From the mishnah back on Zevachim 15, we know that offerings made by priests who haven’t washed their hands are disqualified. On today’s daf, we take a closer look at the proper way for them to do so. We start off with a statement of the problem:
A dilemma was raised before the sages: What is the law for a priest who sanctifies his hands and feet in the basin rather than letting the water run from it onto them? The Merciful One states: “And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it,” (Exodus 30:19) and not inside it? Or perhaps even inside it.
In the directions for building the items associated with the Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting, God instructs Moses to prepare a copper container, fill it with water and let the priests wash themselves “from” it. Given that language, may the priests dip their hands into the basin to cleanse them? Perhaps they must draw the water out of the basin onto their hands and feet.
We begin our analysis with a more lenient position:
Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: Come and hear. Or (if a priest) immersed in cave water and performed the service, his service is disqualified. But from the basin in a manner similar to cave water (i.e., by immersing his hands) and performed the service, his service is valid.
Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak cites a beraita telling us that a priest cannot immerse in cave water to purify himself for Temple service. From other rabbinic texts that reference cave water, it seems the rabbis were concerned that it is stagnant and not particularly salutary. Based on the beraita, Rav Nahman proffers that the problem isn’t immersion in and of itself, but the fact that it’s done in cave water. As a result, immersing one’s hands in the basin should be fine.
It’s a reasonable argument, but not a necessarily winning one:
No. It was necessary (for the beraita to mention) cave water so that you shall not say: If one may immerse his entire body (in cave water) all the more so not his hands and feet?
According to the Gemara, the point of the beraita is to show us that immersing your entire body in cave water doesn’t make it clean, so immersing your hands and feet in cave water doesn’t make them clean either. Under this interpretation, Rav Nahman’s reference to the beraita is inapt and doesn’t help us resolve the issue of dipping in water versus drawing water.
The Gemara leaves us in limbo, but it seems ladling out water is considered preferable to immersion by later authorities. In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides states: “If one immerses his hands and feet in the waters of a mikveh or even a spring, this is not considered as sanctification. One must wash them from a utensil.” There’s a logic to this: If everyone dips their hands in the same basin, at a certain point, the water becomes dirty. In contrast, drawing water from a common source ensures that it stays clean for future users.
Read all of Zevachim 21 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on October 5, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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