Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on transliterations
- Introduction
- Additional note: controversies against Sadducees and/or Boethusians
- 1 Josephus
- 2 Mishnah
- 3 Tosefta
- 4 Babylonian Talmud
- 5 Palestinian Talmud
- 6 Other rabbinic works
- 7 Megillath Ta'anith
- 8 Dead Sea Scrolls
- 9 Apocryphal works
- Bibliography
- Indexes
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Note on transliterations
- Introduction
- Additional note: controversies against Sadducees and/or Boethusians
- 1 Josephus
- 2 Mishnah
- 3 Tosefta
- 4 Babylonian Talmud
- 5 Palestinian Talmud
- 6 Other rabbinic works
- 7 Megillath Ta'anith
- 8 Dead Sea Scrolls
- 9 Apocryphal works
- Bibliography
- Indexes
Summary
Ber. 14b, 15a
R. Joḥanan said: ‘If one desires to accept upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven in the most complete manner, [15a] he should relieve himself and wash his hands and put on tephillin and recite the Shemaʿ and say the tephillah: this is the complete acknowledgement of the kingdom of heaven.’ R. Ḥiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan: ‘If a man relieves himself and washes his hands and puts on tephillin and recites the Shemaʿ and says the tephillah, Scripture accounts it to him as if he had built an altar and offered a sacrifice upon it, as it is written, “I will wash my hands in innocence to join in procession round your altar, O Lord” [Ps. xxvi.6].’ Raba said to him: ‘Does not your honour think that it is as if he had bathed himself, since it is written, “I will wash in purity”, and it is not written, “I will wash my hands”?’ Rabina said to Raba: ‘Sir, pray look at this student who has come from the West (Palestine) and who says: “If one has no water for washing his hands, he can rub his hands with earth or with a pebble or with sawdust”.’ He replied: ‘He is quite correct. Is it written, I will wash in water? It is written: In cleanliness – with anything which cleans.’ For R. Ḥisda cursed anyone who went looking for water at the time of prayer.
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- Jesus and the Pharisees , pp. 125 - 153Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1973