Ritual washing in Judaism
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In Judaism, ritual washing, or ablution, takes two main forms. Tevilah (טְבִילָה) is a full body immersion in a mikveh, and netilat yadayim is the washing of the hands with a cup (see Handwashing in Judaism).
References to ritual washing are found in the Hebrew Bible, and are elaborated in the Mishnah and Talmud. They have been codified in various codes of Jewish law and tradition, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (12th century) and Joseph Karo's Shulchan Aruch (16th century). These practices are most commonly observed within Orthodox Judaism. In Conservative Judaism, the practices are normative, with certain leniencies and exceptions. Ritual washing is not generally performed in Reform Judaism.
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible requires immersion of the body in water as a means of purification in several circumstances, for example:
- And when the zav is cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.[1]
There are also references to hand-washing:
- And whoever the zav touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.[2]
- I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar, O LORD.[3]
Priests were required to wash their hands and feet before service in the Temple:
- Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, whereat to wash; and thou shalt put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; when they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to cause an offering made by fire to smoke unto the LORD.[4]
Washing the hands
According to
Full-body immersion (Tevilah)
There are several occasions on which
This article discusses the requirements of immersion in Rabbinic Judaism and its descendants. Some other branches of Judaism, such as Haymanot Judaism, have substantially different practices including the requirement of an actual spring or stream.
Current practice
Occasions on which full-body immersion is currently practiced include:
- After a woman's niddah period concludes following menstruation or other uterine bleeding, she must immerse and only then is permitted to resume sexual relations with her husband.[5] This practice remains the principal use of contemporary mikvehs. It is fully observed in Orthodox Judaism, and normative in Conservative Judaism.
- Some Orthodox men immerse after having a seminal discharge (keri).[6]
- In Orthodox Judaism, there is a widespread three pilgrimage festivals and before Rosh Hashanah. Many also immerse themselves before the Shabbat, and many (primarily Hasidic Jews) do so daily before morning prayers.
- A convert to Judaism must immerse.[7]
- Taharah, ("Purification"), the ritual washing and cleansing, and immersion in a mikveh according to many customs, of a Jew's body prior to burial
- Prior to ascending the Masortiauthorities who permit ascending the Temple Mount)
Past practice
Bodily fluids and skin conditions
The Torah prescribes rituals addressing the skin condition known as tzaraath[8] and unusual genital discharges in a man or woman (Zav/Zavah),[9] which required special sacrifices and rituals in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem including immersion in a mikveh.
The practice of checking for tzaraath fell out of use with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the end of sacrificial rites. However, each of the other requirements remains in effect to some extent in Orthodox Judaism and (to a lesser degree) in Conservative Judaism.
Zavah
A woman experiencing uterine blood, not part of normal menstruation, was classified as a zavah in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem and remained in a state of ritual impurity for seven days before immersion. Today, the law of zavah remains in effect in Orthodox Judaism, in two respects. Due to extreme conditions in Roman Palestine in the time of the Amoraim, women's periods became irregular, and women became unable to determine whether or not their discharges were regular (niddah) or irregular (zavah). As a result, women adapted a stringency combining the niddah and zavah periods, refraining from intercourse and physical contact with their husbands for seven days of the zavah period following menstruation, for a total of approximately 12 days per month, which Orthodox women continue to observe today. The laws of zavah are also applied, as in Biblical times, to uterine blood discharges outside regular menstruation. Such circumstances are often interpreted leniently, however, and rabbinic stratagems have been devised to lessen their severity. Women experiencing irregularities (droplets) are sometimes advised to wear coloured underwear to mitigate the detectability of evidence of zavah status and hence a need to determine that a woman is a zavah.
Keri
Men experiencing a seminal discharge, including through regular marital intercourse, were prohibited from entering the Temple in Jerusalem and required to immerse in a mikveh, remaining ritually impure until the evening. The Talmud ascribes to the Great Assembly of Ezra a Rabbinic decree imposing further restrictions on men ritually impure from a seminal discharge, including a prohibition on studying Torah and from participating in services.
