— -
Ablution
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Abner
onj'mous with Immis free from guilt xxiv. 4; Followinj;
20,
.lol), i.. tlii'
^see Ps. xviii.
30).
custom of tlii' priests, the pious washed liis hands, every
Isnu'litc l)uthc(l, or at loast
Thus t he God-fearing .Jews are represented in Sihylline Hooks, iii. .'>!tl-593 as "sueh who, rising from tlieir bed early inthemorniupr, wash their hands in water to lift them ever pure The same is related of Judith to heaven in prayer." (Judith, xii. 7), and of the siventy-two eldei-s who are said to have translated the Scriptures for Ptolemy we are told, in the Letter of Aristeas, 30.'5, that, morning before prayer.
in
accordance with Jewish custom, they washed their in the sea every morning before olTeriiig their
hands
For this reason it became "a tradition of prayers. the" fathers to build houses of worship near the water " (see the decree of Ilalicarnassus in Josi-phus, "Ant." xiv. 10, S? 23; and Acts of the Apostles, xvi. 13). So fixed becaine this custom of washing the hands before divine service that the Christian Churcli adopted the Jewish custom of providing the worshipers with fountains or basins of water (see Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl." X. 4, 40), exactly astlic Temple, or Tabernacle, had the laver, or the molten sea, for the use of the priests (Ex. xxx. IS; II Chron. iv. 2, 6). The rabbis instituted a special benediction to be recited every morning: "Blessed be Thou O Lord. King of the Universe, who hastsjinctitied isby Thy laws and commanded us to wash the hands " Her. (il)/<). Some erroneously derive the term used for washing, " n< Ulat yndtiyim" (lifting >ip of the hands) from natia Greek av-/.foi' (B. B. .586; seeS. Frilnkel, "Aramiiische Fremdworter ini Arabischen," p. 6.5), the name for the jar of water used (IIul. 107«); others, from the prescribed manner of poiring the water upon the uplifted hands until it reacliecl uji to the wrist (perek) Yad. ii. 3; Tosef., Yad. ii. 2; Sotah, 4i but it seems rather to be taken from P.s. cxxxiv. 2, "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord " referred in Targ. Yer. to the olliciating iiriests. The Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 32. also have the rule, "Let all the faithful, whether men or women, when they rise from sleep, before they go to work, pray, after having washed themselves" (vitpa/ievoi (
=
—
—
!
=
"washed
their hands").
Among the Jlohammedans the ablution preparatory to prayer, called inizt'i. becomes far more burdensome because it is required five times a day l)cfore each of the stated prayers, beAblution fore touching the holy Koran, and after among'
Mohammedans.
every ritual detilenient and the wa.sliing of each band and pari of the face is accompanied by pniyer: "O believ;
ers,
when
3'e
prejiare j'ourselvcs for
wash your faces and hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles" (Koran, sura v. 8). In all the principal mosques l)ra}'er
there are tanks or wells, which supply water for tlu' rites of Ablution (T. P. Hughes, "Dictionary of
Islam
" s.v.
"Ablution
").
the Jews, Ablution was also required before each meal, inasmuch as the participation in the meal by the members of the Pliariscan brotlierliood was to assume the sjime character as the siicriticial or sacred meal, of which the priest could partake only after having undergone the rite of Ablution and the name of God had to be pronounced over it, as was done over the sacrifice (I Sam. ix. 13, xvi. .5). According to rabbinical tradition. King Solomon, the builder of the Temple with its molten sea, instituted the practise (Shab. 14A; 'Er. 216). The twofold injunction, " Sanctify yourselves and be ye holy " ( Lev. XX. 7), was interpreted as commanding a twofold Ab-
With
lution, the
70
second being
after meals (Ber. (" Life of Jesus," ii.
preparation for the grace 4:V', W>). Edersheira erroneously identities the ma-
.5:V):
1
1
)
in
s<e
and iimi/iiii iihiirniiha with the lighnnut and .ihuiiji'it uf Yadayim, and says: "The 'tirst waters' were poired upon the uplifted hands to remove thedetilement. and if the walerdid not reach up to the wrist the hands were not clean while the second waters were to wash away the water hat had ahsorljcd the detilenient. These pourings preceded the grace before meals ami to this reference is made in Mark, vii. 3: The Phariseesaml all the .lews eat not except they wash their hands to the wrist " (ti)u;(; !/im
n'K/iDiiiiii
'
'
t
'
'
In the Mishnaic V. often reads as if = -mvii). time only the ablution after the meal is spoken of by the Ilillelites and Shanmiaites (Ber. iii. 1). The wa.shing of tlw hands afier the meal—originally a soon fell into sjinctitication before saying grace desuetude. In vain the Amoraim contended that this duty was superior to the ablution jireceding the meal (Yoma. XWi; lIul. WVm). Liter rationalists exI)lained the custom away, as having ari.sen from the danger of wiping the eyes with fingers on which the salt of Sodom, used in the food, might have remained, and therefore declared it antiiiuated (Tosef., '
.v.
'
—
Aruk, Oral.i Ber. 536; Alfasi, Ber. 48/<; "Shulhan Hayyim." ^ 181. 10). Akiba. when in In the prison, deprived himself of the wat<T Mishnaic given him to quench his thirst rather Time. than neglect the rite of Ablution (Er. 216); and according to the Mishnah the ]ieople at large might only in extreme cases, as on a battle-field, dispense with the rite (Er. i. 10, p. 17«). According to one of the Amoraim. the eating of bread '
with unwashed and undried hands is eating unclean bread, or is tantamount to committing an act of imchastity according to others it leads to sudden <lestruction or poverty (Sotah. 46; Shab. 026). Still Hab sjiysdiul. 1006). " One may perform the rite of Ablution in the morning and take care that it should apply to the meals of the whole day." Anomalous as this teaching of an amora may seem, it was probably the sjime for which Eleazar b. Hanok was long before exconununicated, as undermining the authority of the elders (see 'Eduy. v. (i). A similar opposition was shown bv Simeon the Essene (ha-Zenu'a = "the Saint"), Tosef., Kclim, B. K. i. O', who entered the holy place without having washed his hands and feet, claiming a greater degree of holiness for himself than the higli priest because of his ascetic
life.
This seems to
ca.st
new
light on the attitude of
.Jesus toward the rabbinical law of Ablution. According to Matt. XV. 1-20 and Mark, vii. 1-23, Pharisees and scribes that had come from Jeru.saleni had seen .some of the disciples eat their bread with profane
unwashed, hands: for. ssiysMark. the Pharisees and all the .Jews, unless they wash their hands up to the wri.st (see Edersheim. /.<•.). eat not, holding fast to the tradition of the elders; and when they come fnmi the market-place, except they have The Pharifirst sprinkled themselves, they eat not. sees and the scribes ask Jesus: "Why walk not thy disciples according to the traditions of the elders, but eat their bread with profane hands?" And he answers them " Well did Isjiiah prophesy of you Pharisees (hypocrites), This people draw nigh with their mouth, and with their li])s they honor me; but their heart is far from me and their fear of me is a precept of men learned by rote (Isa. xxix. 13, Masoretic textV Ye leave the conunandment of God and hold fast to the tradition of men " (compare the rabbinical phrase niin I'T b]l DH'jn ITDVn. B. M. 306). What follows in ilark, or precedes in JIatthew, has (luillin), that is.
'
'
