the opposite of “unclean.” Ch. 11 divides the animal kingdom into two groups, those that are clean and those that are unclean. Similarly the following chapters (12–15) detail which illnesses make someone unclean and which leave him clean. “Common” (ḥōl) is likewise the reverse of “holy” (qāḏôsh), just as to “profane” (ḥillēl) is the converse of to “sanctify” (qiḏḏēsh). In Hebrew thinking everything was either clean or unclean, holy or common. But what exactly constituted holiness and uncleanness?
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