Messiah in Pesach Chapter 21
- Urchatz
- Hand Washing Procedure
- Messiah and Urchatz
#2. Urchatz:
Washing the Hands (Purification):
The hands are washed in a ritually prescribed manner. This is done before the meal but without the customary blessing. The next step in the Seder, Karpas, requires dipping food into water, which in turn mandates, according to Jewish law, that either the food be eaten with a utensil or that one’s hands be purified by washing. The Seder Leader calls out U’rchatz. The second activity of the traditional Passover Seder is to wash your hands before you eat the karpas. However, the blessing recited for hand washing (נטילת ידים-netilat yadayim) is intentionally left unrecited at this point in the service. The Talmud asks, “Why do we wash our hands at this point in this Seder?” The answer is that it is an unexpected activity that prompts the children to ask questions. Much of Passover is designed with the children in mind. For it is written “In every generation, each person must feel as if he personally had come out of Egypt, as the Torah says: “You should tell your child on that day, ‘When I left Egypt, the Eternal One did miracles for me.'”
Hand Washing Procedure:
When the Seder Leader calls out “U’rchatz” then everyone present will begin the ceremony of washing their hands. Fill a cup or vessel with water and pour some over your right hand three times, then over your left hand three times. Assign the children the responsibility of presenting the towel to the guests as each person performs the ritual.
Messiah and Urchatz:
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
מה שאני עושה אינך יודע כעת, אבל אחרי כן תבין.פ
The Messiah washed His disciples feet at this early point in the Seder. The disciples of Messiah passed the urchatz pan from person to person for the ritual cleansing of hands. Then, Messiah ben Yosef (the *Suffering Messiah) laid aside His outer garments, took a towel, tied it around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He was asked by one of his talmidin:
“Master, do you wash my feet?”
אדוני, אתה תרחץ את רגלי?!פ
Messiah answered, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Then His talmid (תלמיד-student, disciple) answered, “You shall never wash my feet!” Yet the Master answered, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” So enthusiastically the talmid responded, then Master, “not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Then Messiah answered, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean.”
“Do you know what I have done to you?”
יודעים אתם מה עשיתי לכם?פ
“And when He had washed the feet of His disciples He put on his outer garments and resumed his place, then He said, “Do you understand what I have done to you?”