[Sca-cooks] Mrs Levy again

[Avraham haRofeh]

> > As I read the Old Law, yes. Touching something unclean makes you
unclean,
> > and then you will swell up and be dead until morning... oops, wrong
Cosby
> > bit. At any rate, there's lots of jiffy keen instructions for cleansing
> > after touching the Unclean- be it pork, misc. carrion, a menstruating
> > woman, etc. And then you have to go and get the priest to declare you ok
> > again...
>
> Do you have to pay the priest/rabbi each time he does this? Or do
> you pay an annual fee or something? I mean some of this sounds real
> difficult to avoid, especially if you are a women.

No. In fact, for most ritual uncleanlinesses, one does NOT need to be
"certified" clean.

Remember that a rabbi is NOT a priest; he is not an intercessor with G-d, he
has no real religious authority. The rabbi's authority is LEGAL - he only
interprets the Law.

Most ritual uncleanlinesses can be obviated by prayer, sometimes fasting,
and immersion in a ritual bath called a mikveh. There is no "fee" to use the
mikveh in most cases, but the community as a whole is responsible for its
maintenance and support. (And yes, in the modern world, there is often an
annual membership fee.) Women are required to bathe in the mikveh monthly
after their courses; men only need to visit a couple of times a year unless
they do something that makes them unclean.

Avraham

****************************************
Avraham haRofeh of Northpass
     (mka Randy Goldberg MD)
OBTag: Positive thinking: Believe everything positively stinks.