Endnote 29 – Did Jesus Oppose the Purity Laws?

Again, the issues and evidence are complicated. Philo states that all pilgrims underwent this ritual (those from overseas could certainly be assumed to be corpse-impure); Mishnaic sources state that those Jews living in Judea or the Galilee might have gone to stations set up around the country for the rite of the red heifer, and so could theoretically enter the city already prepared. See S. Safrai, Pilgrimage at the Time of the Second Temple (Tel Aviv, 1965), pp. 123–124. Hillel and Shammai disputed whether conversion required a seven-day “in between” period, on the analogy of corpse-impurity, or whether a Gentile, converting the eve of Pesach, could eat the meal that holiday (Shammai takes the liberal view, Mishnah Pesachim 8, 8).