Tum'ah is the Hebrew word for the state the body drifts into in the course of normal living. KJV, ESV, NASB, and NIV all translate it as uncleanness or impurity, and English readers hear those words as moral judgments. That is wrong. The state has nothing to do with sin.

The new mother is tamei. The man who has had a seminal emission is tamei. The woman in her menstrual cycle is tamei. The priest who has prepared the red heifer offering is tamei. The high priest who has just emerged from his Yom Kippur service is tamei. None of them have done anything wrong. They have moved through ritual states. Bodies do that.

The wisdom of tum'ah is that it names a real thing without moralizing it. A body that has touched death needs time and water before it approaches the sanctuary. A body that has given birth or buried a parent or bled at the appointed time needs to return. The category protects the holy from the casual, and protects the casual from being treated as if it were sin.

Tum'ah is the drift. Taharah is the readiness. The mikvah is the way back. None of it is about guilt at all.