Hand Washing at the Cemetery
Written by Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain of Maidenhead Synagogue addresses your questions. This week's question: 'When at a funeral recently, I noticed that some people washed their hands in a special basin when leaving the cemetery. Why is it customary to do so?'There are several explanations. It is partly a matter of practical hygiene if people have been throwing clods of earth or digging with a muddy spade as part of helping to fill in the grave. A more symbolic interpretation is to wash away the associations of death as one leaves the grounds and to re-emerge into everyday life. Another version holds that the washing is to show that one has had no responsibility for the death of the deceased. If you are thinking that this sounds like something out of the New Testament and Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the death of Jesus, both have their origins in the Hebrew Bible. In Deuteronomy 21.7 the text deals with what happens if a man is found dead and no one knows the identity of the murderer, in which case the elders of the nearest town take part in a ritual – including washing their hands – to declare that they are innocent of the crime.
Some people do not dry their hands with a towel after the washing (and shake the water off instead) so as to indicate that this washing is different from normal washing and carries a symbolic meaning. This ‘differentiation’ is very common elsewhere in Jewish life, such as holding a Kiddush cup differently from the way in which one holds a normal wine glass. Another example is mourners not sitting in their usual place in synagogue when they attend services on the first Sabbath immediately after the funeral. As so often happens, different communities have variant customs. Thus in some Sephardi circles, the tradition is not to wash your hands at the cemetery, but on the doorstep of the house to which you return immediately afterwards.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
