''Tohorot'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: טָהֳרוֹת, literally "Purities") is the sixth and last order of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tora ...

(also of the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

). This order deals with the clean/unclean distinction and family purity. This is the longest of the orders in the Mishnah. There are 12 tractates: #''

Keilim ''Keilim ''or ''Kelim'' ( he, כֵּלִים, literally "Vessels") is the first tractate in the Order of Tohorot in the Mishnah. It contains thirty chapters, making it the longest tractate in the entire Mishnah. The Tosefta on Keilim consists o ...

:'' (כלים "Vessels"); deals with a large array of various utensils and how they fare in terms of purity. 30 chapters, the longest in the Mishnah. #'' Oholot:'' (אוהלות "Tents"); deals with the uncleanness from a corpse and its peculiar property of defiling people or objects either by the latter "tenting" over the corpse, or by the corpse "tenting" over them, or by the presence of both corpse and person or object under the same roof or tent. #'' Nega'im:'' (נגעים "Plagues"); deals with the laws of the ''

tzaraath ''Tzaraath'' (Hebrew צָרַעַת ''ṣāraʿaṯ''), variously transcribed into English and frequently mistranslated as leprosy, describes various ritually unclean disfigurative conditions of the skin, hair of the beard and head, clothing ma ...

''. #'' Parah:'' (פרה "Cow"); deals largely with the laws of the Red Heifer ''(Para Adumah)''. #'' Tohorot:'' (טהרות "Purities"); deals with miscellaneous laws of purity, especially the actual mechanics of contracting impurity and the laws of the impurity of food. #'' Mikva'ot:'' (מקואות "Ritual Baths"); deals with the laws of the

mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or ( Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...

. #''

Niddah Niddah (or nidah; he, נִדָּה), in traditional Judaism, describes a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood (most commonly during menstruation), or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirem ...

:'' (נידה "Separation"); deals with the

, a woman either during her

menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eg ...

or shortly after having given birth. #'' Makhshirin:'' (מכשירין "Preliminary acts of preparation"), the liquids that make food susceptible to ''

tumah In Jewish law, ''ṭumah'' (, ) and ''ṭaharah'' (, ) are the state of being ritually "impure" and "pure", respectively. The Hebrew noun ''ṭum'ah'', meaning "impurity", describes a state of ritual impurity. A person or object which contracts ' ...

'' (ritual impurity). #''

Zavim Zavim is the ninth tractate in the Mishnah and Tosefta of the sixth Talmudic order Tohorot. It deals with the laws of the zav and zavah In Jewish ritual law, a ''zavah'' (Hebrew זבה, lit. "one whoe bodyflows") is a woman who has had vaginal ...

:'' (זבים "Flows"); deals with the laws of a person who has had abnormal genital discharge. #'' Tevul Yom:'' (טבול יום "Immersed

n that N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

day") deals with a special kind of impurity where the person immerses in a

but is still unclean for the rest of the day. #''

Yadayim Yadayim (Hebrew: ידיים, "hands") is a tractate of the Mishnah and the Tosefta The Tosefta ( Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of t ...

:'' (ידיים "Hands"); deals with a Rabbinic impurity related to the hands. #'' Uktzim:'' (עוקצים "Stalks"); deals with the impurity of the stalks of fruit.

Order of tractates

The traditional reasoning for the order of the tractates (according to

Rambam Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

) is as follows. ''Kelim'' is first as it introduces the levels of impurity, and dictates to which object the various impurities apply at all. ''Oholot'' follows because it outlines the most serious type of impurity. ''Negaim'' follows because it is next in severity and because, like a corpse, a ''metzorah'' transmits tent-impurity. ''Parah'' follows as it outlines the purification for the severe impurities already dealt with. The next stage is lesser impurities (''Tohorot'') and their method of purification which is immersion (''Mikvaot''). ''Niddah'' follows as it is also a lesser impurity but it has the extra feature of applying to only a portion of people (i.e. to women). ''Makshirin'', ''Zavim'' and ''Tevul Tom'' follow ''Niddah'' based on Scriptural order. The next stage down is impurities that are Rabbinic only (''Yadaim''). Finally, ''Uktzin'' is last as it is restricted and has no Scriptural source, the laws being derived from the reasoning of the Sages. The

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

on the other hand observed that the tractates are arranged in order of decreasing length. There is a Babylonian Gemara on only ''Niddah''. This is because most of the other laws of purity do not apply when the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

is not in existence. The

Talmud Yerushalmi The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

(Jerusalem Talmud) only covers four chapters of ''Niddah''.

References

{{Authority control Mishnah

Order of tractates

See also

References