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Keri (קֶרִי) is a Hebrew term which literally means "accident" or "mishap", and is used as a euphemism forseminal emission.[1] The term is generally used inJewish law to refer specifically to the regulations and rituals concerning the emission ofsemen, whether bynocturnal emission, or by sexual activity. A man is said to be aba'al keri (בעל קרי) ("one who has had a seminal emission") after he has ejaculated without yet completing the associated purification requirements.
TheBook of Leviticus contains several laws relating to seminal emission. A man who had experienced an emission of semen would becomeritually impure, until the evening came and he had washed himself in water.[2] Any clothes or leather touched by semen also become ritually impure, until they are washed in water and the evening had come.[3] If the man ejaculated semen during sexual intercourse with a woman, the woman would also become ritually impure, until the evening had come and she had washed herself in water.[4]
TheBook of Deuteronomy says that a soldier who became impure through amikreh lailah ("night occurrence") must leave the army camp, immerse, and only return to the camp in the evening.[5] From the wordmikreh (מקרה), the rabbis derived the termkeri (קרי) to refer to an emission of semen.
InExodus 19:15, prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai, Jewish men were warned not "to approach a woman" so as not to become impure.[6]
The Books of Samuel contain two stories which suggest that the laws of seminal emission were observed in that period. In1 Samuel 20:26,Saul assumed thatDavid was missing from the royal feast due to having become impure in amikreh (mishap). In1 Samuel 21:5, the priest is willing to distribute holy bread only to those men who have "kept themself from women".[7]
Non-traditionalbiblical scholars see the Leviticus regulations as having originally derived fromtaboo against contact with semen, because it was considered to house life itself, and was thus thought of as sacred.[8][unreliable source?]
TheTalmud adds prohibitions designed to avoid seminal emission outside ofsexual intercourse. It was forbidden for a man to touch hispenis with his hand, on the basis that the sensation of touch causeskeri. The Talmud goes on to address the concern that preventing any contact with thepenis would makeurination more awkward for males, and makes suggestions in this regard.[9][10] A man who intentionally caused himselferections was considered worthy of ostracism.[11]
The Talmud also described procedures in case a man emitted semen (permissibly or otherwise). It states that one who experienced an emission of semen is required by the Torah to immerse in water in order to be allowed to consumeterumah orsacrifice. It also states thatEzra decreed that one should also immerse in order to be allowed to recite words ofTorah,[12] but that Ezra's decree no longer applies nowadays.[13]
Later on, theRishonim debated whether Ezra's decree still applies in regard toprayer.Hai Gaon[14] andChananel ben Chushiel[15] say that aba'al keri, while he may study Torah, may not pray until he goes to amikveh.Maimonides says that the decree was cancelled entirely and aba'al keri may even recite theShema,[16] but that theminhag ofShinar (Mesopotamia) andSepharad (in his day, a term for theIberian Peninsula) is that before prayer aba'al keri should wash himself entirely with water.[17]
The modernhalakhic consensus is that aba'al keri is not required to immerse in the mikveh before praying, reciting Shema, sayingBerakhot, and so on.[18] However, some Jews today, including manyHasidic Jews, practice this immersion because it is considered a praiseworthy practice.
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