Tum'a: Metaphysical Pollution or Halachic Construct

This lecture was delivered at the Tanakh Study Days sponsored by Herzog Academic College, and is shared courtesy of the HaTanakh.com website. 5774

Tum'a: Metaphysical Pollution or Halachic Construct, by Rav Daniel Wolf. 

Dedicated in memory of Mr. Abe M. Shamah z"l, a man who lived by the principle of Torah im Derekh Eretz, a successful businessman who always made time to learn Torah, by Steven and Naomi Esses and family.

Is the state of “Tum’a” merely a post-Sinaitic halakhic construct, or is it something else, something that existed earlier? We focus on the passage of Yaakov’s instructions to purify the camp after his sons’ revenge on Shechem (in the book of Bereishit), as well as the “three days” before the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and the commandment about the Parah Aduma (Red Heifer), to better understand the concepts of Tum’a and Tahara. Statements of Haza”l, various midrashic literature, commentary, Targum, the Kuzari, and other Jewish sources aid us in our analysis of the Biblical passages and in our quest to define and understand Tum’a and Tahara.