Purity in Ancient Judaism: Texts, Contexts, and Concepts

Doering, Lutz; Frey, Jörg; von Bartenwerffer, Laura

Abstract

Purity plays a central role in ancient Judaism. It is relevant in the encounter with the sacred, especially at the Jerusalem Temple but also in the context of sacred communities, for example the Qumran yaḥad. Ancients Jews, however, also strove for purity far away from the Temple, both in the Land of Israel remote from Jerusalem and in the Diaspora. Yet, means, procedures, and conceptualizations in relation to purity and purification varied. While purity therefore seems to be “everywhere” in ancient Judaism, it is not everywhere the same. The present volume explores different texts and material evidence in relation to purity, impurity, and purification, from both the historic land of Israel and the Diaspora. It adduces comparative evidence from Greece, probes and refines concepts of moral and ritual im/purity, and traces the relevance of purity debates into nascent Christianity.