[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

orion-list guilty corpses



    [ The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set. ]

    [ Your display is set for the "ISO-8859-8" character set.  ]

    [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]

(This precedes Russell's latest post addressed
to Christophe.)

1) Herb correctly persists in asking what it means
to say that a corpse is asham. This is still the
original crux, I think, for Russell.

2) Prescriptions for tumat meit occur at:
A.11QT 49:16-17 
B.11QT 50:10-14 (re: dead fetus, whose contagion
 is like that of a grave)
C.1QM 14:2-3 (re:slain soldiers)
D.4Q394 3-7 i 16-20 (=MMT)

  Note that A-C require ablutions (bathing
and laundering) on the 1st day, specifically
when the tumaa occurs _outside_ the Temple
city -- or its analogue (as Christopher 
observes), the war camp.

3) Purification liturgies for tumat meit
occur at:
- 4Q414 fr. 2 (Eshel,1997)
- 4Q512 xii fr.1-6 (Baumgarten,1992;1999)

3) Though we anticipate publication of
the cave IV halakhic texts (DJD 35),
J. Baumgarten has twice provided explanatory
remarks on 4Q512 xii fr.1-6 (as published
in DJD 7):

  [L]ine 11...if the placement of Fr.4
  may be relied upon, introduces a
  polemical section whose tone is
  indicated by such words as ashmatam
  'their guilt'... Since the water
  with the ashes was used for purification
  from corpse defilement, it is
  possible that the subject was the
  repudiation of pagan practices relating
  to the dead and their burial. These
  were likewise denounced in 11QTemple
  XLVIII 11-12 (1992: 208).

While the referent of asham is not explicit
in the fragment(s), of note is Baumgarten's
equation of a "polemical" tone.
____
J. Baumgarten (1992)"The Purification
 Rituals in DJD 7" in Dimont et al.(eds.),
 Dead Sea Scrolls:40 Years of Research.
              (1999)"The Purification
 Liturgies" in Flint&Van der Kam (eds.),
 The DSS After 50 Years, v.2.
E.Eshel (1997)"4Q414 Fragment 2..." in 
 Bernstein et al.(eds.), Legal Texts and
 Legal Issues...(STDJ 23):3-10.
___
shalom,
 judy
For private reply, e-mail to Jbarr2002@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to majordomo@panda.mscc.huji.ac.il with
the message: "unsubscribe Orion." For more information on the Orion Center
or for Orion archives, visit our web site http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il.