Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Aramaic Literature - Part 15 - The Mishnah

The final division of the Mishnah is called Tohoroth (cleannesses). It is divided into twelve treatises. The first treatise is Kelim (vessels, though the word is often used more widely, and can be the equivalent of the English “stuff”). The first thing that should be noted about cleanness and uncleanness, both in the Bible and in the Mishnah is that uncleanness is contagious, while cleanness is not. Causes of uncleanness are divided into two classes: fathers of uncleanness and offspring of uncleanness. Fathers of uncleanness transfer uncleanness to people and to vessels, while offspring of uncleanness transfer uncleanness to food and liquids.

The relative levels of uncleanness are spelled out in this first treatise. For example, the uncleanness of a woman that has a discharge (Leviticus 15) is considered to be less than that of a leper, while the uncleanness of a leper is less than that of “a barleycorn’s bulk of bone [from a corpse]” (Danby, 604). Of course, most unclean of all is a corpse, because of the sever uncleanness that it transmits.

Just as there are levels of uncleanness, so there are levels of holiness. Israel is more holy than any other land. Walled cities in Israel are holier than unwalled areas, because lepers must be driven out of walled cities. The Temple Mount, of course, is more holy still. The Holies of Holies is the most holy place on earth.

The treatise continues with specific definitions and directions for determining not only whether something has become unclean or not, but also as to whether it is susceptible to becoming unclean. For example, utensils of leather, bone, wood, or glass that are flat cannot become unclean. So a needle or some other such utensil could not become unclean. However, is the utensil is formed so as to be a receptacle, then it may become unclean, regardless of the substance of which it is made. The extensive discussion of this treatise makes the modern Jewish practice of having multiple sets of dishes more comprehensible; because there are so many possible ways for something to become unclean (the treatise covers almost fifty pages in Danby).

Following Kelim is the treatise Oholoth (tents). Interestingly, this treatise does not deal with tents per se, but in part with living spaces and how they may be affected by uncleanness, especially the uncleanness cause by a corpse. In regard to this, is is said that there are 248 members to a man (defined in Oholoth 1.8), and “each single member can convey uncleanness by contact, by carrying, and by overshadowing” (Danby, 651).

The concept of “overshadowing” is quite important in this division of the Mishnah, as that which overshadows is causes more uncleanness than that which is overshadowed. Thus the treatise Oholoth is literally rendered “tents,” but it also carries the connotation “overshadowing.” Hence, a corpse in a house, because the house overshadows the corpse, the corpse also overshadows all those in the house, causing them to be unclean. It almost seems that the concept of “overshadowing” is like that of the atmosphere. Since the uncleanness is in the atmosphere, is affects everything in that atmosphere.

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