The first question is this: What is a ritual state? Well, in Leviticus there are three basic ritual states: the impure, sometimes translated unclean; the pure, or clean; and the holy. These are called ritual states—that’s at least what scholars call them—because they guide the community with reference to the types of ritual actions a person may or may not do, or the ritual places a person may or may not go. So, for example, if you’re ritually pure, you can go to the tabernacle, but you can’t go inside