''Tohorot'' () is the sixth and last order of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

(also of the

Tosefta The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''. Background Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, 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:'' (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 language, Hebrew: ''ṣāraʿaṯ''), #Name, variously transcribed into English and frequently translated as leprosy (though it is not Hansen's disease, the disease known as "leprosy" in modern times), is a term used in the ...

''. #''

Parah Parah () is the name of a treatise in the Mishnah and the Tosefta, included in the order Tohorot. The Pentateuchal law ( Num. ) decrees that a red heifer, "wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke," shall be burned and her ashes mix ...

:'' (פרה "Cow"); deals largely with the laws of the

Red Heifer The red heifer () was a reddish brown Cattle, cow sacrificed by Temple priests as a ritual purification, purification ritual in biblical times. Ritual in the Torah The red heifer offering is described in Book of Numbers, Numbers 19. The Tora ...

''(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 Tractate Miqwaʾoth (Hebrew: מקואות, lit. "Pools of Water"; in Talmudic Hebrew: ''Miqwaʾoth'') is a section of the Mishna discussing the laws pertaining to the building and maintenance of a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath. Like most of Seder T ...

:'' (מקואות "Ritual Baths"); deals with the laws of the

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

. #''

Niddah A niddah (alternative forms: nidda, nida, or nidah; ''nidá''), in traditional Judaism, is 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 ...

:'' (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 makes 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'' (ritual impurity). #'' Zavim:'' (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 of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

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, dealing with the impurity of the hands and their ablution. It is eleventh in the order Tohorot in most editions of the Mishnah. Mishnah In the Mishnah, Yadayim i ...

:'' (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

According to

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

, the traditional reasoning for the order of the tractates 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 ''Yadaim'', concerning impurities that are Rabbinic only. * ''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 the ...

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

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

is not in existence. The

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

only covers four chapters of ''Niddah''.

References

{{Authority control Mishnah Jewish ritual purity law

Order of tractates

See also

References