Tohorot טהרות
The largest order of the Mishnah, and almost without Gemara: purity and impurity, the mikveh, the laws of family purity.
Twelve tractates, and the first, Kelim, is the longest in the Mishnah: thirty chapters on which vessels take impurity and which do not. Ohalot deals with impurity under one roof, Negaim with afflictions of skin and houses, Parah with the red heifer, Mikvaot with the making of a ritual bath.
Babylonian Gemara was written on tractate Niddah alone—on the laws of family purity, the only ones in the order that apply outside the Temple and to this day. The rest of the order the Gemara does not touch: the laws of purity are bound almost entirely to the Temple and to the ashes of the red heifer, which are not to be had.
The word "Tohorot" in the Mishnah itself often means the opposite of what is discussed—the sages avoided naming a tractate with the word "impurity", and that is visible in its name.
The order has 12 tractates: Kelim, Ohalot, Negaim, Parah, Tohorot, Mikvaot, Niddah, Makhshirin, Zavim, Tevul Yom, Yadayim, Uktzin.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Shabbat 31a — «va-daat» — this is the order of Tohorot
- Mishnah Kelim 1:1 — the opening of the longest tractate
- Mishnah Mikvaot 1:1 — the making of a ritual bath
- Niddah 2a — the only tractate of the order with Babylonian Gemara
Basis: Talmud and midrash.