“Lord, you are the hope of Israel
Yesterday my husband Brad and I joined a Smithsonian
Association day-long tour to learn about the Jewish community in Baltimore
On the way home I began to think
about the like between water and purity, and how water has a central place in the practices and beliefs of many
religions. In the first place, water makes things clean. It washes
away impurities and pollutants, and can make an object appear as good as new. It
can also make a person clean, externally or spiritually, and ready to come into
the presence of God. In the second place, water is a primary building block
of life. Without water there is no life, yet water has the power to
destroy as well as to create. We are sometimes at the mercy of water just
as we are at the mercy of God. (Recent floods in the American Midwest come
to mind…)
In Judaism ritual
washing is intended to restore or maintain a state of ritual purity, and its
origins can be found in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament).
It can be washing the hands, the hands and the feet, or total immersion in the
sea, a river, a spring or in a mikveh.
The story of the Great Flood is told in Genesis
6-8. God destroyed humanity by sending a great flood. Only Noah and
his family and a pair of each animal were saved in the ark built by Noah.
Afterwards God promised he would never attempt to destroy the earth again and
sent the rainbow as a sign of this covenant. The story of a Great Flood
is also found in other cultures such as the Australian Aborigines and some
Pacific Islanders. But the Israelites' story is different because it emphasizes
the ethical demands of God. The flood is a divine punishment from which
Noah survives because of his moral worthiness. The Flood washed away all
the sins of the world so that we could start afresh. This is echoed in
Christianity by the death and resurrection of Christ that eradicates sin so
that nothing will stand in the way of man and God.
The Red Sea is
significant in Jewish history because its parting by Moses was a miraculous
event at the beginning of the Exodus which enabled the Israelites to escape
from the Egyptian army that was chasing them. God allowed Moses to part the
sea so that the Israelites could walk safely to the other side on dry land,
while the Egyptians drowned as the sea came together again. This miracle
was a reward for the faith of Moses and the Israelites, God's Chosen
People. The parting and crossing of the Red Sea
shows that God has power over nature, even the mighty oceans. Water here
is powerful, but an instrument of God for punishment (for the Egyptians) and
blessing (for the Israelites).
Almost all Christian churches have an initiation
ritual involving the use of water. Baptism has its origins in the baptism
of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River .
After Jesus' resurrection he commanded his disciples to baptize in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20). Baptism is a symbol
of liberation from the oppression of sin that separates us from God. The
use of water is important for its own symbolic value in three ways: it cleanses
and washes away dirt, fills everything it enters as God fills those who are
immersed in Him and we need water to survive physically as we need God to
survive spiritually. In the early church baptism was usually performed
with the person standing in water and with water being poured over the upper
part of the body. This was called “immersion” but today the term refers
to the method of dipping the whole body under water which is used, for example,
by the Baptist and Orthodox churches. In most Western churches today the
rite is performed by pouring water over the head three times (affusion) and
sometimes sprinkling water over the head (aspersion).
Another important significance of water for
Christianity is the "living water" that Jesus described himself
as. John 4: 1-42 is the story of Jesus and a Samaritan woman to whom he
offers living water so that she will never thirst again. In other words, she
will achieve eternal life through him.
Holy water is water which is blessed for use in
certain rites, especially that which is blessed at the Easter Vigil for baptism
of catechumens. The use of water other than for baptism goes back to the
4th century in the East and the 5th century in the West. The custom of
sprinkling people with water at mass began in the 9th century. At this
time “stoups”, basins for holy water from which people could sprinkle
themselves on entering a church, came into common use. Holy water is also
used at blessings, dedications, exorcisms and burials.
Ablutions in Christianity are mainly baptism and the
washing of fingers and communion vessels after the communion. This takes
place in two parts. Firstly the chalice is rinsed with the wine, and then
the chalice and priests' fingers with wine and water. This ablution is
important because after the bread and wine has been consecrated, Christ is
believed to be present.
