"Unclean! Unclean"

[Edwin1961]

It seems interesting to look at the Jewish proposal of people being ‘unclean’.

Jesus would have been considered, ‘unclean’ because of:

The curring of the 10 lepers
The hemorrage woman touching him
Those are the two that come to mind at the moment.

AND wouldn’t the women at His crucifixion, St. John, and some of the disciples be considered ‘unclean’ too because they had to handle Jesus’ body. (Taking down from the cross and buring the body?)

Does the Jewish religion still follow this?
Isn’t it the JW’s who disallow blood transfusion? Would this be the reason?

Your thoughts and discussions about ‘uncleaness’ here:

 

[Edwin1961]

I forgot to mention:

We do have a form of this today in how people are squirmish about handling AIDS patients. There are those who would ‘run away’ from these people who are suffereing.

 

[puzzleannie]

the reason the followers of Jesus went in such haste to Pilate to request being allowed to take his body was because they had to quickly and superficially wrap the body and get it in the tomb before sundown so they had time to ritually cleanse themselves before the beginning of the Sabbath. As for the contact with lepers, and with women during the time of menses (flow of blood) the laws were precise and detailed about how one cleansed oneself from contact, avoiding unclean contact (no sex during the wife’s menses etc.) and ritual cleansing of a woman after her menses and after childbirth. This is why offering water for washing was so important when you invited guests (and why Jesus criticized his host, Simon the Pharisee for failing in this act of hospitality).

The Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple used to be called the Purification because Mary went there to complete the ritual prescribed by Law. To this day, whenever an Orthodox Jewish congregation is established they first build the ritual bathhouse so that family purity may be maintained, and only then construct a synagogue as a place of worship.