Sota 29: Comparing Halachot of Sota to Halachot of Teruma; Levels of Ritual Impurity

Today's daf was extremely challenging for a beginner like me.  As I have been learning over the past three years, certain concepts have begun to gel in my mind.  Other concepts are understood only ephemerally, and today's daf required that I read a number of different sources just to begin to hold its ideas.

The rabbis continue to discuss halachot that were shared on the same day.  That day seems to be when Rabban Gamliel left the Sanhedrin and Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya replaced him as leader.  Rabbi Akiva's teaching was the first shared 'on that day', but following halachot regarded topics far beyond that of the sota.

We move into the concept of tumah, ritual impurity or defilement, which continues to confound me.  The rabbis walk through a number of examples that allow them to question whether the halachot of the sota are similar to the halachot of teruma.  In particular, they wish to understand when the sota is permitted to her husband, a priest, compared to when uncertainly impure teruma is permitted to a priest.

The rabbis' considerations are based on some basic concepts.  Many thanks to those who simplified these concepts on the OU Torah website:

• Dead body: highest level of tumah
• Contact with a dead body creates an av hatumah, a source of tumah, ritual impurity
• Contact with a source of tumah creates a rishon letumah, a first level of tumah
• Contact with a rishon letumah creates a sheni letuma, a secondary level of tumah
• Contact with a sheni letumah creates a shelishi letuma, a third level of tumah, but only if it touches teruma
• Contact with a shelishi letumah creates a revii letumah, a fourth level of tumah, but only if it touches something sanctified, like an animal prepared for sacrifice

The rabbis argue about whether or not different items will create different levels of tumah and the effects that that state will have on access to teruma/one's husband, especially if he is a priest.