Burying nail clippings is OK but only if they will not become uncovered later. Clippings are particularly bad for pregnant women to step on or over.
Tum'a: Burning Nail Clippings
Burning nail clippings is OK (but it has kabbalistic complications and is bad for the person from whom the nails were clipped).
Tum'a: Putting Nail Clippings Down Toilet or Drain
Nail clippings, even from children and non-Jews, have ru'ach ra'a and need to be disposed of. The simplest way is to flush them down a toilet or wash them down a drain (but don't put them into the garbage).
Note Hair may be disposed of by throwing it into a garbage can.
Tum'a: Bringing Holy Items into Area of Impurity
To carry a holy item into an area that has impurity, put the item in two nested containers (kis b'toch kis).
Examples
A bag inside a bag.
A bag and a folder.
Tum'a: Hair Cutting: Washing Afterward
Wash your hands using the One-Time Method after cutting (or having someone cut) your hair (or nails).
Wash your hands (without saying the handwashing blessing) before eating wet food, such as a piece of fruit with water on it or simply dry off the food, if possible.
Exception Food that is normally eaten with a spoon or fork (such as cereal or canned fruit) but only if you are eating it with a spoon or fork.
Tum'a: Leaving Cut Produce Uncovered Overnight
Some foods (such as onions, garlic, and scallions/green onions) will pick up ru'ach ra'aif:
Peeled, AND
Cut at both ends, AND
Left overnight in a home, AND
Raw (OR cooked) and not mixed with other foods, spices, or salt.
Note Under the above conditions, the food will pick up ru'achra'a even if stored in a sealed container after being cooked. However, if such an onion (raw or cooked) that is peeled and cut at both ends is mixed with something else--whether other foods, oil, spices, or salt--the onion will not pick up ru'ach ra'a.
Problematic foods:
Onions,
Garlic,
Eggs (hard boiled or raw once they are out of their shell).
Not a problem:
Unpeeled onions
Cut and open lemons or other produce(excluding onions, garlic, and eggs).
Raw onion, garlic, or eggs that were cut or peeled in a commercial facility and remain uncovered overnight.
Note You may not use an onion that has been left overnight under any circumstances (even if wrapped in clear plastic wrap, put into the refrigerator, etc.):
That has been cut at the top and bottom, and
Whose brown layer has been removed.
Note Spring/ green onions also attract ru'ach ra'ah, but only if you cut off all of the green and also the roots.
Note If the onion or garlic had been peeled and cut at both ends but you sprinkled some salt on it, then you may use it even if it has been left out overnight.
Tum'a: Cohen and Non-Jewish Cemetery
A cohen should not walk through a non-Jewish cemetery unless he has an urgent need to do so.
Tum'a: Cohen Touching Dead Non-Jew
A cohenis forbidden from touching or picking up a dead body of a non-Jew as well as the dead body of a Jew.
Tum'a: Contact with Dead Non-Jew
Contact with the body of a dead non-Jew confers tum'a, just as does contact with the body of a dead Jew.
Tum'a within Cemetery
Ritual impurity (tum'a) in a cemetery comes from being within 4 amot (7 feet) of a grave. This is horizontal distance, regardless of how deep the body is buried.
Note A cohen may be in a cemetery as long as he does not get closer than 4 amot(7 feet) to any grave and he does not stand under any tree which extends over a grave.
Tum'a above Cemetery
Ritual impurity from a cemetery goes up to the sky, so a cohen should not fly over a cemetery.
Tum'a: Washing Hands and Books
You do not need to wash your hands before reading a book of hashkafa/halacha/Jewish philosophy or even Torah or Talmud from a book, unless you have touched something impure/tamei before reading.
Tum'a: Animals
Wash your hands with a cup, using the One-Time Method, after touching any animal. Reason Due to the dirt (which may carry tum'a due to feces and other impure substances) assumed to be on the animal.
