ablution

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Ritual washings that range from immersion of the whole body (tevilah) to pouring water over the hands (netilat yadayim). The Torah (Lev. 11:30) prescribed total immersion in a natural spring, river, or Mikveh (ritual bath) to cleanse persons or objects rendered unclean through direct or indirect contact with various sources of impurity (see Purity and Impurity). These include menstruation, seminal issue, contagious diseases such as gonorrhea and the various kinds of leprosy referred to in the Torah, and contact with a corpse or dead animal (Lev. 15:1-28, 22:1-6). Ablution had also to be performed by those attending services in the Temple on various festive and ceremonial occasions, for which they needed to be in a state of ritual purity. It was obligatory for Priests before they officiated or partook of the consecrated food they received as offerings and tithes (Ex. 30:18-21). The High Priest underwent five separate immersions on the holiest day of the Jewish year, as part of the Day of Atonement service in the Temple. In some cases, washing the hands and feet or merely the hands fulfilled the requirement.

Since the suspension of the rite of the Red Heifer, whose ashes were used in the waters of purification in the Temple, the following ablutions have remained in force: ritual immersion by women after their menstrual period or other vaginal discharge of blood and after childbirth; the purification of cooking utensils manufactured by non-Jews; ritual immersion by proselytes on their Conversion to Judaism; and washing of the hands before breaking bread (mayim rishonim; see Grace Before Meals) and after rising from sleep or using the toilet. In all of these cases, immersion or ablution is accompanied by the appropriate benediction which the sages formulated. Netilat yadayim, the ablution performed before eating bread, must involve human effort---pouring water over the right hand and then over the left from a wide-mouthed, smooth-brimmed receptacle holding about half a pint. No blessing is required for certain other ablutions that are still practiced: washing a corpse before burial (taharah) and one's hands after leaving the cemetery; and washing the hands after touching parts of the body usually covered, after clipping nails and removing the shoes, before prayer and prior to Grace After Meals (Mayim Aḥaronim) as well as before dipping the greens or karpas at the Passover Seder (a relic of the purification in Temple times). Levites also wash the hands of priests without saying a benediction when the latter are about to recite the Priestly Blessing in the synagogue. Others likewise practice immersion in the mikveh on the eve of the Day of Atonement and before Sabbaths and festivals, although the custom is mainly restricted to adherents of ḥasidism. For ritual purposes, a laver is situated in the entrance hall of traditional synagogues.

Hygienic and sacramental considerations both figure in these rites. No ablution is valid unless the person or object involved has been made scrupulously clean beforehand, to insure that no barrier (ḥatsitsah) of foreign matter intervene between the person or object and the purifying waters. Similarly, when no water is available for washing the hands before eating bread, alternative cleaning materials (even grass or sand) may be used. The benediction's wording is then changed from "washing the hands" (al netilat yadayim) to "making the hands clean" (al nekiyyut yadayim).

In the Second Temple period, a number of Jewish sects laid particular emphasis on ritual ablution. These sects included the Hemerobaptists ("morning bathers"), the Essenes, and the Qumran community (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Sect). It is likely that John the Baptist was close to one of these ascetic groups, and from him the custom of baptism passed into Christianity.

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IN BRIEF: A washing or cleansing, especially of the body.

Ablution is part of many religious rites.

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For a list of words related to ablution, see:

• Practice and Doctrine - ablution: ritual bathing of body or washing of object or person

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See words rhyming with "ablutionary."

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - afvaskning, tvætning

Nederlands (Dutch)
ablutie (religieuze wassing), het wassen, (mv) latrines/washok

Français (French)
n. - (Relig) ablution

Deutsch (German)
n. - Waschung, Waschflüssigkeit, (relig.) Ablution, (chem.) Auswaschen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - νίψιμο, ιεροτελεστικό πλύσιμο, έκπλυση

Italiano (Italian)
abluzione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - ablução (f)

Русский (Russian)
омовение, умывание

Español (Spanish)
n. - ablución

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tvättvatten, tvätta sig som del av religiös ceremoni

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
洗礼, 斋戒沐浴, 洗身

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 洗禮, 齋戒沐浴, 洗身

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 목욕, 세정식[에 쓴 물]

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 洗い清めること, 体を洗うこと

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) غسيل, وضوء, ماء الغسيل أو الوضوء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רחיצת הגוף, רחיצה טקסית של חלקי גוף, טיהור במים, חדר-רחצה‬

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