of impurity to moments of crisis such as birth, initiation, puberty, marriage, and death. Israel, however, would have been highly selective of this scheme since it imputed no impurity to initiation, puberty, or marriage and restricted the impurity of birth to the mother and exempted the child (Leviticus 12). A more recent theory argues the notion of wholeness as the solution: “A bleeding or discharging body lacks wholeness” (Douglas:51). However, physical perfection is required only of priests and