Tahor and Tamei 

(Clean and Unclean)

טָהוֹר

Tahor

Strong’s H2889 ṭâhôwr, taw-hore'; or טָהֹר ṭâhôr; from H2891; pure (in a physical, chemical, ceremonial or moral sense):—clean, fair, pure(-ness).Pure and impure, barring an individual from entering the sacred space of the sanctuary

טָמֵא

Tamei

Strong’s H2930 ṭâmêʼ, taw-may'; a primitive root; to be foul, especially in a ceremial or moral sense (contaminated):—defile (self), pollute (self), be (make, make self, pronounce) unclean, × utterly.

Tamei is a term meaning that one is in a condition that prevents him or her from entering the sacred space of God. Tahor means the opposite; he or she may enter. Tahor and tamei are not ethical terms like good and bad, right and wrong. The meaning of these words flows from the contrast between God and humans; a contrast between infinite - finite, spiritual – physical, eternity - mortality. 

There is nothing “wrong” about our physicality. Tamei reminds us that God (YHVH) is “other.” He is completely transcendent from all such physicality.¹ Therefore, whatever explicitly reminds us and others of our physicality and mortality conveys a status of tamei, a state from which we must be cleansed before we can enter the domain of the Eternal One. 

The conditions that render a person tamei are those that highlight our morality and physicality (birth, growth, decline, decay and death). People who had a reminder of morality in the ways spelled out in Torah are tamei and may not enter Sacred Space until they are purified. Sacred space (the Tabernacle and Temple) were symbols of the Presence of God within the physical word He created for us.

¹All the more extraordinary that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” John 1