daf bit: Nazir 49

[cellio]

If a nazarite becomes ritually impure, he must shave, wait to become ritually pure, and start over. What are the things that can make him ritually impure? The mishna says contact with a corpse or parts (or derivatives) thereof. What is contact? Touching, being under the same roof as, or being above or below a corpse (without an intervening roof). (49b)

This list has a lot in common with contact forbidden to kohanim. I don't know if that's just a similarity or if there is some causal link; I could imagine seeing priests as being akin to nazarites in that they are dedicated to ritual service, though most are not actual nazarites. (The bit about being above a body without a roof intervening is why some kohanim will not fly over graveyards. I have no idea if floors on multi-story buildings count as roofs; does a kohein have to worry about the apartment below his?)

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

In reality, no one is concerned with the tumah of a woman on a monthly basis. If we actually worried about tumat niddah, we would make sure she didn't sit on any couchs or beds we wanted to use the rest of the month, nor sit on them at the same time as anyone else.

However, the other part of niddah is the prohibition of having relations with the niddah. This is a different effect with the same cause (Niddah implies both this prohibition and the state of tumah. Everything we do today re: niddah is a result of the prohibition and not the tumah). Then, to prevent any possibility of having relations, a variety of other things become prohibited.