Dear list, I noticed today that 4Q276=4QTorohot B(b) line 2 has the priest "pronounce the clothes guilty" in conjunction with the red heifer purification ceremony (Num. 19), while 4Q277=4QTorohot B(c) line 13 says that those who officiate in the red heifer ceremony should wash his clothes and be impure until evening. So I am inclined to believe that guilt attaches to any unburied corpse (and even the clothes of those who administer the rites of purification) -- although I would still welcome the list's input on this issue! But this raises another question. While the Purification Rules quoted above have a person wash his clothes and remain impure till evening, this seems to contradict 1QM 14.2-3, which says "In the _morning_ they shall wash their clothes and shall wash off themselves the blood of the guilty corpses..." Then the troops go back to the battlesite and sing a song of praise. I am assuming that the troops wait until the next morning (after battle, which is presumed to last until dusk) to wash their clothes in order to do it by light and not miss any blood. But those who touch a corpse are considered unclean for 7 days, right? And yet 1QM 14:2-3, despite the concern for purity, does not seem to consider the troops impure after the simple ceremony of washing their clothes and bodies (undoubtedly with the waters with the ashes of the red heifer, administered by a priest). Were the normal rules regarding impurity of corpses suspended for wartime exigencies? Are there any legal scholars who can comment on this as well? Thanks again, Russell Gmirkin For private reply, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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.