Book contents
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcriptions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Part I Setting the Stage
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Disease
- The Soul: From the Table to the Grave
- Mating
- 9 Sexual Pollutions: The Moralized Body
- 10 Gender Fluidity and the Danger of Leaky Manhood
- 11 Did Women Need to Wash?
- Part III Images, Codes and Discourse
- Works Cited
- Index of Biblical Sources
- Index of Selected Ancient Near Eastern Sources
- Index of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature Sources
- Subject Index
11 - Did Women Need to Wash?
from Mating
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2021
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew Bible
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcriptions and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Part I Setting the Stage
- Part II Embodying Pollution through the Life Cycle
- Disease
- The Soul: From the Table to the Grave
- Mating
- 9 Sexual Pollutions: The Moralized Body
- 10 Gender Fluidity and the Danger of Leaky Manhood
- 11 Did Women Need to Wash?
- Part III Images, Codes and Discourse
- Works Cited
- Index of Biblical Sources
- Index of Selected Ancient Near Eastern Sources
- Index of Rabbinic and Second Temple Literature Sources
- Subject Index
Summary
In Chapter 9, it was argued that a primary mechanism by which pollution irrupts into the social sphere is through purity praxis. In this chapter, we will examine how biblical purity rites and regulations manifest subtle aspects of gender relations in ancient Israel. At first glance, P’s dry instructions, lacking rhetorical embellishments, appear to provide a direct window into praxis. Yet, as scholars have pointed out, the text is hardly equivalent to a firsthand observation of ritual performance. Fortunately, in the present case, this drawback turns to our advantage, since subtle indications in the textualization of rituals – what is said, and even more importantly, what is not said – can divulge key insights into the gender concerns that have shaped these texts.
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- Purity and Pollution in the Hebrew BibleFrom Embodied Experience to Moral Metaphor, pp. 225 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021