Holy Thursday—Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper (March 29, 2018)
Verse Before The Gospel (Joh 13:34)
A new command I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Lev 19:18
You shall not seek revenge [e.g., “you did not lend me; I will not lend you”] nor bear a grudge against the children of your people [e.g., “I am not like you who did not lend me; I shall lend you”], but you shall love your neighbor as yourself [R. Akiva said: This is an all-embracing principle in the Law]. I am the Lord.
Rashi’s Commentary
You shall not seek revenge—If one says to another “Lend me your sickle,” and he replies, “No!” The next day, he (the latter) says to him (the former), “Lend me your hatchet,” and he retorts, “I am not going to lend it to you, just as you refused to lend me your sickle”—this constitutes revenge. And what is “bearing a grudge?” If one says to another, “Lend me your hatchet,” and he replies “No!” Then the next day, he says to him “Lend me your sickle,” and he replies: “Here it is; I am not like you, because you would not lend me”—this is called “bearing a grudge” because he retains enmity in his heart although he does not actually avenge himself (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4 10-11; Yoma 23a).
Gospel (Joh 13:1-15)
Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come that he would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him,
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going back to God;
4 got up from supper, and laid aside his garments; and taking a towel, he girded himself.
5 Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.
Gen 18:4
Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet [Abraham taking them for Arabs, who bow down idolatrously “to the dust of their feet”] and rest under the tree.
Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet by the LumoProject. All rights reserved.
Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet by the LumoProject. All rights reserved.
Rashi’s Commentary
And wash your feet—He thought they were Arabians who worship the dust of their feet, and he was particular not to have the object of idolatrous worship brought into his house (Bava Metzia 86b). Lot, however, who was not particular about this, mentioned “lodging” (i.e. entering the house) before “washing” the feet, as it is said (Gen 19:2) “and lodge and bathe your feet.”
Under the tree—Under the tree (Genesis Rabbah 48:11).
Gen 19:2
And he said, “Behold, now, my lords, please turn aside [by a side-path so that you not be noticed] to your servant’s house, and spend the night and wash your feet [afterwards, so that the men of Sodom think you to be recently arrived, and not fault me for having hidden you from them] and then rise early and go on your way.”
And they answered, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.”
Rashi’s Commentary
Behold, now, my lords—Behold now you are my lords since you have passed by me. Another explanation is: Behold now you should be careful with respect to these wicked people that they should not observe you, and, therefore this is the good advice that I give you.
Please turn—Take a circuitous route to my house—a round-about way, that people should not notice you entering it. For this reason he said: turn (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).
And spend the night and wash your feet—Is it then customary for people first to tarry all night and then to wash? Furthermore, Abraham began by saying to them, “and wash your feet!”—But this is what Lot thought: If when the men of Sodom come they see that they have already washed their feet, they will make a charge against me saying, “Two or three days have already elapsed since these come to your house and you did not report it to us”—consequently he said: it is better that they should stay here with the dust on their feet so that they would seem to have just arrived. On this account he first said to them, “Spend the night,” and afterwards “Wash” (Genesis Rabbah 50:4).
But we will spend the night in the square—Here כִּי is used in the sense of but; they said: We will not turn in to your house, but we will spend the night in the square of the city.”
Exo 29:4
Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water [this is immersion of the entire body].
Rashi’s Commentary
And wash them—This signifies the immersion of the entire body (cf. Targum Jonathan).
6 So he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
8 Peter said to him, “Never shall you wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.”
Lev 17:15-16
15 “ ‘And every soul that eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts [Scripture speaks here of a clean fowl which dies], whether citizen or foreigner, he must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.
16 But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe his flesh [and he eats sacred food or enters the sanctuary], he will bear his sin’ ” [for not bathing his body; stripes for not washing his clothes].
Rashi’s Commentary
Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet by the LumoProject. All rights reserved.
But if he does not . . . bathe his flesh, he will bear his sin—For the omission to bathe his body before entering the sanctuary or before eating sacred food he is liable to excision, but for the omission to wash his clothes he is liable to lashes only (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 12 13).
He will bear his sin—If he eats sacred food or enters the sanctuary in this state of uncleanness he becomes liable to excision for this uncleanness just as for doing these things in any other state of uncleanness (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 12 14).
Num 19:7-8, 12-13, 19-21
7 And the priest must wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and then he may come into the camp [of the Divine Presence (from which alone he had been excluded)], but the priest will be unclean until evening [i.e., he will be unclean until evening and then he may come into the camp].
