© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi �0.��63/�570063�-� �340457 Journal for the Study of Judaism 47 (�0 �6) �83- � �� brill.com/jsj Journal for the Study of Judaism Josephus’s Seven Purities and the Mishnah’s Ten Holinesses Matan Orian School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University orianmat@post.tau.ac.il Abstract This paper compares two descriptions of the Jewish hierarchy of holiness in relation to the Jerusalem temple: one from Josephus’s Jewish War, books 1 and 5, where the rele- vant hierarchy is referred to as the seven purities, and the other, in Mishnah Kelim 1:6-9, titled (the) ten holinesses. After analyzing the guiding principles behind the seven puri- ties, this paper will examine the two hierarchies against the background of the biblical instructions for the exclusion of impure persons from the desert camp, and the inter- pretation of these instructions according to Josephus, the Temple Scroll from Qumran, and rabbinic literature. It will show that, while the seven purities is a cultic perception coherent to the exclusion of different categories of people from the temple, the ten holinesses follows different guiding principles. Keywords Mishnah – Kelim – holiness hierarchy – exclusion from Temple – halakah – Josephus – Jewish War – ritual impurity The Seven Purities In the introduction to the Jewish War ( J.W. 1.26), Josephus promises to describe the seven purities (αἱ ἑπτὰ ἁγνεῖαι), among other temple related matters, indi- cating this was a well-known and fundamental religious concept of his time. * I wish to thank Vered Noam, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, and Menahem Kahanah for reading earlier drafts of this paper.