Ritual and Morality: The Ritual Purity System and its Place in Judaism by Hyam Maccoby (PDF)

Description

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, birth and death, from which the Sanctuary is to be guarded; not because it needs protection from demonic powers (as in other ancient purity systems), but because of the reverence due to the divine presence. While the priestly code of holiness displays traces of earlier conceptions, its ritual has lost urgent salvific force, and has become a protocol for the Temple and a dedicatory code for a priestly people; the sources distinguish it from universal morality.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The book provides an in-depth analysis of the the meaning and purpose of rituals in Jewish morality. Without resorting to undue technicalities ( always a risk while dealing with matters Jewish) Maccoby is able to show what is still relevant and what is obsolete in a tradition which is so alien to Gentile mentality, both in the Christian west and in the Hindu-Budhist east, with its inescapable propensity to seek higher,more spiritual, values, as opposed to the “carnal” Jew’s resolve to remained anchored to the material and the concrete.Highly recommended for students of Judaism who have at least some knowledge of the core beliefs of that faith.

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