Ritual washing in Judaism

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In Judaism , ritual washing , or wudhu, take two major forms. A tevilah (????????) is full immersion in mikveh, and netilat yadayim who wash their hands with a cup (see Handwashing in Yudaism).

References to ritual washes are found in the Hebrew Bible, and are described 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 Shulchan Aruch (16th century). most often observed in Orthodox Judaism. In Conservative Judaism, the practice is normative with certain exceptions and exceptions. Ritual washing is not generally done in Reform Judaism.

Video Ritual washing in Judaism

Alkitab Ibrani

The Hebrew Scriptures include various rules about bathing: And anyone who has a problem (a zav , ejaculant with an unusual discharge) touches without rinsing his hands in the water, he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in the water , and becomes unclean until evening. (Leviticus 15:11)

The next seven clean days are then required, culminating in the ritual and temple offerings before the zav cleared of his illness:

Now if one has a running runaway will be cleansed from his escape, he must count his own seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in running water; and he must be clean. And on the eighth day, he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and he shall come to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give it to the priest. (Leviticus 15: 13-14)

And also a reference to hand washing:

I will wash my hands innocently; so will I guide your altar, O Lord (Psalm 26: 6)

Maps Ritual washing in Judaism

Second Period of the Last Temple

Philo of Alexandria refers to ritual washing in the context of the Temple and the Priesthood, but also speaks of spiritual "washing". In the Qumran basin that serves as a bath has been identified, and among the Dead Sea scrolls, the texts preserving the purity of the rituals reflect the Levitical requirements.

src: kulam.org

Rabbinical Judaism

Both traditional and secular religious scholars agree that washing rituals in Judaism originated by the Rabbis Talmud from a broader set of ritual laundering and purity practices used at the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, based on various verses in the Hebrew Scriptures and accepting tradition. But there is disagreement about the origin and meaning of these practices. This article first describes these practices as they are in contemporary traditional Judaism, then discusses alternative perspectives on their nature, origin, and meaning.

Traditional Judaism requires some sort of ritual washing. Some of these types do not require a special ritual body of water (and can be done with tap water):

1. Netilat yadayim ("Generating [after hand ritual washing]), also known as Mayim Rishonim food
   1. Mayim acharonim ("After-water") the ritual or ritual washing habits of a person after eating, to protect themselves from touching the eyes with a hazardous residue.
2. Netilat Yadayim Shacharit ("Generating [after ritual washing] morning hand"), when waking in the morning after a full night's sleep, or even after a long nap, on one's hand, alternating three times.
3. Netilat of the damn (without the blessing) to remove tuma ("unclean") after:
   1. Touching objects that pass home like:
      1. Body parts that are usually covered (private parts, backs, arm holes, etc.)
      2. Inside the nose or ear
      3. Scalp (but not just touching hair)
      4. Leather shoes
      5. Animals that are ritualally unclean or insects
   2. Cut one's hair or nail
   3. Take off someone's shoes
   4. Visit the cemetery
   5. Sexual contact. Some communities observe the requirement to wash one's body (which may be done with tap water) after the above or after a seminal emission as this activity makes men a good person (a person who is not pure because of ejaculation.)
4. After visiting the bathroom, the ritual of washing someone's hands as a symbol of body hygiene and removing human impurities - see Netilat yadayim above.
5. To delete meet ("uncleanness from death") after participating in a funeral procession or coming in four cubits from the body
6. During Passover Seder, netilat yadayim performed without blessing read, before eating vegetables, called karpas , before the main meal.
7. Every Kohen present has his ritualized ritual in synagogue by Levi'im (the Levites) before pronouncing Berkah Priestly in front of the congregation.
8. Some people have a habit of washing their hands before the clerk jobs

Other events require full immersion in a special water body, such as springs, streams, or microwaves:

1. By a Jewish woman married after her niddah period ends after menstruation or other uterine bleeding and she wants to continue a husband and wife relationship with her husband. This requires special preparation.
2. The previous day ("night") Yom Kippur and other festivals
3. By some Orthodox Jews on Friday afternoon (in preparation for Shabbat)
4. When converting to Judaism.
5. Taharah , ("Purification"), ritual washing and cleaning, and immersion in mikveh according to some customs, from the body of a Jew before burial.

