(1) The Eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: (2) Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When any man has a discharge issuing from his member, he is unclean. (3) The uncleanness from his discharge shall mean the following—whether his member runs with the discharge or is stopped up so that there is no discharge, his uncleanness means this: (4) Any bedding on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and every object on which he sits shall be unclean. (5) Anyone who touches his bedding shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (6) Whoever sits on an object on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (7) Whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (8) If one with a discharge spits on one who is clean, the latter shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (9) Any means for riding that one with a discharge has mounted shall be unclean; (10) whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening; and whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (11) If one with a discharge, without having rinsed his hands in water, touches another person, that person shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (12) An earthen vessel that one with a discharge touches shall be broken; and any wooden implement shall be rinsed with water. (13) When one with a discharge becomes clean of his discharge, he shall count off seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in fresh water; then he shall be clean. (14) On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Eternal at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and give them to the priest. (15) The priest shall offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Thus the priest shall make expiation on his behalf, for his discharge, before the Eternal. (16) When a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and remain unclean until evening. (17) All cloth or leather on which semen falls shall be washed in water and remain unclean until evening. (18) And if a man has carnal relations with a woman, they shall bathe in water and remain unclean until evening. (19) When a woman has a discharge, her discharge being blood from her body, she shall remain in her impurity seven days; whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. (20) Anything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; and anything that she sits on shall be unclean. (21) Anyone who touches her bedding shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; (22) and anyone who touches any object on which she has sat shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (23) Be it the bedding or be it the object on which she has sat, on touching it he shall be unclean until evening. (24) And if a man lies with her, her impurity is communicated to him; he shall be unclean seven days, and any bedding on which he lies shall become unclean. (25) When a woman has had a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or when she has a discharge beyond her period of impurity, she shall be unclean, as though at the time of her impurity, as long as her discharge lasts. (26) Any bedding on which she lies while her discharge lasts shall be for her like bedding during her impurity; and any object on which she sits shall become unclean, as it does during her impurity: (27) whoever touches them shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening. (28) When she becomes clean of her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she shall be clean. (29) On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (30) The priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall make expiation on her behalf, for her unclean discharge, before the Eternal. (31) You shall put the Israelites on guard against their uncleanness, lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling My Tabernacle which is among them. (32) Such is the ritual concerning him who has a discharge: concerning him who has an emission of semen and becomes unclean thereby, (33) and concerning her who is in menstrual infirmity, and concerning anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and concerning a man who lies with an unclean woman.
“Cultic impurity bears no relation to modern notions of dirt and cleanliness. In the mishnaic system, only those bodily fluids that Scripture enumerates as sources of cultic contamination give cause for concern. These happen to include menstrual blood and other genital discharges, but not (for instance) urine or faeces, which to our way of thinking may seem far more ‘dirty’ than an emission of blood”
Wegner J.R. 1988 Chattel or Person? Oxford University Press; Oxford 1988; p. 242, n.251
Ritual impurity, by definition, is associated with those phenomena that are barred from the sanctuary [of the Temple]. Sacrifice, also by definition, involved many activities that – especially according to the priestly traditions – can take place only in the sanctuary. […] The two ritual structures of purity and sacrifice are virtually inseparable”
Jonathan Klawans Purity, Sacrifice and the Temple p. 4
היה ר"מ אומר: מפני מה אמרה תורה נדה לשבעה - מפני שרגיל בה, וקץ בה, אמרה תורה: תהא טמאה שבעה ימים, כדי שתהא חביבה על בעלה כשעת כניסתה לחופה
Babylonian Talmud Niddah 31b
R. Meir used to say: Why did the Torah ordain that a woman should be niddah for seven days? Because being in constant contact with her, he might develop a loathing towards her. The Torah, therefore, ordained: Let her be unclean for seven days in order that she shall be beloved by her husband as she was on the day of her marriage.
...Yalta presented blood before Rabbah bar bar Chana, and he declared it impure for her. She then brought it before Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Yehudah, and he declared it pure for her. But how could he do this? Is it not taught in a Beraita: If a sage declared [something] ‘impure’, his colleague may not declare it ‘pure’, ‘forbidden’, his colleague may not permit it. He [Rav Yitzchak] had at first declared it impure for her, when she [Yalta] told him that “He [Rabbi bar bar Chana] always declared ‘pure’ for me on [blood] like this, but this time he had a pain in his eye”. Then he retracted and declared it pure for her. But is she reliable? Yes, it is taught in a beraita: A woman is trusted to say ‘I saw blood like this, but I lost it’. They enquired: a [blood] like this Sage so-and-so declared pure. Come and hear: A woman is trusted to say ‘I saw blood like this, but I lost it’. This [case – i.e. in the beraita] is different because it [the blood] is not in front of her. Come and hear: For Yalta presented blood before Rabbah bar bar Chana, and he declared it impure for her. She then brought it before Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Yehudah, and he declared it pure for her. But how could he do this? Is it not taught in a beraita: If a sage declared [something] ‘impure’, his colleague may not declare it ‘pure’ etc. And we had said: he [Rav Yitzchak] declared it impure for her, for when she told him that he [Rabbah bar bar Chanah] would always declare ‘pure’ for her on [blood] like this, but this time he had a pain in his eye, then he retracted and declared it pure for her. Consequently: She is believed. Rav Yitzchak bar Yehudah relied on his own tradition.
