The Talmud (Shabbat 146a, Yevamot 103b, Avodah Zarah 26b) relates that when the Jews stood upon Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, something miraculous and extraordinary happened: All the Jews were cured of the zuhamah that had infected mankind ever since the primordial snake injected Eve with its zuhamah. In general, the word zuhamah refers to “dirtiness,” although in this specific context, it may refer to physical or spiritual deformities and/or the susceptibility to death, both of which temporarily disappeared from the Jewish People at Mount Sinai. This essay discusses the word zuhamah alongside other words for “dirtiness” in Hebrew, like lichluch, elach, go’al, tinuf, and more. In doing so, we explore the various etymologies of these words and their cognates to hone in on their precise connotations and show how they are not quite synonyms.

We begin the discussion with the relatively obscure Biblical Hebrew term elach (Job 15:16, Ps. 14:6, 53:4), which appears thrice in the Bible. The way Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim defines it, that verb refers to becoming “soiled” by something that is not inherently disgusting; rather with that term, the point is more that something of another species/type has been mixed into to an otherwise homogenous concoction. For example, if you mixed grape juice into your milk, the results would be some sort of disgusting liquid that people would not be interested in drinking, simply because it is a strange combination of incompatible types.

The classical lexicographers (like Menachem Ibn Saruk, Yonah Ibn Janach, and Radak) trace this term to the triliteral root ALEPH-LAMMED-CHET. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ps. 14:3) sees that as related to ALEPH-LAMMED-HEY (which begets the word allah, “ curse”), via the interchangeability of HEY and CHET. He explains that the latter root refers to a conflicting dynamic whereby one person wishes ill upon another, which is similar to the sort of dynamic described by elach, whereby the introduction of one element into another creates a similar sort of conflict or incompatibility.

However, Rabbi Pappenheim sees the initial ALEPH as extraneous to the core root, explaining the etymological root of elach as simply the two-letter root LAMMED-CHET, which he defines as “liquid” (like in the phrase davar lach). In the specific case of elach, Rabbi Pappenheim explains that it refers to the presence of an unwanted “liquid” sullying something else. [For more about the word lach and the two-letter root LAMMED-CHET, see “Wet Words” (Feb. 2024).]

In light of this, we can better understand the post-Biblical Hebrew term lichluch, which also refers to “dirtiness.” That word does not appear anywhere in the Bible, and only occurs once in the Mishnah, but in the Talmud and later rabbinic writings, it becomes the standard word for “dirtiness.” Dr. Alexander Kohut in HeAruch HaShaleim sees the word lichluch (spelled with a KAF) as synonymous with its near-homonym lichluach (spelled with a CHET). The latter, of course, means “wet/liquid,” and derives from the two-letter Biblical Hebrew root LAMMED-CHET that we have just encountered, so that Biblical Hebrew root might just be the root of lichluch as well.

In fact, the one time that the word lichluch appears in the Mishnah, it specifically refers to “wet” dirtiness, as the Mishnah (Mikvaot 9:4) rules that lichluch of wet feces on one’s skin is not considered a “disruption” between the body of one immersing in a mikvah and the waters of the mikvah. This is because the liquid lichluch becomes one with the liquid of the water, and the immersion is therefore impeccable. Of course, this rule only applies to “wet” lichluch, but if the dirtiness (in this case, feces) were dry, then that dirty spot would indeed disqualify the immersion in the mikvah, as it interrupts between the mikvah waters and the immerser’s skin.

Believe it or not, a form of the word lichluch actually appears as a personal name in a humorous anecdote related by the Talmud (Nedarim 66b): A man once vowed that his wife may not derive benefit from him until she showed Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Yose her most beautiful feature. They went to the rabbi, and he examined her, asking the onlookers about her features. “Maybe her head is beautiful?” he asked. “No, it is round like a ball,” they replied. “Maybe her hair is........

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