Bart June 11, 2017 I hope Tim McGraw doesn’t think that every Jew washed his hands in the sea before they ate. What of those who didn’t live near the sea? (!) I’m talking specifically about Mark’s claim that “the Jews” always “washed their hands” before they ate a meal. Your other references have to do with ritual cleansing pools (miqvoth) in which Jews would occasionally immerse themselves as a ritual act. That happened throughout Palestine (if you visit, you can see lots of ancient examples dug up by archaeologists). But it’s not the same as washing hands before meals (something some Pharisees did).
3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.[c])
Well, it’s true that there’s a ritual washing before any meal that includes bread and requires the blessing of הַמּוֹצִיא לֶ֫חֶם מִן־הָאָ֫רֶץ. There is this custom among the people. One doesn’t have to wash his hands ritually to eat a cookie, for example. It requires a different blessing (בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי מְזוֹנוֹת). The fact that a custom exists (and I think that the Mishnah represents well what people were doing in the land when the Second Temple stood) doesn’t mean that every individual Jew was following the custom. No one could ever draw such a conclusion. I think that by saying that “the Jews” washed their hands, he was just saying that the Jews had the custom of washing their hands before meals. I don’t see any reason to argue with this text. What seems to be the problem caused by it?
Then again, who knows what reforms the Sanhedrin at Jamnia (יַבְנֶה Yavneh) might have instituted beyond the creation of the Eighteen Benedictions (שְׁמֹנֵה עֶשְׂרֵה הַבְּרָכוֹת)? If they added the prayers that replaced the Temple service, perhaps they introduced other inventions into the religion. They certainly thought that they had the authority to do so.
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