“Yalta’s argument presents an allusion to Mishnah Nega’im 2:3, according to which ‘a Priest who is blind in one eye or the light of whose eyes is dim may not inspect leprous lesions, for it is written ‘as far as appears in the eyes of the Priest’ (Lev. 13:12). With this allusion Yalta is presented as suggesting that the inspection of women’s genital blood is modelled on the priestly inspection of leprous lesions. […] Just as in the context of inspection of leprous lesions, so equally in the context of the inspection of women’s genital blood: the inspecting rabbi should have perfect eyesight, which, according to Yalta, Rabbah bar bar Hana did not have on this particular occasion. The sugyah catapults Yalta rhetorically into an argumentative position in which she is familiar with mishnaic halakhah or halakhic midrash, and can replicate rabbinic knowledge. But she is presented also as making a creative halakhic argument, which is strong enough to convince Rav Yizhaq”. (Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva 2000 Menstrual Purity Stanford University Press; Stanford California; p. 121)
“Modernity also opened up new options for Jewish female sexuality. Jewish women began to have the possibility of being sexual subjects, rather than elevated objects of male desire. With these new possibilities came an enormous Jewish silence. No longer limited to the role of Temptress, Jewish women looked to their tradition for a more broadly defined sexual wisdom, but found little direction.
Some women became “free thinkers,” […] But the majority of Jewish women just quietly stopped going to the mikveh, stopped covering their hair, calves, and arms, and looked to secular culture to advise them about sexuality” (Litman, Jane Rachel 1997 “Sexuality and Ritual Purity” pp.188-196 in Lifecycles v.2 (ed.Orenstein and Litman) Jewish Lights Publication; Woodstock, Vermont; p. 192).
“Why do I observe niddah and go to the mikveh? It would be less than honest of me to say anything other than I do so because I am commanded”. (Greenberg, Blu, January 1980 “Integrating mikveh and modernity” pp.37-38 in Sh’ma; p.37)
“Tumah is the result of our confrontation with the fact of our own mortality. It is the going down into darkness. Taharah is the result of our reaffirmation of our own immortality. It is the re-entry into light. Tumah is evil or frightening only when there is no further life. Otherwise, tumah is simply part of the human cycle. To be tameh is not wrong or bad. Often it is necessary and sometimes it is mandatory”. (Adler, Rachel 1976 “Tumah and Taharah: Ends and Beginnings”pp.63-71 in Elizabeth Koltun (ed) The Jewish Woman, New Perspectives Schocken Books, New York; p. 64)
“Twenty years later, as a feminist Reform theologian I continue to be faced with an essay I wrote, an essay that continues to be quoted, cited, and reproduced, promulgating opinions and prescribing actions that I now cannot in good conscience endorse. […]
The only rationale the sources did not offer was the rationale that motivates all sincere piety, the one held out to men: that observing the commandments would make one holier and bring one closer to God.” (Adler, Rachel 1993 “In Your Blood, Live: Revisions of a Theology of Purity “ pp.38-41 in Tikkun Vol. 8, no.1; pp. 38-9)
“Some women in our congregation use the mikveh monthly”, says Cantor Jaime Shpall of Scottsdale [one of 5 Reform Congregations in the USA to have a mikveh], “but not in the Orthodox fashion. It’s a change of status – not from impure to pure, but from the ‘missed chance’ to ‘hope’. Many hope that immersing in the ‘magic waters’ will help them get pregnant. At 38, Cantor Shpall is immersing monthly with that in mind (Fishkoff, Sue, Fall 2008 “Reimagining the Mikveh” in Reform Judaism Online Union for Reform Judaism; http://reformjudaismmag.org/).
In the absence of the traditional ritual of purification, which entails immersion in a river or stream at the end of the impure period, Ethiopian Jewish women have had to find alternative solutions in Israel. In fact, the entire act of ritual cleansing is modified in their new country since the majority of women do not make use of the miqveh. [...]
In Amharic, the Ethiopian Jews make a distinction between flowing water and stagnant water. [...] Both women and men have declared that because the miqveh is not “running water” it is not fit to purify [...]. Therefore, even if there are no menstrual huts in Israel, there do exist purification facilities such as the miqveh, but the Ethiopian Jews are reluctant to use them and have accommodated their traditional ways to the modern technology of the shower.
Anteby, Lisa 1999 “’There’s Blood in the House’ Negotiating Female Rituals of Purity among Ethiopian Jews in Israel” pp.166-186 in Women and water (ed. Wasserfall) Brandeis University Press; Hannover
We reject its principal import as a tool of marriage and we open up other avenues for meaning…dip on Rosh Chodesh (the new moon)…open the mikveh during the day… turn the mikveh into a Jewish women’s learning center….”
