Ritual washing in Judaism
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.
Reason for contemporary observance[edit]
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 ritual purity that are possible to observe in the absence of a Temple and a red heifer remain in force, and Jews remain Biblically-obligated to observe such of them as they can, and a view that Biblical ritual impurity requirements apply only in the presence of a Temple in Jerusalem, and the current rules represent only rabbinic ordinances, practices decreed by the Rabbis in memory of the Temple.
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[edit]
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.
Philo of Alexandria refers to ritual washing in the context of the Temple and Leviticus, but also speaks of spiritual "washing".[29] At Qumran, basins which served as baths have been identified, and among the Dead Sea scrolls, texts on maintaining ritual purity reflect the requirements of Leviticus.[30]
According to the editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, the phrase netilat yadaim referring to washing of the hands, literally "lifting of the hands", is derived either from Psalm 134:2, or from the Greek word natla (αντλίον in Hebrew נַטְלָה), in reference to the jar of water used.[19] The Jewish Encyclopedia states that many historic Jewish writers, and particularly the Pharisees, took it to mean that water had to be poured out onto uplifted hands, and that they could not be considered clean until water had reached the wrist.[19] The Christian New Testament states that in Jesus' time, "Pharisees, and all the Jews" would not eat until they had washed their hands to the wrist, and it was noteworthy that Jesus and his followers did not wash.[31]
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 Peake's Commentary on the Bible, Biblical scholars regard the requirement of Kohanim washing their hands before the Priestly Blessing as an example of the taboo against the profane making contact with the sacred,[11] and similar practices are present in other religions of the period and region.[19] The Jewish Encyclopedia relates that according to Herodotus the Egyptian priests were required to wash themselves twice a day and twice a night in cold water,[34] and according to Hesiod the Greeks were forbidden from pouring out the black wine to any deity in the morning, unless they had first washed their hands.[35]
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 , the cup containing the water has to be able to carry a certain amount of water, and it should have two handles.
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]
Immersing in a mikveh can be a symbolic act connecting a person to ancestral experiences.