Sawa (Hebrew)
Sawa ( Hebrew זָבָה; dt. "Outflow") means in the technical language of the Torah the state of ritual impurity of a woman as " blood liquid " ( Hebrew זָבָה), outside of menstruation . The state of sawa begins after the usual bleeding within the menstrual cycle has stopped.
description
Due to the provisions of tumah and taharah , the sawa זָבָה a טוּמְאַת מִדְרָס(tumat midras) ( Leviticus 15.4 EU ; 15.9 EU ; 15.26 EU ) and thus impure a man for seven days if he has sexual intercourse with her. In addition, the sawa זָבָהand her partner for extermination punishment ( Kareth ) punishable by willful pursuit of prohibited sexual intercourse.
Hebrew Bible
The state of the sawa זָבָהis in Lev 15.1 to 15 ELB and 15.25 to 30 ELB described concretely:
" 25 And if a woman has her blood flow many days beyond the time of her segregation, or if she has the flow beyond her segregation, she shall be all the days of the flow of her uncleanness as in the days of her segregation: she is unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies every day of her river shall be like the bed of her separation, and every device on which she sits will be unclean after the uncleanness of her separation. 27 And whoever touches it will be unclean, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he shall be unclean until evening. 28 And when she has become clean from her river, count herself seven days, after which she will be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she is to take two lovebirds or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30 And the priest shall offer one as a sin offering, and the other as a burnt offering. Let the priest make atonement for them before the Lord because of the flow of their uncleanness. 31 And ye shall warn the children of Israel of their uncleanness, that they may not die in their uncleanness, making my dwelling, which is in their midst, unclean. 32 This is the law as to those who have a discharge and those who escape the ejaculation so that they become unclean through them, 33 and as to those who are sick in their secretion and those who have their flow of mucus it be man or woman, and for the man who lies next to an unclean woman. "
"Elberfeld translation"
description
A distinction is made between sawa k'tanah (small bleeding) and sawa g'dolah (large bleeding).
sawa k'tanah (small bleeding)
A woman is considered to be “sawa ktanah” if she notices an unnatural flow of blood within an eleven day period - based on her seven-day menstrual period - but no further unnatural blood flow occurs the next day. One dip is enough to make them tahor (pure).
sawa g'dolah (great bleeding)
A woman is considered to be “sawa g'dolah” if she notices an unnatural outflow of blood within an eleven-day period based on her seven-day menstrual period. If there is further unnatural blood outflow on the following day, followed by another unnatural blood outflow on the following third day, it is considered sawa g'dolah. She has to wait seven days, take a dip on the seventh day, and make a basket offering on the eighth day. Only then is it considered tahor (pure).
reception
Obadja ben Jacob Sforno thinks that the state of a "sawa g'dolah" is a divine punishment to prevent the woman from acting like Eve . This unpleasant consequence would result from God's message to Eve: "I will increase and multiply her discomfort" ( Gen 3,16 LUT ): With the seven day waiting period, a spirit of teshuva (repentance) and purity is intended to overwhelm her will. In making a double sacrifice , Chatat (atonement) and Korban Olah (sacrifice), their negative actions and thoughts are to be corrected.
In modern Orthodox Judaism, no distinction is made between “sawa” and “nidda”. A menstruating woman ( niddah ), like a “sawa”, must observe the same cleaning instructions .
Individual evidence
- ^ Jacob Neusner : Is Scripture the origin of the Halakhah? (= Studies in Judaism ). University Press of America, Lanham 2005, ISBN 0-7618-3117-7 , pp. 141 (English, preview in Google book search): “The pertinent classification of uncleanness called Midras- or pressure-uncleanness pertains only to objects that ordinarily are used to bear weight or pressure, that is, beds and chairs and things analogous to them . ”
- ↑ Sforno to Vayikra 15:19 LUT .