If we take a good look at the Torah's laws of spiritual contamination, we will clearly see that there is no mysticism or magic charm involved. As described by Rabbi Samson Rephael Hirsch in his commentary on the Torah: “Spiritual contamination is intangible, and it passes to a person or to an object by coming into contact with a dead body. Spiritual contamination is linked to death, but as a concept and not as a tangible reality.”

The Torah defines the various degrees of the lack of a living spirit. An encounter with death carries with it a degree of contamination. Just as there are various degrees of death, so, too, are there several degrees of contamination. For example, according to the Talmud (in Tractate Brachot 57b), slumber is one sixtieth of death. Therefore, Jewish law prescribes that, upon waking, the Jew wash his hands in a special manner so as to remove the contamination which sleep has brought upon him.

Death is a termination of life on this earth. It waits for us, patiently, at the end of our path in life. It is the natural, inevitable final stop of each man, each beast, and even every flower and plant on the face of the earth. Even stars die, and galaxies collapse. The entire universe is the process of physical disintegration. These daily events affect Mankind. An encounter with death can easily unbalance the truth in Man's heart. The eyes perceive a lifeless corpse. The sight threatens the inner truth, the fact of the immortality of the soul. An encounter with physical death poses a threat to our faith in Man's eternal soul. It makes us stop and pause to ask; Do I really have an eternal soul within me? Or will my existence come to an end when my body breathes its last.

The Man in the street quips; “You live only once; enjoy life while it lasts!” This attitude is the result of an encounter with death. So strong is the impact of seeing a lifeless corpse that it blots out that instinctive faith in the immortality of the soul which usually lies deep in the heart. We now need to regain our balance and reinstate our faith in the eternal soul, in the hidden “I”, which knows itself to be immortal, even though the body which now houses it is inevitably destined to meet its end one day. We require some way to renew our confidence in our living soul, which Heaven holds responsible for Man's actions and demands that we improve and perfect. To this end, the Torah instructs us in process of eliminating the contamination of death by regaining our purity. With it, our connection to the eternal, the hope and deep faith that there is indeed a better life awaiting us after this one, is regained. In our times, the state of spiritual contamination which accompanies the woman's monthly cycle affects only her relationship with her husband. Judaism totally rejects superstitions of primitive cultures and ancient civilizations concerning the woman's monthly cycle. 

For approximately one half of each month, a woman is potentially about to bring a new life into this world. During these two weeks, she is actively fulfilling the role assigned to her, as a potential mother.

But during her menstrual period and the week which follows, she is temporarily cut off from this role. As a result, she cannot light up the soul which she and her husband share. For these two weeks, she lacks the power to cling to her husband spiritually and to create a complete, unified entity of their souls. The woman, who is the source of the fire of love must be completely linked to her husband, in order to achieve perfect unity. Therefore, during the period of separation, when the couple may not unite as one because the woman cannot fulfill her Heaven-assigned role of bringing new life into the world, the two separate. They will again unite at that moment when the woman is again in a position to assume the role of potential mother.

Each monthly whisper of death is another reminder of the sin of Adam which deprived him of his right to the Garden of Eden. Therefore, when she cleanses herself of this spiritual contamination, the woman does so through the only vestige of the Garden of Eden remaining in our times, the mikveh. Thus she again achieves a degree of attachment to the world in its pre-death era of spiritual completeness and perfection, thanks to the river which “flows out of Eden.”