'כי טמא בכל עוברי דברו': חטא וטומאה במגילות קומראן

Some scholars have already asserted that the Qumran sect possessed a unique notion of the human body, whereby it was perceived as sullied, unclean and abominable from birth. In these notes the author suggests that this notion is the reason that bodily discharges cause ritual defilement. According to the Qumran sect, they are an extreme expression of the body י s abominable condition. This also provides an explanation for the view, expressed in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, that sins cause ritual defilement: as bodily discharges, sin is also a manifestation of the body's wretchedness, the more so, since man usually commits a sin because of his material desires. Some scrolls preserve liturgical texts for purification that contain blessings to be recited during the purification process. The penitential tone of these blessings is undeniable but this does not mean, as some scholars maintain, that the Qumran sect thought that every impure person is in need of atonement because his impurity is a result of sin, but rather, when a person who is impure (from any source) undergoes a process of purification, he first evokes his inherent impurity, which is generally expressed in bodily discharges and sins, and then he gives thanks to God since purification is a gift of Divine grace. According to the approach conveyed in the writings from Qumran, purification is a supernatural phenomenon that God has bestowed upon the 'sons of light'.