Shabbos 14

“And the hands”

I am wondering about the purification ritual that required immersion in the stinky, most likely contaminated water that resided within a cave. Was this a source of disease? Why would the Rabbis render the clean water impure that one would pour on himself after emerging from the cave water “to prevent them from washing with it after immersion.” If the stagnant cave water was as “stinky” as I can imagine, why wouldn’t the Rabbis want someone to cleanse away the smell with designated clean water? Was it some sort of emblem of faith to walk around smelling so bad? In a twisted logic that I am still trying to unravel, Rava says that the clean water is considered “impure” so that the person undergoing immersion will not confuse it with the pure “stinky” water. 

I remember reading in earlier portions that “teruma” is the portion of the first harvest that is split off and provided to the priests. The Talmud warns against applying simple logic to how this food might be stored: if the pure teruma food is stored by the Priests next to a Torah which by its essence is pure, they are both at risk for becoming impure, due to visits by little mice who would be attracted to the food, and possibly nibble on the Torah. I can only imagine the risks associated in a temple without guardian cats of mice nibbling on the parchment words of the sacred text.

In remarkable relevance to today’s prescription to wash, scrub, and wash again our hands in order to remove any residue of the coronavirus with its frightening angry crowns, we are provided with an exegesis on the impurity of hands, which are exposed to all types of contamination. The Rabbis remind us that “Since one does not always pay attention to what his hands touch, and it is inappropriate for holy food to be touched by dirty hands, the Sages decreed impurity.”

Here is an article that explains what Covid 19 looks like. My brother, who is a medical researcher, says that it has little crowns that can reside on the surface of our hands and can easily be washed away with soap and water. It is why washing our hands is so important. 

https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-what-the-covid-19-virus-looks-like-under-electron-microscopes