Contact with an animal carcass
According to
Contact with a corpse
Anyone who came into contact with a human
Treatment of a corpse
No explicit regulations are expressed in the bible concerning the treatment of a corpse itself, although historic rabbinical sources saw an implication that the dead should be thoroughly washed per
In the early periods, the body was washed in a standard mikveh,[19] and this is frequently the form of the ritual in the present day, but the traditional washing ceremony, known as tahara, became quite detailed over time. A special building for the corpse-washing existed in the cemetery in 15th century Prague,[24] a practice which obtains in many Jewish communities today; a mikveh is provided at a number of ancient tombs. Female corpses are traditionally cleaned only by other females, and males only by other males.[19]
Between death and the traditional ceremony, the body is placed on the ground, and covered with a sheet, and at the start of the traditional ceremony, the body is lifted from the ground onto a special board or slab (a tahara board), so that it lies facing the door, with a white sheet underneath.[19] The clothes are then removed from the corpse (if they were not removed when the corpse was placed on the ground), and at this point Ezekiel 5:15 is recited by the enactors of the ritual, as it refers to the removal of filthy clothes.[19] Following this, the body is thoroughly rubbed with lukewarm water, with the mouth of the corpse covered so that water does not enter it;[19] the next part of the ritual is the pouring of water over the head, while Ezekiel 36:25 is quoted, since it refers to the sprinkling of water to produce cleanness;[19] and then each limb is washed downwards, while Canticles 5:11 and the following verses, which describe the beauty of elements of the body, are spoken.[19] Finally, nine measures of cold water are poured over the body while it is upright, which is the core element of the ceremony, and it is then dried (according to some customs), and enshrouded;[19] in ancient times the hair and nails were also cut, but by the 19th century, the hair was merely combed, and the nails were just cleansed with a special pin, unless their length is excessive.[19] After the ceremony, the taharah board is washed and dried, but is kept facing the same way, as there is the belief that turning it the other way will cause another person to die within three days.[19] Many communities have replaced the pouring of nine measures by immersion in a specially constructed mikveh.
A more elaborate ceremony, known as the grand washing (rechitzah gedolah, רחיצה גדולה), is available for the corpses of the more significant individuals; Hillel the Elder is traditionally credited with its invention. According to this latter form of ceremony, the water used for washing was perfumed by rose, myrtle, or aromatic spices; the use of spices was an ancient practice,[25] and the Mishnah especially mentions the washing ceremonies using myrtle.[26]
Yom Kippur
The biblical regulations of
Reason for contemporary observance
Both Orthodox and Conservative Judaism currently have multiple views on the reason for contemporary observance of ritual washing and immersion obligation.
In Orthodox Judaism, opinion is generally split between a view that maintains that those Biblical rules related to
In December 2006, Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards issued three responsa on the subject of Niddah. All three ruled the traditional requirements of ritual washing remained in effect for Conservative Jews (with some leniencies and liberalization of interpretation), but disagreed on the reasoning for continuing this practices, as well as on the validity of specific leniencies. Two of the opinions reflect reasoning similar to the respective Orthodox views (Biblical requirements or rabbinic ordinances enacted in remembrance of the Temple.) A third opinion expressed the view that Conservative Judaism should disconnect ritual purity practices from the Temple in Jerusalem or its memory, and offered a new approach based on what it called the concept of holiness, rather than the concept of purity. Thus, Conservative Judaism, under its philosophy of pluralism, supports a range of views on this subject, from views similar to the Orthodox view to views expressing a need for a contemporary re-orientation.
History and commentary
Both traditional religious and secular scholars agree that ritual washing in Judaism was derived by the Rabbis of the Talmud from a more extensive set of ritual washing and purity practices in use in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, based on various verses in the Hebrew Scriptures and received traditions. There is disagreement, however, about the origins and meanings of these practices.
According to the editors of the 1906
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the historic requirement for priests to first wash their hands, together with the classical rabbinical belief that non-priest were also required to wash their hands before taking part in a holy act, such as prayer, was adhered to very strongly, to the extent that Christianity adopted the practice, and provided worshippers with fountains and basins of water in Churches, in a similar manner to the "Molten Sea" in the Jerusalem Temple functioning as a laver.[32][33] Although Christianity did not adopt the requirement for priests to wash feet before worship, in Islam the practice was extended to the congregation and expanded into wudu.[19]
According to
According to the 1906 Jewish encyclopedia, The Letter of Aristeas states that creators of the Septuagint washed their hands in the sea each morning before prayer;[36] Josephus states that this custom was the reason for the traditional location of synagogues near water.[37] Biblical scholars regard this custom as an imitation by the laity of the behaviour of the priests.[19] A baraita offers, as justification for the ritual of hand-washing after waking, the belief that a spirit of impurity rests upon each person during the night, and will not leave until the person's hands are washed,[38] and the Zohar argues that body is open to demonic possession during sleep because the soul temporarily leaves the body during it;[19] the kabbalah argues that death awaits anyone who walks more than four yards from their bed without ablution.[19] According to [specify], the cup containing the water has to be able to carry a certain amount [specify] of water, and it should have two handles[citation needed].
