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71 — Ablution

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

71

no Ix-arin;,' on tlii' <iiicstioii of AI)lutioii aii<l is the outAnother record is conic of Pauline iintinoniianisin. tlmt of Luke. xi. ;iT-41 "Now as lie s])ake, a Pharisee asked liiin to breakfast with him, and he went in and sat down to meat. And as the Pharisee saw this lie marvele<l that he had not bathi'd [i 3u-TiaHi/] And Jesus said unto hiiii: before breakfastintr. Now ye Pharisees cleanse the outside (jf the cup and of the platter, but your inwanl part is full of extortion and wickedness. Ye foolish ones, did not He that made the outside make the inside also? However, give the thinj;s that are within over to rifrhteousness [DplV. not alms], and behold all things are clean unto you.' " In the course of time it became customary to pour water three limes upon the liands to ch'ansc them fr<jm impurity: and in a Baraita (Sliab. lll'J.o the opinion is ex]ir<'.'ise(l by i. Nathan, that the spirit of impurity, restiiiic upon man durinir the night, will ncpl leave him until lie has poured water three times upon his hands. The eabalists go still further, and maintain that man incurs the penalty of death if lie walks a distance of four yards from his bed without Ablution (.Meiribn Galibai in liis"Tola'at Ya'akoh";

'

see ".Shulhan 'Aruk, Onil.i llayyim,"iv. 1, 2, and MaLreii Abraham), ^^o too a passage' in the Zoliar (" W'ayislilal.i," p. 3^7) says: " Whosoever sleepeth at night in his Vied tastcth o{ death, for his soul leavetli him for the nonce. Heing thus liereft of its soul, an unclean spirit j)osses.scth his body and deti let h it. Wlien'fore I say, let no man jiass his [unwashed hand over his eyes in the morning, by reason of the unclean spirit which restelli on it." The hygienic intent of these prescriptions is manifest. K.

ABNER: (.rre)

and teacher of I.sjiac of Acco mentioned by Isjiac as a great

Cabalist

about

1 l."i(i.

authority in mystic philo.sopliy. liini.iOGRAPIiv



MIrliael,

Or

)ki-/f(i|/j/iiii.

of Archimede.s,

Abner

"Had

I

a fulcrum.

I

could

move

the

According to the Midrash (Keel. H. I.e.) it would have been easier to move a wall .six yards thick than one of the feet of Abner. who could hold the Israelitish army between his knee.s. Yet when his time came iinjft," npSJ). Joab smote him. But even in his dying hour, Abner seized his foe like a world."

threaleiiing to crush him. Then the came and pleaded for .bjab's life, sjiying: "If thou killest him we shall be orphaned, and our women and all our belongings will become a prey to the Philistines." Abner answered: "What can I ball of

llire.-i(l.

Israelites

He

do?

me

has extinguished

The

my

light

"

(has wfuinded

"Entrust thy cause to the true judge [God|." Then Abner released his hold upou Joab and fell dead to the ground fatally).

(Yalk.

Israelites replied:

/.«•.).

The

rabbis agree that

death,

though opinions

Abner deserved

this violent

concerning the exact nature of the sin that entailed so dire a punishment on one who was, on the whole, considered a "righteous man " (Gen. R. Ixxxii. 4). Some reproach him that he did not use his intlucnce with Saul to prevent him from murdering the piiests of Nob (Yer. Peah. i. lOrc Lev. H. xxvi. 2: Sanli. 'Hhi) convinced as he was of the innocence of the priests and of the i)ro])riety of their conduct toward David, Abner holding that as leader of the army I);ivid was privileged to avail himself of the I'rim and Thummini (I Sam. xxii. 9-19). Instead of contenting himself with pas.sive resistance to Saul's command dill'er

—

to to

murderthe priests(Y'alk.. Sam. have tried to restrain the king.

131).

Abner ought

Others maintain that .Vbtier did make such an attempt, His One but in vain, ami tli;it his one sin consisted in that he delayed the beginning Sin, of David's reign over Isnicl by lighting him after Saul's death for two years and a half (Sanli. I.e.). Others, again, while excusing him for this in view of a tradition founded on Gen. xlix. 27, according to which there were to be two kings of the house of 15enjamin blame Abner for having prevented a reconciliation between Saul and David on the occasion when tln' latter, in holding up the skirt of Saul's robe (1 Sam. xxiv. 11). showed how unfounded was the king's mistrust of him. Saul was inclined to lie pacified; but Abner, representing to him that David might have found the piece of the garment anywhere possibly caught on a thorn prevented the reconciliation (Yer. Peah, I.e.. I^ev. Moreover, it was wrong in H. I.e., and elsewhere). Abner to permit Israelitish youths to kill one another forsport (II Sam. ii. 14-l(i). No reproach, however, attaches to him for the death of Asahel, since Abner

—

No. 28.

—

ABNER or ABINER

("

My

Father

is

Ncr").—

Biblical Data: Ai<onling to" I Cliroii. viii. SO-IW. an uncle of Saul: and Josephus (" Ant. vi. (i. ^ vliile I Sam. xiv. .51 anil Josephus ("Ant." vi. (i "

',]),

—

killed

him

in self-defense (Sanli.

4!)(.

of the rabbinical view of the Bible narratives that Abner. the warrior pure and simple, is styled " Lion of the Law " (Y'cr. Peah, I.e.), and that even a speeiiinn is given of a halakic discussion between him and Doeg as to whether the law in Dent, xxiii. 3 exeludeil .Vmmonileand .Moabiti' wonu'ii from the .lewish community as well ns Doeg was of the opinion that Daviil, being men. descended from the Moabite.ss Hiilh. was not lit to wear the crown, nor even to be considered a true Israelite: while .Miinr maintained that the law nfWhi'U Docg'a fecled only the male liiw of descent. diali'i lies proved more than a match for those of It is characteristic-

.i-.io).

I.

mourning, iiii;

Hebron

in

WHO was (11

to u .lewish tradition,

Wilehof Kn

Sam.

ouried. iii.

amid

Ult-HH).

royal

Accord-

Abner was the son of (be

,lor.

I.

M.

P.

In Rabbinical Literature Smi of the Witch of Kn (lor Pirke It. i;i. xwiii). and the hero par

cxeelleiiee in he liairgadah (Yalk., Jer. '2>*'>; Keel. ('oiis<'ious of his exlniordiI{. on ix. 11; Kid. liti).

.biicr, the latter went to the prophet Samuel, who not only supported .Miner in liis view, but utterly Y'eb. rifiited DiH'g's as-sertions (Midr. Sam. xxii.

nary strength,

7tV/.r «</.).

(

I

exclaimed: "If I could only catch hold of the earth. I could shake it" (Yalk. I.e.) u saying which pandlcls the famous utteraine

—

lu'



One of the most prominent families (^i/.it haKesat) in Jerusalem in the middle of the lirst cen-