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15 [1] **The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: **
[2] **Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: Any man, when he has a discharge from his flesh, **the member, **his discharge is impure. **
[3] **This shall be his impurity with his discharge: Whether his flesh, **member, **emits his discharge **of fluid, **or his flesh is blocked from his discharge, **due to the fact that the discharge is thick and blocks the orifice, 26 either way **it is his impurity. **
[4] **Any bedding **or article of furniture designed for reclining, **on which the one who has a discharge lies, shall be impure; and any item on which he sits, **any object fashioned for sitting, **shall be impure. **In other words, any object designed for reclining, e.g., a bed or chair, is rendered impure by the use of the one who had the discharge, even if he did not touch the object with an exposed part of his body.
[5] **A man who will touch his bedding shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **The seats and bedding rendered impure by a *zav *have a severe level of impurity; in the terminology of the Sages, they are referred to as a primary source of ritual impurity. Like the *zav *himself, they transmit impurity to people with whom they come in contact and to the garments those people are wearing at the time.
[6] Furthermore,
**one who sits on an article on which the one who has a discharge sat, **even if neither he nor the *zav *touched it directly with an exposed part of the body, he too **shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **
[7] In addition to the impurity of vessels and items upon which the
*zav *has leaned, there is also the impurity of his own body: **One who touches the flesh, **any part of the body, **of the one who has a discharge shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **
[8] **If the one who has a discharge shall spit on one who is pure, **that individual who was pure **shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **Not only does the discharge of the *zav *itself, and his body, transmit impurity, but his spittle is also impure and imparts impurity. This category includes other emissions, the so-called founts of a *zav *, in the terminology of the Sages, 27 which also render one who touches them ritually impure.
[9] **Any saddle on which the one who has a discharge shall ride shall be impure. **Similar to items used for lying and sitting, articles on which a *zav *rides, such as a saddle, are rendered impure even without direct contact with his body.
[10] **Anyone who touches any item that was underneath him, **the *zav *, such as the aforementioned articles used for bedding, sitting, and riding, 28 **shall be impure until the evening, **as stated above. The verse adds: **And one who carries them, **one of these articles, even if he does not touch it, **shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **The two ways in which one can contract this impurity are direct contact with one of those objects upon which the *zav *leaned, or by carrying and leaning without direct contact, e.g., the sitting mentioned in verse 6. 29
[11] **Anyone whom the one who has a discharge shall touch when he, **the *zav *, **did not rinse his hands in water, **if the *zav *has yet to immerse himself from his impurity, 30 **he shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **The touch of a *zav *transmits impurity even if the flow of his emission has ceased until he immerses for his purification.
[12] **And an earthenware vessel, **which cannot be purified while it remains whole (see 11:33), **that the one who has a discharge shall touch, shall be broken; and every wooden implement, **and likewise vessels made from other materials, such as metal 31 **shall be rinsed in water, **it is immersed in a ritual bath and is thereby purified.
[13] The chapter turns to the purification of the
*zav *. ****When the one who has a discharge shall be cleansed from his discharge, **after he is healed, **he shall count for himself seven days from his cleansing. **These are the so-called seven clean days, in the terminology of the Sages, seven days on which one examined himself and did not find an emission. **And he shall wash, **immerse in water, **his garments, **those he wore when he was a *zav *, **and he shall bathe his flesh in spring water, **water connected to its source. 32 The requirement of spring water for ritual immersion is stated only with regard to a *zav *; in all other cases, the impure individual may immerse in a different type of ritual bath. **And he is **thereby **purified. **
[14] **On the eighth day, he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and he shall give them to the priest. **
[15] **The priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering, and one as a burnt offering; and the priest shall atone for him before the Lord from his discharge. **
[16] The chapter mentions another type of impurity, which is somewhat similar to
*ziva *: **And a man, when semen is emitted from him, shall bathe, **immerse **all his flesh in water, and he is impure until the evening. **The emission of semen from a man is a light category of impurity, which is unconnected to a disease, unlike the impurity of a *zav *.
[17] **Every garment and any leather skin, upon which there shall be semen, shall be washed in water, and it is impure until the evening. **
[18] **And a woman with whom a man shall lie with the emission of semen, **as both the man and woman participated in the act, **they shall bathe in water, and they are impure until the evening. **
[19] **A woman, if she has a discharge, **not like the *ziva *of a man, but **her discharge from her flesh being blood, **referring not to an illness but to the blood of the menstrual cycle, 33 **seven days she shall be in **the ritual impurity of **her menstrual state. **This severe form of impurity lasts for seven days, regardless of the duration of the blood flow during that period. **Anyone who touches her **on those days **shall be impure until the evening. **
[20] **Anything on which she lies in her menstrual state shall be impure; and anything on which she sits shall be impure, **whether or not she touches them directly. In this regard, the impurity of a menstruating woman parallels that of a *zav *.
[21] **Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **
[22] **Anyone who touches any article on which she sits shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **
[23] **If he, **a ritually pure person, 34 or a pure vessel, 35 or the aforementioned blood 36 **is on the bedding, or on any article on which she sits, in touching it he shall be impure until the evening. **
[24] **If a man lies with her, **during her menstrual period or afterward, before she has immersed, **then **the impurity of **her menstrual status shall be upon him, **due to contact with a menstruating woman, he has the same level of impurity as she does, but she does not actually transmit menstrual impurity to him. 37 **And he shall be impure seven days; and **also **any bedding on which he lies shall be impure. **
[25] Although menstruation usually occurs at regular intervals, with regard to both its appearance and its duration, a woman occasionally can bleed in a similar manner at other times.
**And **consequently, with regard to **a woman, if her discharge of blood **
[26] Consequently,
**any bedding on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be for her like the bedding of her menstruation **with regard to ritual impurity, **and any article on which she shall sit, **including bedsheets, **shall be impure, like the impurity of her menstruation. **
[27] **And anyone who touches them, **the vessels, furniture, or bedsheets on which she had sat or lain, **shall become impure, and he shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening. **
[28] **But if she was cleansed from her discharge, **when the blood flow ends, **she shall count for herself seven days, and then she shall be pure. **The counting of seven clean days applies by Torah law only to a *zav *and a *zava *, whose bleeding is considered a form of illness, unlike regular menstrual bleeding, as stated previously in the commentary (see verse 19).
[29] Furthermore, like the
*zav *, the *zava *must bring offerings to atone for herself and permit her to enter the Temple: **And on the eighth day, **after seven days clean without bleeding, **she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and she shall bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. **
[30] **The priest shall perform one as a sin offering, and one as a burnt offering; and the priest shall atone for her before the Lord for the discharge of her impurity. **
[31] **You shall separate, **distance, 38 **the children of Israel from their impurity, that they shall not die in their impurity, by their rendering My Tabernacle that is in their midst impure. **
[32] The chapter concludes:
**This is the law of the one who has a discharge, and of one from whom semen will be emitted, to become impure through it; **
[33] **and **the law **of she who is suffering with her menstruation, **at the time of her period, **and **the law for **one who has a discharge, for a man or for a woman; and **likewise **for one who lies with an impure woman, **whether she is a menstruating woman, a *zava *, or has given birth. 39
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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