Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Aramaic Literature - Part 16 - The Mishnah

Following Oholoth in Tohoroth is the treatise Negaim (leprosy signs, literally plagues), based on Leviticus 13-14. As with many other treatises of the Mishnah, this one takes the Biblical material as a foundation, then through thorough discussion examines all the questions and issues raised out of the Biblical material. It should be noted here that the Hebrew word translated “leprosy” does not specifically refer to the modern disease known as leprosy (Hansen’s disease) but can refer to a variety of skin ailments such as psoriasis and eczema, as well as various types of mold and mildew that affect houses and clothing. This treatise gives much more specific detail not only regarding the diagnosis of leprosy, but also to its treatment and resolution.

The next treatise is called Parah (the red heifer). This is based on the regulations for the red heifer in Num 19:1-22. The actual use of the red heifer is summarized by Danby as follows: It was “to be burnt, its ashes collected together and laid up ‘without the camp in a clean place’. These ashes are to be mixed with water. This water is called throughout the Mishnah ‘the Water of the Sin-Offering.’ If men or utensils contracted ‘corpse uncleanness’ this ‘Sin-offering water’ must be sprinkled on them on the third and seventh days; they must afterwards be immersed and at sunset they become clean. It is inferred that the ‘Sin-offering water’ requires conditions of cleanness a grade higher even than is required for Hallowed Things” (Danby, 697, fn 3).

In later Jewish tradition, this red heifer has achieved a unique status due to its absolute rarity. According to Jewish tradition, only nine red heifers were slaughtered in the period from Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70. “Moses prepared the first, Ezra prepared the second, and five were prepared after Ezra. So R. Meir. But the Sages say: Seven since Ezra. And who prepared them? Simeon the Just and Johanan the High Priest prepared two each, and Eliehoenai the son of Hakkof and Hanamel the Egyptian and Ishmael the son of Piabi prepared one each” (Parah 3.5). With the establishment of modern Israel in 1948, and the eschatological reflections of both modern dispensationalist Christians, and messiah-expecting Jews, interest in the red heifer has soared in recent years. A Google search of the phrase brings up some 159,000 sites where the red heifer is referred to, including a PBS “Frontline” show, and an article in National Review. However, there’s probably not much profit in joining the speculations about the arrival of the next red heifer.

The next treatise is called Tohoroth (cleannesses); though Danby observes that here the term is used euphemistically for uncleannesses (p. 714, fn 3). The primary subject here is the causes of uncleanness in foods and liquids. About twenty pages of detailed instructions appear in Danby’s rendering of this treatise. At the very least, it makes clear the concern that Judaism inculcated for the proper preservation and storage of food and drink. In part it was due to these cleanness laws the Jews for the most part escaped the devastating effects of the Black Death in medieval Europe. Of course the fact that relatively few Jews died from the Black Death convinced early conspiracy theorists that the Black Death was caused by Jews.

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