According to Peake's commentary on the Bible, the Priestly Code specifies that individuals were washed before they could become members of the Jewish priesthood,[39] and similarly requires Levites to be cleansed before they assume their work.[40] Peake's commentary states that although Biblical rules regarding ritual purification following bodily discharges clearly have sanitary uses, they ultimately originated from the taboos against contact with blood and semen, due to the belief that these contained life, more than any other bodily fluid, or any other aspect of the body.[11]
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in Waters of Life connects the laws of impurity to the narrative in the beginning of Genesis. According to Genesis, Adam and Eve had brought death into the world by eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Kaplan points out that most of the laws of impurity relate to some form of death (or in the case of niddah the loss of a potential life). One who comes into contact with one of the forms of death must then immerse in water which is described in Genesis as flowing out of the Garden of Eden (the source of life) in order to cleanse oneself of this contact with death (and by extension of sin).[41]
Mikveh in symbolic experience and biblical typology
Immersing in a mikveh can be a symbolic act connecting a person to ancestral experiences.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2021) |
- Noah's arkand the Flood
- Crossing the Red Sea
- The priests bearing the ark of the covenant lead the Israelites under Joshua across the Jordan River § Hebrew Bible
See also
- Ablution (disambiguation)
- Ablution in Christianity
- Ghusl in Islam
- Handwashing in Judaism
- Mikveh
- Niddah
- Ritual purification
- Ritual washing in Mandaism
- Tevilat Keilim
- Tumah and taharah
- Wudu
References
- ^ Leviticus 15:13
- ^ Leviticus 15:11
- ^ Psalms 26:6
- ^ Exodus 30:18–20
- ^ Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbath 64b.
- ^ Although the Shulchan Aruch (OC 88) rules that they repealed the requirement of this immersion, it is still considered a pious practice to continue to observe it.
- ^ Rabbi Maurice Lamm. "The Mikveh's Significance in Traditional Conversion". My Jewish Learning.
- ^ Leviticus 14:8–9
- ^ Leviticus 15:5–10
- ^ Leviticus 17:15
- ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
- ^ Deuteronomy 14:21
- ^ Numbers 19:19
- ^ Numbers 19:7–8
- Encyclopedia Biblica
- ^ Leviticus 16:26
- ^ Sophocles, Ajax, 664
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid, 2:217
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ masoretic text of Numbers 19:9
- ^ Ecclesiastes 5:15
- ^ Sefer Hasidim 560
- ^ Genesis Rabbah 38:5
- ^ Sefer haMaharil
- ^ 2 Chronicles 16:14
- Beitzah6a; Berachot 8:1
- ^ Leviticus 16:24, 16:26, 16:28
- ^ Yoma 3:3
- ^ Jutta Leonhardt Jewish worship in Philo of Alexandria Page 270 - 2001 3 Ritual washing Washing is used for ritual purification in the context of the Temple worship. In Som. I 81, Philo quotes Lev 22 6 f, which states that no one is permitted to eat from holy things "unless the body is washed with water".
- ^ The Qumran community - Page 92 Michael Anthony Knibb - 1987 -"10-13, and among the many cisterns at Qumran, two basins have been identif1ed which served as baths and were perhaps used for ... Unclean, unclean shall he be as long as he rejects the precepts of God: The language is drawn from Lev."
- ^ Mark 7:3–9
- ^ Exodus 30:18
- ^ 2 Chronicles 4:2–6
- ^ Herodotus, 2:37
- ^ Hesiod, Works and Days, 722
- ^ Aristeas 305
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14:10:23
- ^ Baraita in Shabbat 109a
- ^ Exodus 29:1–4
- ^ Numbers 8:15
- ^ Aryeh Kaplan, Waters of Life