Temple Mount

Before boarding the Temple Mount by the Orthodox authorities allowing it to rise to the Temple Mount (and also by the Masorti movement in Israel). For this purpose ordinary mikveh is not enough - it requires a pool of "living water", ie springs, streams, or ponds attached to one.

According to Conservative Judaism

Some rabbis in Conservative Judaism suggest unmarried women who choose to engage in sexual activity to also observe niddah and immersion.

Wash hands

Generally speaking in Jewish law

The Talmud uses the requirements of washing hands in Leviticus 15:11 as a guide to the law of public washing, using the asmachta <- the form of talmud hermeneutics in which the verse is used as a guide of exegesis.

The general Hebrew term for ritual hand washing is netilat yadayim , which means raising hands . The term "handwashing" after excretion is sometimes referred to as "to wash asher yatzar " which refers to the word blessing that begins with these words.

Halakha (Jewish law) requires that the water used to wash rituals is naturally pure, unused, contains no other substances, and will not change color. Water should also be poured from the vessel as a human act, on the basis of biblical references to this practice, eg. Elisha poured water into Elijah's hand. Water should be poured on each hand at least twice. A clean dry substance should be used instead if water is not available.

How performance

The contemporary practice is to pour water on each hand three times for most purposes using a cup, and alternate hands between each occurrence; This ritual is now known as Yiddish negel vasser , which means water spikes . The term Yiddish is also used for special cups used for such washing.

Blessing

???????? ?????? ?? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????????? ????????????? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??????? Blessed are you, HaShem, our God, the King of the universe who has sanctified us by His commands, and has commanded us to raise our hands.

At meal

The Babylonian Talmud discusses two types of washing at meals: washing before meals is described as the first water (the Hebrew term is mayim rishonim ), and after the meal is known as the last waters (the Hebrew term is mayim aharonim ). The first term generally falls from contemporary usage; the second term is stuck. The modern term for the first is Ntillat yadayim , washing hands. Washing before meals is normative in Orthodox Judaism.

Babylonian Babylonian rage contains homiletical descriptions of the importance of practice, including an argument that washing before meals is so important that ignoring it equals impurity, and the risk of divine punishment in the form of sudden destruction or poverty. Discussion of mayim acharonim , washing after meals, suggesting that washing after meals, as a health measure, is more important than two washes, on the grounds that salt is used as a preservative in food. can cause blindness if eyes are rubbed without washing.

Although mayim acharonim was not widely practiced (for example, to date has not appeared in many of the Orthodox Easter Haggadah) has experienced something of revival and has become more widely observed in recent years, especially for specialty foods such as Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Conservative Judaism has endorsed the cessation of the practice of the achimonim caliphs on the grounds that the rabbis of the Talmud instituted it as a health act, and because modern food no longer contained a very dangerous preservative causing blindness in contact with eyes, washing hands after eating is no longer needed and can be stopped by contemporary rabbinical decisions.

Just washing before meals is generally done outside of Orthodox Judaism.

Before worship

According to Shulchan Aruch , one should wash both hands before the prayer, based on a tradition requiring ritual purification upon entering the Temple in Jerusalem, where no prayer, in Orthodox Judaism, functions in its place.

Before Priestly Blessing

In Orthodox Judaism (and, in some cases, in Conservative Judaism), Kohanim, a member of the priesthood class, offers the Blessing of the Priesthood Blessings before the congregation on certain occasions. Before running their office, they should wash their hands. Judaism has traditionally traced this requirement to the Torah:

And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there; when they enter the tent of meeting, they will wash with water, that they are not dead; or when they approach the altar to serve, causing a fire offering to smoke to GOD.

It is common for the Levites to pour water into Kohanim's hands and help them in other ways. In many communities, washing the feet before Priesthood Coverage is not practiced in the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem.

After sleep

The Talmud stated that God instructed the Jews to wash their hands and give texts of the blessings of the netilat yadaim still in use.

According to Shulchan Aruch someone who slept had to take a shower after awake, and said thanks to licked the yadayim .

Full-body immersion (Tvilah)

There are occasions where biblical or rabbinical rules require the immersion of the whole body, referred to as tv . Depending on the circumstances, such bathing rituals may require soaking in "living water" - either by natural flow or by using mikveh (a specially built ritual bath, directly connected to natural water sources, such as springs).

