Samaritans and Purity Law

Samaritan women are regarded as menstruants from the cradle. Samaritan men impart impurity to a couch below and to a cover above, since they have intercourse with menstruants. And they [Samaritan women] sit [impure for seven days] for every kind of blood. However, on account of their [impurity], one does not incur liability upon entering the sanctuary nor is the heave offering (terumah) [with which a Samaritan woman had contact] burned on their account, since their impurity is of only a doubtful nature.

Translated by Christine Hayes.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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