Tumah and taharah

In Jewish religious law, there is a category of specific Jewish purity laws, defining what is ritually impure or pure: ṭum'ah (Hebrew: טומאה, pronounced [tumˈʔa]) and ṭaharah (Hebrew: טהרה, pronounced [tahaˈra]) 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 ṭum'ah is said to be ṭamé (טמא‎ Hebrew adjective, "ritually impure"), and thereby unsuited for certain holy activities and uses (kedushah, קְדֻשָּׁה‎‎ in Hebrew) until undergoing predefined purification actions that usually include the elapse of a specified time-period.

The contrasting Hebrew noun ṭaharah (טָהֳרָה‎) describes a state of ritual purity that qualifies the ṭahor (טָהוֹר‎; ritually pure person or object) to be used for kedushah. The most common method of achieving ṭaharah is by the person or object being immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath). This concept is connected with ritual washing in Judaism, and both ritually impure and ritually pure states have parallels in ritual purification in other world religions.

The laws of ṭum'ah and ṭaharah were generally followed by the Israelites and post-exilic Jews, particularly during the First and Second Temple periods,^{[citation needed]} and to a limited extent are a part of applicable halakha in modern times.

The Hebrew noun ṭum'ah (טֻמְאָה‎) derives from the verb ṭamé (טָמֵא‎), in the qal form of the verb "to become impure"; in the niphal to "defile oneself"; and in the transitive Piel to defile something or pronounce something impure. The verb stem has a corresponding adjective, ṭamé (טָמֵא), "impure". Likewise the Hebrew noun ṭahara (טָהֳרָה‎) is also derived from a verb, in this case ṭaher (טָהֵר‎) "to be ritually pure". and in the transitive piel "to purify". The verb and noun have a corresponding adjective, ṭahor (טָהוֹר‎), "ritually pure". The word is a cognate to the Arabic word 'طهارة' ṭahāra(h) (pronounced almost identically, with the elongation of the second 'a') which has the same meaning in Islam.

Some sources, such as Samson Raphael Hirsch on Genesis 7:2, claim that the meaning is "entombed", meaning the person or item that is in the tame state is blocked, and not in a state of receiving holy transmission. Ṭahor, by contrast, is defined as "pure" in the sense that the person or object is in a clear state and can/may potentially serve as a conduit for Divine and Godly manifestation. Although ṭum'ah and ṭaharah is sometimes translated as unclean and clean, it is more a spiritual state than a physical one. Once initiated (for the physical signs that initiate tzaraath, zav and niddah, see below) it is generally immeasurable and unquantifiable by known mechanical detection methods, there is no measure of filth, unsanitary, or odorous affiliation with the state of ṭum'ah, nor any mechanically measurable level of cleanliness, clarity, or physical purity for the state of ṭaharah.

The noun form of ṭum'ah is used around 40 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible and is generally translated as "uncleanness" in English language Bibles such as the King James Version and the New Jewish Publication Society of America Tanakh. The majority of uses are in Leviticus. Though uses for national impurity occur in Ezra and Ezekiel, and Zechariah prophesies the removal of the "prophets and spirit of impurity (רוּחַ הַטֻּמְאָה‎) from the land", the adjective tamei (טָמֵא‎, "impure") is much more common. The verb form of ṭaharah (טָהֳרָה‎), the verb ṭaher (טָהֵר‎) "be pure", is used first in the Hebrew Bible is in Genesis 35:2, where Jacob tells his family to "put away strange gods, and be pure".

In general, the term tum'ah is used in two distinct ways in the Hebrew Bible:

In general, tum'ah in the sense of "ritual impurity" is prefixed by the letter lamed or lacks any prefix at all, while tum'ah in the sense of "moral impurity" is prefixed by the letter bet.