blood" — only blood, not a bloodstain. Tractate Mikvaot in the Mishnah and Tosefta interpreted the laws of the ritual bath (, mikveh) prescribed for the cleansing of menstruants in The Mishnah taught that there are six grades of ritual baths, each higher than the other. The first is rainwater in a water hole. Superior to that is the water of rain drippings that have not stopped. Superior to that is the water of a mikveh containing 40 se'ahs of water, for in such a mikveh persons may immerse themselves and immerse others. Superior to that is the water of a fountain whose own water is little but has been increased by a greater quantity of drawn water. Superior to that are salty or hot waters from a spring, which can render clean when flowing. And superior to that are living waters, which serve for the immersion of persons who have a running issue and for the sprinkling of persons with skin disease, and are valid for the preparation of the water of purification. The Mishnah taught that any pool of water that mingles with the water of a mikveh is as valid as the mikveh itself. The Mishnah taught that one may immerse in holes and crevices of a cavern just as they are, but one may not immerse in the pit of a cavern except if it has an opening as big as the tube of a water skin. Rabbi Judah taught that this is the case when it stands by itself (and forms an independent pool separated by a wall from the pool in the cavern), but if it does not stand by itself, one may immerse in it just as it is (for it is part of the pool in the cavern). In medieval Jewish interpretation The parashah is discussed in these medieval Jewish sources: Leviticus chapter 14 Rashi reported an interpretation by Rabbi Moshe ha-Darshan (the preacher) that since the Levites were submitted in atonement for the firstborn who had practiced idolatry when they worshipped the Golden Calf (in ), and calls idol worship "sacrifices to the dead," and in Moses called one afflicted with skin disease (, tzara'at) "as one dead," and required those afflicted with skin disease to shave, therefore God required the Levites too to shave. In modern interpretation The parashah is discussed in these modern sources: Leviticus chapter 14 Professor Ephraim