה֗וֹר אֵ֚ת אֵ֣פֶר הַפָּרָ֔ה וְהִנִּ֛יחַ מִח֥וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה בְּמָק֣וֹם טָה֑וֹר וְ֠הָיְתָ֠ה לַעֲדַ֨ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל לְמִשְׁמֶ֛רֶת לְמֵ֥י נִדָּ֖ה חַטָּ֥את הִֽוא׃
(9) Another party who is pure shall gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a pure place, to be kept for "water of niddah" for the Israelite community. It is for purgation.
The Zohar explains why these purifying "waters of niddah" are described right before the death of Miriam is recorded:
(א) (במדבר כ׳:א׳) וַיָבֹאוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּל הָעֵדָה מִדְבַּר צִין וְגוֹ'. רִבִּי יְהוּדָה אָמַר, אֲמַאי פַּרְשְׁתָּא דְּפָרָה, סְמִיכָה לְמִיתַת מִרְיָם. הָא אוּקְמוּהָ. אֶלָּא כֵּיוָן (ס"א כמה) דְּאִתְעָבִיד דִּינָא בְּהַאי פָּרָה, לְדַכְּאָה לְמִסְאֲבֵי, אִתְעָבִיד דִּינָא בְּמִרְיָם, לְדַכְּאָה עָלְמָא, וְאִסְתְּלָּקַת מִן עָלְמָא. כֵּיוָן דְּאִסְתַּלָּקַת מִרְיָם, אִסְתַּלָּק הַהוּא בְּאֵר, דְּהֲוָה אָזִיל עִמְּהוֹן דְּיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמַדְבְּרָא וְאִסְתַּלָּק בֵּירָא בְּכֹלָּא.
(1) "They came, the Children of Israel, the entire community, to the Wilderness of Tzin" (Numbers 20:1). Rabbi Yehudah said: Why is the section of the [red] heifer adjacent to the death of Miriam? We have established it: it is only because a verdict was performed through that [red] cow to purify the impure; a verdict was performed through Miriam, to purify the world. So she departed from the world. Once Miriam departed, that well that went with the Jewish people in the desert [also] departed. And the Well departed in everything.
This article on Maimonides in the Jewish Women's Archives strangely chooses to frame the valiant struggle of our ancient mothers against patriarchal oppression and Maimonides horrifying response as a "Karaite" issue"
Living in Egypt amongst a large Karaite population, Maimonides at times fought against their practices. He specifically states that a menstruant (niddah) may hold a Torah scroll (MT Sefer Torah 10:8). He intensively battled against an organized revolt by women who refused to immerse in the ritual bath (mikveh) but rather, like the Karaites, showered instead. The revolt, which lasted a number of years, was very well coordinated and led by the women of the community, who would not heed any authority. Finally Maimonides decreed that any woman who did not use the mikveh would forfeit the money of her ketubbah. A widow or divorcée was required to swear that she kept the seven clean days and immersed in the mikveh or face monetary punishment. Maimonides instructed that the decree be read aloud in synagogue and that it would be binding on future courts (responsa 2:242).
Gender liberation means not only opening men's worlds to women but also opening women's worlds (carefully, thoughtfully) to men. Whatever is to be rescued in mikvah and niddah (if anything) must be applicable to people of all genders.
Ode of Girl’s Things [excerpt]
Sharon Olds
…And it turned out you shared some things with boys—
the alphabet was not just theirs—
and you could make forays over into their territory,
you could have what you could have because it was yours,
and a little of what was theirs, because
you took it. Much later, you’d have to give things
up, too, to make it fair—long
hair, skirts, even breasts, a pair
of raspberry colored pumps which a friend
wanted to put on, if they would fit his foot, and they did.
What is the meaning of tamei and tahor?
Rabbi Phyllis Ocean Berman
[I]n considering those moments in life when we are completely consumed by something -- a new baby, a new love-making, a new creative development, sickness, death -- we naturally separate ourselves from the community. Then we can concentrate on that which demands our complete attention. We are "tamei" during a time of intense concentration on one aspect of our lives and separation from the other aspects. At other times, we are able to focus on multiple concerns, balancing them all with relative ease. Then we are "tahor", able to hold multiple identities and tasks in and beyond our home and work lives. Both "tamei" -- that intense laser beam of concentration -- and "tahor" -- that balance that enables us to be in and out of community fluidly as appropriate -- are holy ways of being at diferent times of our life. I believe these are the real meanings of these two terms that have been so poorly translated, with so much damage in particular to women, for so many hundreds of years.
Rabbi Irwin Keller
Not Torah, Not Time, Not Community
But Leviticus doesn’t obviously mean these words as judgments, but rather as observations. If you read through, you realize that we spend more time being tamei than being tahor. We become tamei by what we touch. By having an unhealed wound. By having a lizard fall in the hot tub while we’re in it. By being in the proximity of death. Or even by having had sex with our partner – something Torah commands us to do (in its own heteronormative way). So saying that someone is tamei cannot be a judgment, since none of these causes is blameworthy.
Instead I might translate tahor not as pure but as spiritually available. A clear channel. And there are some things you only want to do when you are in that state of spiritual openness and readiness. If you are a High Priest of old and it is your job to bring the prayers of the people to God, you want that clarity; you want the flow of prayer to move through you unobstructed. Maybe there are other moments in your life when you want to be in that state. When you’re welcoming Shabbat. When you’re meditating. When you are making a solemn vow.
And I would probably render the word tamei, historically translated as “impure” instead as something like “clouded” or even “in the mix.” “In the thick of it,.” This is the state in which we mostly live our lives. We offer prayer, we think elevated and spiritual thoughts, but we also plan dinner and drive through traffic and witness suffering and go out on dates and change our children’s diapers and tend our sick loved ones. So many of these things, in Leviticus, risk rendering you tamei. And then Leviticus instructs you to immerse in water and put on clean clothes and let the day pass and when evening comes you are once again tahor – a clear vessel, open and ready.
