To understand more clearly the practices which the evangelist Mark mentions in this Gospel reading, let us look more closely at them.
The washing of hands was first mentioned in Exodus 30, 17-21.
The Lord told Moses: For ablutions you shall make a bronze basin with a bronze stand. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons shall use it in washing their hands and feet. When they are about to enter the tent of meeting, they must wash with water, lest they die. Likewise when they approach the altar to minister, to offer an oblation to the LORD, they must wash their hands and feet, lest they die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and his descendants throughout their generations.
Exodus 30, 17-21
In the context of Exodus, it was a tradition which came from the rabbis and was first associated with cleansing from ritual impurity. It also became linked with the gifts such as oil, wine, and wheat given to the temple priests who performed the rituals; the offerings could be eaten only after ritual washing. It had a practical purpose too; one needed to have clean hands before eating.[1]
Some have suggested that due to the destruction of the Temple, the practice of ritual washing of hands before eating was extended to all Jews so that the Temple's washing ritual would never be forgotten.[2]
The washing was done in a specific way:[3]
A two-handled cup, if available, was used. The common practice was to hold the cup with the non‑dominant hand – the left hand for most – and pour water twice on the right hand, followed by twice on the left hand.
A blessing, the netilat yadayim,was said after the hands had been washed:
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav vitzivanu al n'tilat yadayim.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.
The hands were then dried.
The washing of cups and dishes was called tevilah, from the Hebrew word tovel, to immerse. The ritual considers the Jewish table as like an altar, holy and compared to the Beit Hamikdash (the Holy Temple). Because of this, dishes and utensils which will be used in the kitchen to prepare the food must acquire an additional measure of holiness. This was achieved through ritual immersion in a mikvah.
The mikvah was a specially constructed ritual pool. Its water had to be from naturally gathered water as could be obtained by connecting to a spring or some source of rainwater. The immersion could also be performed in certain natural bodies of water such as the ocean.[4]
To prepare any container with which one eats, drinks, cooks, roasts, fries, or heats up water for drinking, any substance that would keep the mikvah's water from touching it must be removed. Utensils and containers had to be fully covered by the water. Only utensils or containers made of wood, bone, or unglazed earthenware did not require immersion.
A blessing preceded the immersion.[5]
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav vitzivanu al tevilat kailim.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the immersion of vessels.
Only after these rituals had been performed could the utensils and containers be used for cooking or eating.
The washings linked Temple worship to eating and the preparation for it. Washings brought everything about the meal to the domain of prayer and its highest expression for the Jew, Temple worship.
Why then could our Lord be so harshly critical of practices linking the ordinary act of eating to Temple worship?
His objection was not new, for he quoted the prophet, Isaiah:
He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts. You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."
Mark 7, 6-8
The rituals were all external and did not reflect true worship expressed in love of God and love of neighbor.
It is striking that almost all the sins mentioned are offenses against people, and ultimately against God, for love of God and love of neighbor are inexorably intertwined:
"But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile."
Mark 7, 20-23
If we look at our situation today, we find that this list --- evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly -– summarizes many of the crimes prevalent today.
- Evil thoughts lead to mistrust and wishing others harm.
- Unchastity leads to seeing others and oneself as sex objects.
- Theft deprives others of what is rightfully theirs --- stealing public money costs lives, of Covid-19 patients and their caregivers. It snatches food away from the mouths of the hungry.
- Murder takes away life. It cancels any possibility for the one killed to change for the better. EJKs don't reform people.
- Adultery destroys families and leads to corruption. It is more expensive to maintain more than one family.
- Greed --- for if someone wants it all, what will be left for the rest, most of whom are in greater need than the one sakim and insatiable?
- Malice, a desire to harm others, to find joy in the suffering of another, to engage in trolling, to egg others to do the same, to damage other people's good name.
- Deceit for it undercuts trust, especially when inflicted by leaders of institutions tasked to assist the needy.
- Licentiousness: a lack of moral restraint, which indiscriminately destroys lives, because others are or one's own pleasure or manipulation.
- Envy, an attitude that if I can't have it, nobody else should have it, is a cancer that puts down, discourages others' initiatives, because if it is not my idea, why should it be used?
- Blasphemy for it ridicules other people's faith traditions and creates conflict even among those who in their diversity of belief ultimately share the deepest values.
- Arrogance, the attitude which considers more advanced degrees, greater wealth or net worth, or 'connections', a source of entitlement that degrades others. "Hindi mo ba ako kilala?"
- Folly, a refusal to look at the evidence. It gets in the way of the most effective and most beneficial ways to resolve problems. It is an insistence on the unscientific --- but profitable for some --- methods which burden those who already suffer more from this prolonged and worsening pandemic.
In place of all these, we need to pay attention to the words of St. James.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.
Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 1, 21b-22. 27
To care for the orphans and the widows now is to care for the most helpless and vulnerable.
[1] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hand-washing
[2] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hand-washing
[3] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hand-washing
[4] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/82673/jewish/Tevilah-Immersion-of-Vessels.htm
[5] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1230791/jewish/Immersion-of-Vessels-Tevilat-Keilim.htm
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