This article discusses immersion requirements in Rabbinic Judaism and its derivatives. Some other schools of Judaism, such as Falasha Judaism, have substantially different practices including the needs of springs or actual flow.

Conversion to Judaism

Judaism requires converts to Judaism to immerse themselves in water in mikveh or "living water" bodies.

Body fluids and skin conditions

The Torah regulates rituals dealing with skin conditions known as tzaraath and unusual sex with a man or woman (Zav/Zavah), requiring special sacrifices and rituals on the days of the Temple in Jerusalem including immersion on a mikveh. In addition, the period of ritual impurity follows the release of semen ( keri ) and the female period niddah (menstruation), ending with an immersion ritual.

The practice of examining tzaraath was not used with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the end of the sacrifice ceremony. However, each of the other requirements remained in force to some extent within Orthodox Judaism and (to a lesser extent) within Conservative Judaism.

Niddah

Niddah remains fully observed in Orthodox Judaism and normative in Conservative Judaism. Immersion of female rituals before sexual intercourse after their niddah period remains a major use of contemporary micros.

Zavah

A woman who has uterine blood is not part of normal menstruation is classified as zavah on the days of the Temple in Jerusalem and remains in a ritual impurity state for 7 days before immersion. Today, the law of zavah remains in force in Orthodox Judaism, in two ways. Due to the extreme conditions in Roman Palestine at the time of the Amorites, the period of women became disordered, and women became unable to determine whether their deliverance was orderly (irregular) or irregular ( zavah ). As a result, women adapt the assertiveness that incorporates the period of niddah and zavah, refraining from sexual intercourse and physical contact with their husbands for seven days from the zavah period the next menstruation, for a total of about 12 days per month, which Orthodox women continue to observe today. The laws of zavah are also applied, as in biblical times, to the expulsion of the uterine blood outside of regular menstruation. Such circumstances are often interpreted weakly, however, and rabbinic strategies have been designed to reduce their severity. Women who experience disorganization (droplets) are sometimes advised to wear colored underwear to reduce the ability to detect proof of status zavah and therefore it is necessary to determine that a woman is a zavah .

Keri

Men who experience semen release, including through ordinary marital relationships, are prohibited from entering the Temple in Jerusalem and are required to immerse themselves in mikveh, remaining ritually impure until evening. The Talmud calls the Ezra Majlis a Rabbinic edict which imposes further restrictions on men who are ritually impure from the release of semen, including the prohibition to study the Torah and from participating in the service.

Maimonides wrote a response that lifted Ezra's decree, based on the Talmud's opinion that it had failed to be observed by the majority of the people and the Jews found themselves unable to defend it. However, Maimonides continues to follow the limits of Keri as a matter of personal obedience. Since then, adherence to the Keri rule and hence the use of ordinary mikveh by men has become unused in many communities. Hasidic Judaism, however, revived the usual practice of using mikveh, advocating the use of a regular daily mikveh as a way to achieve spiritual purity. The growth of Hasidic Judaism resulted in a revival of the use of mikveh by men. In addition, some Sephardic and Mizrahi communities continue to observe the rules of keri throughout.

Death

Contact with carcass

According to Leviticus, anyone who came into contact with or brought any creature that was accidentally killed by the shechita was considered by the biblical rule to have made themselves unclean by doing so, and therefore forced to soak their whole body. This rule was immediately preceded by the rules for not eating anything that was still bloody, and according to biblical scholars, this is also the regulatory context of non-sacrificial eating - that the regulation only treats such consumption as unclean if there is a risk of blood remaining in the carcass. In the version of this rule in Deuteronomy, eating the bodies of such beings is not described as making the individual ritually impure, nor does it require the eater to wash their bodies, but on the contrary such consumption is expressly forbidden, even though the creature is permitted to be transmitted to a stranger , which is allowed to eat it.

Contact with corpse

Anyone who comes in contact with human bodies, or graves, is so impure ritual that they should be sprinkled with water resulting from the ritual of the oxen, to be pure again; However, people who perform red buffalo rituals and who sprinkle water, should be treated as having become ritually impure by doing so. According to biblical scholars, this ritual comes from the same origin as the ritual described in Deuteronomy for a group of people to redeem the killing by an unknown offender, stating that an ox was killed in a river, and hands were washed over it; Biblical scholars believe that these are basically cases of sympathetic magic, and similar rituals exist in Greek and Roman mythology. The masoretic text describes the water produced from the ritual of the red bull as a sin offering; some English translations ignore this detail, as it is different from other sacrificial sacrifices by not being killed on the altar, though biblical scholars believe that this shows the failure by this translation to understand the meaning of the sin offering.

