Nocturnal emissions

Deuteronomy 23:10-11 If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.

I bet they don't teach this in health classes now. The night after they teach it in class a large groupd of boys head out of town and won't come back till the next night. They won't tell anyone why. The headlines might be hilarious. Anyone have any ideas??

Menstruation

Leviticus 15:19-20  When a woman has a discharge of blood that is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.  Everything upon which she lies during her impurity shall be unclean; everything also upon which she sits shall be unclean.

Sort of brings to mind a bloody version of Midas and his golden touch. "...and when MidAH went to touch her bed, it was suddenly unclean."

Menstruation has always had a taboo about it. Women aren't supposed to talk about when they have it to men especially. The Ashanti tribe appear have puberty rites only for females and when they receive their period for the first time the mother runs out of the house and announces it to the entire tribe. That's the only time they are excited about I guess, because if a menstruating women went to the wrong place with her "unclean" body she could be killed.

Here's an interesting story about menstruation (don't hear that everyday, eh?).

In 1996, during the running of the 100th Boston Marathon, Uta Pippig, the first woman to cross the finish line, had visible menstrual blood and sever menstrual cramps. The commentators on radio and TV called it "physical problems and diarrhea" and some called it "stomach pain." One reporter for the Boston Globe wrote in her article about the event that she "bled all the way from Hopkinton to Boston" and was criticized by readers and her peers.

Leprosy

Leviticus 13:45-46 The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, "unclean, unclean." He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

This is the first time I had a hard time getting through a passage without crying.  I got through Abraham almost sacrificing his son, Aaron's two sons burning to death, and other such horrors but this tugged on my heart. I definitely see how some of this could be necessary, especially in a time of little medical knowledge.  Knowing who has leprosy as you walk down the street could be the difference between life and death to these people. That being said, those people with leprosy are still PEOPLE. Can you imagine having to yell, "unclean, unclean" as you walk down the street in your hometown?  

Fast facts about leprosy:

In the past 20 years, 15 million people worldwide have been cured of leprosy.

In india where there are still more than 1,000 leper colonies.

Leprosy is in fact neither sexually transmitted nor is it highly infectious after treatment, as approximately 95% of people are naturally immune.

Before treatment was developed, leprosy was certainly contagious.