Ashes
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ashi It is a
symbol of insignificance or nothingness in
persons or words (Gen. iii.
Use.
21
[iv.
xviii. 27; Isa. xliv. 20; 3]
Job
xiii.
In the Red Heifer
12,
xxx.
Mai. 19).
ritual, for purifica-
from defilement by contact with a corpse (Num. xix.), the Ashes of the offering are to be put into water, some of which is then to be sprinkled on the unclean person; their virtue is, of course, derived from the sacred material of the tion
offering.
A
xiii. 9),
and trodden under foot, might well symbolize the downcast state of the afflicted and, as misfortune
as the result of the displeasure of the Deity '(Ruth i. 20; Job vi. 4, ix. 17), the sufferer would humiliate himself by prostration thus also
was regarded
To repentance would be expressed (Job xiii. 6). this, no doubt, there was added the idea that man was made of dust (Gen. ii. 7), and was to return to the dust of the grave and of Sheol (Gen. iii. 19 Job Compare the Babylonian vii. 21 Ps. xxii. 16 [15]). representation of dust as the food of the inhabitants of the underworld (" Descent of Ishtar ").
mourner
Sam.
186
cast Ashes (or dust) on his head (II or sat (Job ii. 8 Jonah iii. G) or lay (Esth.
himself (Jer. vi. 26 Bzek. xxvii. 30) in Ashes (or dust). The rendering "ashes" for the Hebrew word in question is, however, in some cases doubtful. In a number of passages in which it occurs (in all, indeed, except those relating to the Red Heifer), it might as well or better be translated " dust " so where a person is said to eat, feed on, sit in, lie, or wallow in the efer"; or put it on his head or where it is used to represent finely attenuated matter (Ps. cxlvii. 16). Its use appears to be substantially identical with that of the word " 'afar," commonly rendered "dust." The sense of humiliation is expressed by sitting or rolling in the " 'afar " or dust (Isa. xlvii. 1; Micah i. 7, vii. 17; Ps. lxxii. 9); grief and suffering by putting dust on the head (Josh. vii. 6; Job ii. 12). The word symbolizes attenuation and annihilation or extinction (Job xxx. 19; Ps. xviii. 43 [42]); it is even employed to designate the burnt remains of the Red Heifer (Num. xix. The two words are synonyms, and in the ex17). pression " dust and ashes " are combined for the sake of emphasis (with paronomasia " 'afar we-efer. "). There is, however, a difference in the usage in expressions of mourning it is only the latter ("efer") that occurs in combination with " sackcloth " (Jer. vi. 26; Isa. lviii. 5; Dan. ix. 3; Esth. iv. 1, 3), while the former is used for the physical material of the soil The word (Gen. ii. 7; Job xx. 11, and elsewhere). ("deshen") in the sacrificial ritual rendered in A. V. "ashes," means "fat " so in I Kings xiii. 3, 5; Lev. and also in Jer. xxxi. i. 6, iv. 12, vi. 3, 4 [10, 11]; 40, whence it appears that sacrificial Ashes were carStill another ried to the valley south of Jerusalem. word translated by "ashes" in A. V. (Ex. ix. 8, 10) is " piah, " which appears to mean " soot " (of a furnace). It is not clear, what was the precise idea or feeling which it was intended to express by the use of dust (or Ashes) in acts of mourning. The Symbolical custom in the Old Testament may be Signifiancient, and the result of the convercance in gence of several sorts of procedure. Mourning'. It is a well-known usage in some savage tribes, in mourning for the dead, to smear the body with clay, the purpose being, perhaps, merely to have a visible sign of grief as a mark Possibly, at a later of respect for the deceased. time, the dust of mourning was token from the grave in token that the living felt himself to be one with the dead (compare W. R. Smith, " Religion of the Semites," 2d ed., pp. 322-336, and Schwally, iv. 3) or rolled
is
The ordinary Semitic term lor " dust " is " 'afar," a form which found in Assyrian, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic (it does not
occur in this sense in the current Ethiopic texts) its primary meaning is, perhaps, "a minute thing, a bit." Probably the primary signiflcation of " ef er " is the same outside of Hebrew it is found only in African Semitic dialects (Ethiopic or Amharic) where (in the form "afrat")it signifies "dust" (Dillmann, "Lexicon iEthiopicum"). Each of the terms might thus be used for any finely divided thing, as "dust," or "ash," or "refuse." The Septuagint employs a number of words in rendering " efer" and " "afar," varying the word according to the connection. In " 'afar " there is a trace of the sense " fat " Ethiopic " efrat," "unguent" (Dillmann); Arabic "ta'affara," "become fat" (Lane); compare also Assyrian "ipru," "food" (Frtedrich Delitzsch, "Assyrisches Worterbuch "). Whether there is any connection between this sense and the Hebrew use of "deshen " for " ashes " is not clear.
'
Schwally, Lehen nach dem Tode, 1892 W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 1894; Benzinger, HebrCluche Nowack, Lehrbuch der Hebrdisehen Archilologie, 189+ Archdologie, 1891; Frey, Tod, Seelenglaubc und SeelenKult im Alten Israel, 1898; Griineisen, Ahnenlcult und die Urreligion IsraeU, 1900 Talmud, Ta'anit. For Greek usage [Pseudo-] Lucian, De Luctu, 12. Jastrow, Earth, Dust, and Ashes as Symbols of Mourning Among the Ancient Hebrews, in Journal of American Oriental Society, xx. 133-
Bibliography
150.
J.
T.
jr.
"Leben nach dem Tode," became more clearly were naturally interpreted
ideas
conceptions.
"When religious customs in the light of the newer The dust, occupying the lowest place p. 15).
defined, the old
In Rabbinical Literature The Midrash remarks (Gen. R. xlix. 11 Hul. 886), in reference to the only use of Ashes in the Biblical ritual namely, the Ashes of the Red Heifer (Num. xix. 9 et seq.) God said to Abraham; "Thou spakest in thy lifetime, I am but dust and ashes [Gen. xviii. 27] but just these things shall serve as means of atonement
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And a man that the ashes [Num. I.e.].'" Ashes were also used to cover the blood of slaughtered fowl, for the Rabbis maintained that in the Biblical passage referring to the ordinance (Lev. xvii. 13) the word ~|3JJ signified earth and Ashes (Hul. I.e., an interpretation ascribed to Hillel's school compare also Bezah i. 2). Authentic records testify to the use of Ashes as a sign of grief in Talmudic times. In the Mislmah (Ta'an. ii. 1) it is recorded that during the fast-days proclaimed in consequence of drought the Ark of the Covenant, as well as the people participating in the procession, were sprinkled with Ashes a custom still prevalent in the fourth century in Palestine, where earth could be used as a substitute for Ashes (Ta'an. 16a; Yer. Ta'an. ii., beginning; Gen. On such occasions as public fasts, Ashes R. I.e.). were strewn upon the holy Ark set up in the public place and upon the heads of the nasi and the ab bet din, while the rest strewed them upon their heads themselves. That part of the forehead where the phylacteries were placed was selected (Ta'an. 16flj). The reason given for covering oneself with Ashes is either that it should serve as an expression of selffor thy children
is
for
clean shall gather
it is
written,
up
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