Mortgage

There is no explicit rule expressed in the Bible concerning the treatment of the corpse itself, although historical rabbinical sources see the implication that the dead should be thoroughly washed per Ecclesiastes, when children are washed at birth; according to Eliezer ben Joel HaLevi, a prominent rishon, argues that corpses should be cleaned carefully, including ears and fingers, with nails peeled and combed hair, so that the corpse can be put to rest in the way people it visited the synagogue during life. Washing corpses was not observed among the Jews living in Babylon Persia, whom they were criticized as dying in dirt, without candles and without bathing; at that time, the non-Jewish Persians were predominantly Zoroastrians, and consequently believed that the corpses were inherently ritually unclean, and had to be confronted with the elements in the Tower of Silence to avoid polluting the earth with them.

In the early period the body was washed in standard microphones, and this is often a ritual form in the present, but the traditional washing ceremony, known as tahara , is very detailed from time to time. A special building to wash the corpse is in a cemetery in 15th century Prague, a practice gained in many Jewish communities today; a mikveh is provided in some ancient tombs. Female corpses are traditionally only cleansed by other females, and males only by other males.

Between the death and the traditional ceremony, the body is placed on the ground, and covered with a sheet, and at the beginning of the traditional ceremony, the body is lifted from the ground to the special board or plate (a throne board), so it is located facing the door, bottom of it. The garments were then removed from the corpse (if they were not released when the body was placed on the ground), and at this point Yehezkiel 5:15 was read by the ceremony executives, as this refers to the removal of dirty clothing.. After this, the body is thoroughly rubbed with warm water, with the dead mouth closed so water does not enter; the next part of the ritual is pouring water over the head, while Yehezkiel 36:25 is quoted, as it refers to the splash of water to produce cleanliness; and then each limb is washed down, while Kidung 5:11 and the following verses, which illustrate the beauty of body elements, are pronounced. Finally, nine sized cold water poured over the body as erect, which is the core element of the ceremony, and then dried (according to some custom), and covered; In ancient times hair and nails were also cut, but in the 19th century the hair was only combed, and nails were only cleaned with special pins, except for excessive lengths. After the ceremony, the board Taharah was washed and dried, but still facing the same direction, because there is superstition with the belief that changing it in other ways will cause others to die within 3 days. Many communities have replaced nine steps of casting with dyeing in a specially constructed microphone.

More complicated ceremonies, known as grand washing ( gedolah rehizah ), are available for corpses of more significant individuals; Hillel the Elder is traditionally credited with his invention. According to this final form of ceremony, the water used for washing is colored with roses, myrtle, or aromatic; the use of spices is an ancient practice, and Misnah especially mentions a wash ceremony using myrtle.

src: www.myjewishlearning.com

Yom Kippur

The Biblical Rule of Yom Kippur obliges the Jewish high officials to bathe in water after sending the scapegoat to Azazel, and the same terms are imposed on the person who brought the scapegoat away, and the one who burns the sacrifices during the ritual of the day. Misnah states that the High Priest must immerse himself five times, and his hands and feet should be washed ten times.

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Ritual Immersion by men

In modern Orthodox Judaism, there is a wide minhag for the laity including men to immerse themselves on the day before Yom Kippur and often do so before the three pilgrimage festivals, and before Rosh Hashanah; some Haredi Jews also immersed themselves at least before the Shabbat, and some Hasidist Jews did it every day before the dawn prayers.

src: www.thoughtco.com

The reason for contemporary obedience

Both Orthodox and Conservative Judaism today have some insight into the reasons for contemporary obedience washing rituals and immersion obligations.

In Orthodox Judaism, opinions are generally divided between views which maintain that the biblical rules related to ritual purity which are likely to be observed in the absence of the Temple and a Red heifer remain valid and the Jews remain obliged to observe them as they can, and the view that the requirement of the abandonment of biblical rituals is valid only in the presence of the Temple in Jerusalem and the present rules only represent the rabbinical ordinances, practices established by the Rabbis to commemorate the Temple.

