Ablution

Ablution is a term referring to washing, and can mean ordinary washing, hand washing, or washing of the body. By extension, ablutions can refer to a collection of regular activities taken to produce physical cleanliness, including washing but also tasks like oral hygiene, and shaving. It is most often a term used to refer to ritual washing for the purpose of ritual purification in conjunction with prayer within various religious traditions.

Ablution in Judaism

Ablution, or ritual washing, takes two main forms in Judaism: tevilah, full body immersion in a mikvah or body of "living water", and netilat yadayim, washing the hands with a cup. The first written records for these practices 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's Mishneh Torah (12th century) and Joseph Karo's Shulchan Arukh (16th century.) These customs are most commonly observed within Orthodox Judaism. In Conservative Judaism, the practices are normative with certain leniencies and exceptions.

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

• Negel vasser ("Nail water"), when getting up in the morning after a full night's sleep, or even after a lengthy nap, there is the custom to wash one's hands ritually by pouring a large cup of water over one's fingers, alternating three times. In the custom of some communities, it is also done without a blessing after engaging in sexual intercourse or other seminal emission.
• Netilat yadayim ("Raising [after ritually washing] the hands") which is done with a blessing, prior to eating any bread with a meal, and done without a blessing, after touching a tamei (ritually impure) object (such as one's private parts, leather shoes, or an insect or animal, or after paying a visit to a cemetery).
• Mayim acharonim ("After-waters") a law or custom of ritually washing off one's fingers after a meal, to protect oneself from touching the eyes with hazardous residue.[1]
• During a Passover Seder, a third washing of netilat yadayim[2] is performed without any blessing being recited, before the eating of a vegetable, called karpas, prior to the main meal.
• Before blessing of Asher yatzar ("Who created [the man]"). After having gone to the bathroom (and having either urinated or defecated), the ritual washing of one's hands as a symbol of both bodily cleanliness and of removing human impurity - see Netilat yadayim above.
• Every Kohen present has his hands ritually washed in synagogue by the Levi'im (Levites) before uttering the Priestly Blessing in front of the congregation.
• To remove tuma ("impurity") after cutting one's hair or nails.
• To remove tumat meit ("impurity from death") after participating in a funeral procession, or entering a cemetery, or coming wihtin four cubits of a corpse
• Some communities observe a requirement for washing one's body (which may be done with tap water) after experiencing a seminal emission, including ejaculation or receiving seminal fluid during sexual intercourse since these activities make the man baal keri (one who is impure due to ejaculation.)

Others require full immersion in special a body of water, such as a spring, stream, or mikva:

• By a married Jewish woman after her Niddah period concludes following menstruation or other uterine bleeding and she wishes to resume conjugal relations with her husband. This requires special preparation.
• The day before ("eve of") Yom Kippur and other Festivals
• By many Orthodox Jews on Friday afternoons (in preparation for Shabbos).
• When converting to Judaism.
• Tahara, ("Purification"), the ritual washing and cleansing, and immersion in a mikva according to some customs, of a Jew's body prior to burial.

Ablution in Christianity

The specific practices of ablution in Christianity include ritual purification or a symbolism of humility. Christian ablution refers to the practice of removing sins, diseases or earthly defilements through the use of ritual washing, or the practice of using ritual washing as one part of a ceremony to remove sin or disease (i.e., baptism or exorcism). Foot washing is a Christian practice going back to the act of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, thus, signifying deepest humility and service to others. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Pontius Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Jesus by washing his hands (Matthew 27:24). This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the Greeks and Romans. According to Christian tradition, the Pharisees carried the practice of ablution to great excess (Matthew 23:25). The Gospel of Mark refers to their ceremonial ablutions (Mark 7:1-5): For the Pharisees...wash their hands "oft"; or, more accurately, "with the fist" (R.V., "diligently"); or, as Theophylact of Bulgaria explains it, "up to the elbow," referring to the actual word used in the Greek New Testament, pygmē, which refers to the arm from the elbow to the tips of the fingers. (Also Mark 7:4; Leviticus 6:28; Leviticus 11:32-36; Leviticus 15:22). In the Book of Acts, Paul and other men performed ablution before entering the Temple in Jerusalem: "Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them."(Acts 21:26)

Ablution in Islam

The Islamic act of washing parts of the body using water is called wudu(Arabic: الوضوء al-wuḍū', Persian:آبدست ābdast, Turkish: abdest)or (less often) ghusl. Muslims are required to perform wudu in preparation for ritual prayers and for handling and reading the Qur'an. Wudu is often translated as "partial ablution", as opposed to ghusl, or "full ablution".

At the Well

When Jesus met the woman from Samaria at Jacob's Well, it is recorded that he saw a great thirst in her soul for meaning and purpose.

As he spoke with her, she began to open her heart and her eyes. As he offered her "Living Water," he revealed himself to her as the Messiah. (John 4:4-26)

Although not recorded in the Bible, the tradition of Mary receiving the Annunciation while fetching water is ancient. It is written down in the 2nd-century Christian text known as the Protevangelium of James (or Proto-Gospel of James).

External Links

• Liturgical Use of Water from The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Baptism from The Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Hadith Book of Sahih Muslim; 'The Book of Purification (Kitab Al-Taharah)'
• Mary's Well, Nazareth
• At The Well

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Arvigo, Rosita and Epstein, Nadine. Spiritual Bathing: Healing Rituals and Traditions from Around the World. Celestial Arts (October 2003). ISBN 978-1587611704.
• Haeri, Shaykh Fadhlalla. The Thoughtful Guide to Islam. O Books (July 25, 2004). ISBN 978-1903816622.
• Insoll, Timothy . Archaeology and World Religion. Routledge; 1 edition (March 19, 2001). ISBN 978-0415221559.
• Jacolliot, Louis. The Brahmin's First Degree of Initiation: Ablutions, Prayer, Ceremonies, and Evocation. Kessinger Publishing (December 30, 2005). ISBN 978-1425307202.
• Lawrence, Jonathan David. Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature (Sbl - Academia Biblica) (Hardcover). Brill Academic Publishers (May 31, 2007). ISBN 978-9004146709.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Ablution  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Ablution"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.