Ritual and Morality: The Ritual Purity System and Its Place in Judaism

by Hyam Maccoby

Book Overview

The book describes in detail the ritual purity system of the Hebrew Bible, and its development into the system of the rabbis. Certain human conditions require purification before contact is made with holy foods or areas. Recent scholarly theories (Milgrom, Neusner, Douglas) are discussed, and new theories are proposed for the origin of the Red Cow and Scapegoat rites. It is argued that the impurities concerned all derive from the human cycle of generation,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521495407
• ISBN13: 9780521495400
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"