In December 2006, the Conservative Judaism Committee on Jewish Law and Standard issued three responses on the Niddah issue. The three decided the traditional requirements of washing rituals still apply to Conservative Jews (with some ease and liberalization of interpretation), but disagreed over the reasons for continuing this practice as well as on the validity of certain sophistication. Two opinions reflect reasoning similar to the Orthodox view (biblical requirements or rabbinic rules promulgated as a memorial to the Temple). The third opinion expressed the view that Conservative Judaism should decide the practice of ritual purity of the Temple in Jerusalem or its memory, and offer a new approach based on what is called the concept of holiness rather than the concept of sanctity. Thus, the Conservative ideology, under the philosophy of pluralism, supports various views on this subject, from a view similar to the Orthodox view to a view that expresses the need for contemporary reorientation. Most Conservative Jews disobey the niddah law.

src: www.bible.ca

Contemporary historical and scientific comments

According to the editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, the phrase netilat yadaim refers to hand washing, literally "hand-lift", either from Psalm 134: 2, or from the Greek word natla (??????? in Hebrew ???????), referring to the jars of water used. The Jewish Encyclopedia states that many historical Jewish writers, and especially the Pharisees, considered it to mean that water should be poured into raised hands, and that they can not be considered clean until the water reaches the wrist. This is commented on by the Synoptic Gospels, which states that these groups did not eat until they had washed their hands on the wrist, but the gospel slammed them for this, arguing that it was only followed as a striking tradition, ignoring religious obligations, and that washing hands it is useless without religious duties to be obeyed, and insignificant if the inner obligations, such as giving everyone's property to the poor, are followed.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the historical requirement for priests to first wash their hands, along with classical rabbinical beliefs that non-priests are also required to wash their hands before partaking in sacred acts, such as prayer, are obeyed so strongly Christianity adopted the practice, and provided worshipers with water fountains and water basins in the Church, in a manner similar to the "Molten Seas" in the Jerusalem Temple that served as a vessel. Although Christianity did not adopt the requirement for priests to wash their feet before worship, in Islam the practice was extended to trial and expanded into wudu.

According to Peake's Commentary on the Bible, Bible scholars consider the Kohanim's requirements to wash their hands before the Priestly Blessing as taboos for profane making contact with the sacred, and similar practices exist in other religions of the period and territory. The Jewish Encyclopedia recounted that according to Herodotus, Egyptian priests were asked to wash themselves twice daily and twice overnight in cold water, and according to Hesiod the Greeks were forbidden pouring black wine into one of the gods in the morning, unless they first washed their hands.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906, The Letter of Aristeas states that the creators of the Septuagint washed their hands at sea every morning before praying; Josephus states that this custom is the reason for the location of a traditional synagogue near water. Bible scholars regard this custom as an imitation of the layman's behavior. A baraita offers, as a justification for ritual handwashing after awakening, the belief that the impurity spirits lie in everyone at night, and will not go until the hand of the person is washed, and Zohar argues that the body is open. belongs to the devil during sleep because of the soul while leaving the body for that long; Kabbalah argues that death awaits anyone who walks more than four meters from their bed without wudu. According to, a cup containing water should be able to carry a certain amount of water, and should have two handles.

According to Peake's commentary on the Bible, the Priestly Code specifies that the individuals were washed before they could become members of the Jewish priesthood, and also required the Levites to be cleansed before they assumed it. their work. Peake's comment states that although the biblical rules about purifying rituals after the release of the body clearly have the use of sanitory, they ultimately derive from taboos against contact with blood and semen, due to the belief that it contains life, more than any other body fluid, or any other aspect of the body.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan at Waters of Life links the law of impurity with a narrative at the beginning of Genesis. According to Genesis, Adam and Eve had brought death to the world by eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Kaplan points out that most impurity laws deal with some form of death (or in the case of niddah potential loss of life). A person who makes contact with any form of death must then sink into the water described in Genesis as flowing out of the Garden of Eden (the source of life) to rid himself of this contact with death (and by extension of sin).

src: www.myjewishlearning.com

See also

• Wudu (disambiguation)
• Handwashing in Judaism
• Mikveh
• Niddah
• Purification ritual
• Tevilat Keilim
• Tumah dan taharah

src: rohatynjewishheritage.org

References

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External links

• Rabbi Eliezer Melamed - Netilat Yadayim's Law

Source of the article : Wikipedia