In Islam water is also important for cleansing and
purifying. Muslims must be ritually pure before approaching God in
prayer. Some mosques have a courtyard with a pool or fountain of
clear water in the centre, but in most mosques the ablutions are found outside
the walls. Ritual purity is required before carrying out religious duties, especially worship. There are three kinds of
ablutions. Firstly, ghusl,
the major ablution, is the washing of the whole body in pure water, after
declaring the intention to do so. Muslims are obliged to perform ghusl after sex which incurs a state
of major ritual impurity. It is also recommended before the Friday prayer, the two main feasts, before
touching the Koran, and for the dead before they are buried. The second
ablution is wudu, the minor
ablution, which is performed to remove minor ritual impurity from everyday
life. This must be done before each of the five daily prayers and
involves using pure water to wash the face with pure water, rub the head with
water, and wash the hands and arms up to the elbows and the feet up to the
ankles. The third type of ablution is performed when no water is
available. In this case clean sand may be used.
Water in Hinduism has a special place because it
is believed to have spiritually cleansing powers. To Hindus all water is
sacred, especially rivers, and there are seven sacred rivers: the Ganges,
Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada , Sindhu
and Kaveri. Although Hinduism encompasses so many different beliefs, most
Hindus share a belief in the importance of striving to attain purity and
avoiding pollution. This relates to both physical cleanliness and
spiritual well-being. Every temple has a pond near it and devotees are supposed
to take a bath before entering the temple.
Pilgrimage is very important to Hindus. Holy
places are usually located on the banks of rivers, coasts, seashores and
mountains. Sites of convergence, between land and river or two, or even
better three, rivers, carry special significance and are especially
sacred. Sacred rivers are thought to be a great equalizer. In the Ganges the pure are made even more pure and the impure
have their pollution removed if only temporarily.
For Hindus, morning cleansing with water is a basic
obligation. Tarpana is
the point at which the worshipper makes a cup with his hands and pours the
water back into the river reciting mantras. After sipping some water, he
may then apply the distinguishing mark of his tradition, and say the morning prayer.
The story of the Great Flood of Manu appears in Hindu
scriptures. This is the story of how all creation is submerged in a great
deluge but Manu is rescued by a fish that he once saved from being eaten by a
larger fish. The fish told him to build a large boat and to take into it
seeds and animals. The fish then towed the boat to safety by anchoring it
on the highest of the Himalayas . He
stayed on the mountain (known as Manu's Descent) while the flood swept away all
living creatures. Manu alone survived.
Shinto is Japan
Purity and pollution are central concerns in Zoroastrian thought and practice. The significance of water in Zoroastrianism is a
combination of its purifying properties and its importance as a fundamental
life element. Therefore, while water is used in purification rites and
rituals, it is sacred itself and so must be kept from being polluted. Zoroastrianism
is a dualistic religion with emphasis placed on the opposing forces of good and
evil. When the world was created the Evil Spirit Angra Mainyu attacked
the earth and, among other things, made pure water salty. Zoroastrians
believe that pollution is evil and that water, when pure, is sacred.
Zoroastrians themselves must avoid pollution of any kind and must perform
ritual ablutions before saying their prayers (which are said 5 times a day
facing a source of light) and before any religious ceremonies such as
weddings.
The sanctity of water is very important to
Zoroastrians. People must not urinate, spit or wash one's hands in a
river or allow anyone else to. In Zoroastrianism the dead are not
cremated, buried or immersed in water because fire, earth and water must be
kept pure. Instead, corpses are left to birds of prey.
Zoroastrians believe in 6 benevolent divine beings
known as Amesha Spentas. Haurvatat (meaning wholeness, health
and integrity) is a feminine being and the creator of water, and is represented
by consecrated water used in priestly acts of worship. The holy day of
Haurvatat and water is in midsummer and people pray and make offerings by the
seashore or any natural water. In everyday life Haurvatat is observed by
keeping water unpolluted and being temperate and self-disciplined.
Zoroastrianism also has a Great Flood story.
Ahura Mazda warned Yima that destruction in the form of floods, subsequent to
the melting of the snow, was threatening the sinful world and gave him
instructions for building a boat in which specimens of small and large cattle, humans, dogs, birds, fires,
plants and foods were to be deposited in pairs.
For Buddhists, most symbolism and ritual is pointless
because they seek spiritual enlightenment that comes from seeing the “reality
of unreality.” But even in Buddhism, water has a role. In
Buddhist funerals, water is poured into a bowl placed before the monks and
the dead body. As it fills and pours over the edge, the monks recite,
"As the rains fill the rivers and overflow into the ocean, so likewise may
what is given here reach the departed."
“For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be
their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:17)
