Facebook Post by Rabbi Perlin in the Time of Coronavirus (4/10/2020)
Friday’s Post 4/10/20: Beyond Handwashing
by Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D.
For two weeks, I combed through every resource in my library to find Jewish textual sources on handwashing in preparation for the class I taught yesterday for TBS. It seemed timely, as we wash our hands twice in the Passover seder. It seemed relevant, as handwashing is the one thing every one of us has in common now as we are faced with the fear of the contagion of Covid-19. I am not sure what I was searching for, but I knew there was something out there to be learned.
The first question I was pondering was, “How can we make our frequent handwashing a more Jewish/spiritual ritual?” One answer is to forego the recitation of Happy Birthday or the ABC’s, in favor of saying the Shema every morning and night, as is traditional. Hebrew songs like Mah Tovu and Hinei Mah Tov also work well. I was informed by one friend that the Star Trek opening is also perfect, so Trekkies have their own spiritual moments. And when I am longing for Israel, which I am a lot these days, I sing the words of Herzl’s dream, Im Tirtzu. Another answer is to do the traditional handwashing blessing: “Blessed are You, O Lord, my God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us by Your commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.” (The Hebrew ending to the traditional blessing “al niteelat yadayim.”)
As I went deeper into my studies, searching for modern relevance, I found sources that pondered the washing of hands, without the blessing, at the Passover seder that asked us to contemplate what it means to wash in silence. How might we find meaning in the mundane act of soap and water, repeat? One source encouraged us to look at our hands and consider how they might be used for tikkun olam– repairing our world. Today, there are those out there repairing our world in medicine, deliveries, and doing the essential work of keeping our fragile world going, even as so many have lost jobs, face food and housing uncertainty, and remain isolated. Most of us are doing tikkun olam on our keyboards or sewing machines. And many of us are repairing our personal worlds with cleaning and getting through “to-do” lists on home projects. Our hands need not be looked at as vehicles of contagion, but of repair and restoration.
I am sad to say that as much as I wanted our rabbis to care about hygiene, that was an anachronism that had to remain on my wish list, as the texts did not bear out any awareness or concern about modern notions of germs. I always want the rabbis to be ahead of their time and wise beyond the science, but it was clear that for them washing was an act of ritual purity and a legal fiction of separating what was sacred from profane. I can rabbinically extrapolate those notions to make them relevant today, but I fear that would not be helpful. Just as I fear the exactitude of traditional Jews on ritual handwashing today hasn’t inspired many in the ultra-Orthodox haredi community to be inspired to social distance and care enough to prevent contagion. The same is true with those who want to gather for Easter at the peril of others.
We concluded our study with a discussion of handwashing as it relates to Jewish funerals – another place where we wash twice: once when leaving the cemetery, and then again before entering the house of mourning. I concluded our study with the words of the famous Orthodox scholar, Maurice Lamm, who wrote: “Whatever the origin, the custom of washing the hands is universally observed by Jews. The cup of water is not transferred directly from one person to another. This is a symbolic expression of hope that the tragedy should not continue person to person, but should end where it, unfortunately, began.” (Jewish Way in Death and Mourning, p. 67)
“A symbolic expression of hope that the tragedy should not continue person to person.” That is why we wash! It is the very least we can all do to prevent the spread of this awful virus. We self- isolate and social distance, we wash hands, and listen to science to make sure this tragedy doesn’t continue from person to person.
Let’s wash our hands with Kavannah/spiritual intention. So, let’s find a prayer, mindset, awareness, or song that lifts the mundane act of immersing our hands in soap and water into an act of hope and healing. Shabbat Shalom.