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein ReVisions: Seeing Torah Through a Feminist Lens. Key Porter Books, 1998, p. 127-128
Since the niddah prohibition is directly linked to penile-vaginal penetration, there would be no particular reason to prohibit sexual relations between lesbian partners. It might be claimed that the movement between separation and reunion is so central to the ethos of Jewish sexual ethics that the Halakhah should be expanded creatively in such a direction. Women could choose to commit to such a practice of periodic separation as a spiritual practice or, given the absence of any formal prohibition, enjoy a sexual freedom not available to heterosexual women.
[...]
[...] a less than perfectly pious [straight] Orthodox couple who, for their own reasons, do not keep niddah are sinning more gravely than a gay male couple that abstains from intercourse. [...] Since the laws of niddah have been completely relegated to the personal piety of couples, it would seem very simple to do the same for lesbians and gay men. If we were to sustain the prohibition but relegate it to a ritual obligation between partners, a personal piety, then the whole issue would disappear from the public sphere completely. Rabbis would be able to conduct commitment ceremonies, and people could get on with their lives.
"Wrestling with God and Men" Rabbi Steven Greenberg p.245-6
A New Kind of Mikveh In New York City
Revitalizing the mikveh experience for a new generation of Jews
By Chavie Lieber|October 3, 2013 2:49 PM
It’s a humid September night, just days before Yom Kippur, and while the streets of New York City hum with their routine chaos, a dozen women duck into a quiet and inconspicuous brownstone.
Huddled in the lobby of a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, the group is greeted by two guides from Immerse NYC [1], a new program in New York City dedicated to enhancing the Jewish mikveh experience by promoting it as a tool for religious purposes other than marriage purity and conversions.
The women are assigned private rooms. Minutes later, they get to work; stripping, soaking, scrubbing and meditating before immersing in the mikveh waters to pray for new beginnings ahead of the new year.
The group, ranging from ages 24 to 54, is as diverse a crowd as Immerse NYC aims to target: women who, without this new program, would not necessarily be visiting a mikveh at all.
“There are many connotations around the mikveh: some people don’t know about it, and some view it in a negative way, while others have beautiful experiences,” said Rabbi Sara Luria, who launched the program in October 2012. “We are trying to say the mikveh is a pool, and we imbue it with meaning. There are enough barriers associated with the mikveh, and we want to lower those barriers and teach people they can mark a life experience in a Jewish way.”
Immerse NYC is modeled after Mayyim Hayyim [2], the popular community mikveh program in Boston profiled in Tablet last year [2]; it uses and adapts some of Mayyim Hayyim’s immersion curriculum, and is the first program of its kind in New York. Luria, ordained by Hebrew Union College in New York City, interned at Mayyim Hayyim a few years ago and recognized New York’s need for a pluralistic community mikveh program open to the public. Immerse NYC is hoping to build their own space one day—they currently borrow space from various local mikvehs for immersions.
The mikveh is traditionally used as a purification tool for women after their menstrual cycle, and for both men and women when converting to Judaism. Immerse NYC offers mikveh rituals to mark many life experiences, from childbirth to cancer, divorce, miscarriages, abortions [3], infertility, mourning, fatal diseases, and coming out of the closet.
They provide one-on-one sessions in preparation for the immersions, and so far Luria has trained 28 volunteer guides to accompany participants to the mikveh. The ceremonies involve seven specific “intention” steps, where a participant will focus on the spiritual motives behind the physical preparations of the mikveh, like showering and taking off nail polish. Once in the water, they have the option to have an attendant stay in the room and guide them through the ritual.
“We’ve created specific rituals for people, but most things are optional because the ceremony is up to the person immersing,” Luria added. “We really want it to feel like it’s theirs, like it should address their needs at the moment.” They also offer salon discussions about personal experiences at the mikveh, creating a rare dialogue about the Jewish tradition, Luria noted. Most women, she says, are not used to talking about their mikveh experiences.
“We provide a safe place to open the conversation and share experiences, knowledge, and challenge,” she said. “The education aspect of the program is especially important for women who would never otherwise be at the mikveh—we show them that it could really speak to them.”
Luria hopes the program will help break the negative stigma some associate with the mikveh. One Immerse NYC participant, a Reform Jewish woman who was abused as a child, said she would have never visited the mikveh otherwise, but that the program helped her use the mikveh as a healing experience.
Faith Brigham Leener, a 25-year-old North Carolina native living in New York City, is one of Immerse NYC’s volunteer mikveh attendants. She learned about mikveh laws in college from a Chabad rebbetzin at Brandeis University, and wanted others to be exposed to the same positive and meaningful perspective on the ritual. She sees the program as reviving an ancient Jewish tradition for a new generation. While the mikveh has always been part of Orthodox life, she noted, people could be educated that mikveh also brings with it deep rejuvenation.
“My hope is that people will re-imagine the mikveh, see it as a transformative experience to use in life, like prayer or Torah study,” Brigham Leener said. “For some people, you need something physical to feel spiritual, and if the body helps them make sense of the world, mikveh can be a tool to do it.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/147635/a-new-kind-of-mikveh-in-new-york-city?print=1