Rashi’s Commentary
Come into the camp—Into the camp of the Divine Presence, from which alone he had been barred, for no unclean person was expelled from two camps except a person with a running issue and a man who had experienced a seminal emission, and a leper (who had to remain outside all three) (cf. Pesachim 67a).
But the priest will be unclean until evening—Invert its order (that of the phrases forming this half of the verse), and then explain it: He will be unclean until evening and then he may come into the camp (cf. Rashi Lev 11:32 and Note thereon).
8 The one who burns it must also wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, and will be unclean until evening.
12 He must purify himself with it [the ashes] on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.
Rashi’s Commentary
He must purify himself with it—With this ash.
13 Everyone who touches a corpse of a human soul that shall die [this excludes “the soul of a beast,” one who touches its carcass not requiring sprinkling], and he does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord [if he enters the tabernacle without the sprinkling of the third and seventh days], and that soul must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing was not sprinkled on him, unclean shall he be; his uncleanness remains on him [even if he underwent ritual immersion].
Rashi’s Commentary
Corpse of a human soul—And what corpse is here intended? That of a human soul, to exclude an animal,
so intimating that uncleanness caused by it does not require sprinkling for its removal. Another explanation: “Of a human soul” is, that this term refers to a quarter of a log of blood (this being regarded as the minimum quantity necessary for maintaining life in a human being) (Chullin 72a).
Defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, if he enters the forecourt even though after having immersed himself, but without having been sprinkled on the third and seventh days.
His uncleanness remains, although he has immersed himself.
19 The clean man shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day [i.e., that is the consummation of his cleansing] he shall purify him; and he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and will be clean in the evening.
Rashi’s Commentary
He shall purify him—This is the completion of his purification (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 129:2).
20 But a person who is unclean and does not purify himself from uncleanness, that soul must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean.
Rashi’s Commentary
But a person who is unclean . . .—If the sanctuary is mentioned why need it say “tabernacle . . .” in v. 13? etc., as is set forth in Treatise Shevuot 16b.
21 This shall be a lasting ordinance for them.
“And the man who sprinkles the water of cleansing [i.e., he who bears an amount sufficient for sprinkling (but not the sprinkler himself)] must wash his clothes [as opposed to the toucher (whose garments are not rendered unclean)], and he who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean until evening.”
Rashi’s Commentary
And the man who sprinkles the water of cleansing—Our Rabbis said that the man who sprinkles remains clean, and this statement is intended to intimate that one who bears the waters of purification becomes unclean with a more stringent uncleanness, in that he renders unclean the garments that are upon him, unlike the man who only touches the water of cleansing. Scripture uses the term “the man who sprinkles” to tell you that they (the waters) do not render a person who bears them unclean until there is an amount of water adequate for cleansing (Yoma 14a).
And the man who touches . . . will be unclean, but he is not required to wash his clothes.
Yoma 14a:9
The Gemara asks: Is the one who sprinkles the water actually pure? Isn’t it written: “The man who sprinkles the purification waters will wash his clothes, and he who touches the purification waters will be unclean until evening” (Num 19:19)? The Gemara responds: What is the meaning of the term: The man who sprinkles? It means: He who touches. But isn’t it written: The man who sprinkles? And isn’t it written in the same verse: And he who touches? And furthermore, in that verse, one who sprinkles requires washing of his clothes, indicating a more severe level of impurity, whereas one who touches does not require washing of his clothes. Apparently, when it is written: The man who sprinkles, it is not referring to one who touches.
The Last Supper by the LumoProject. All rights reserved.
11 For he knew the one who was betraying him; for this reason he said not all of you are clean.
12 So when he had washed their feet, and taken his clothes and reclined at the table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?
13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, for so I am.
14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
Reading 1 (Exo 12:1-4, 5-8)
Responsorial Psalm (Psa 116:12-13, 15-18; 1Co 10:16)
12 What shall I return to the Lord
for all his benefits toward me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation [i.e., the libations for the thanksgiving offerings that I vowed (viz. verse 17)]
and call [thanking you for this salvation] in the name of the Lord.
15 [I have seen that] precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 I acknowledge, O Lord [that you have been gracious to me] for I am your servant,
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
[for which reason] you have opened my chains.
17 To you I will sacrifice a thank offering [for the miracles that you performed for me]
and call in the name of the Lord.
The Last Supper by the LumoProject. All rights reserved.
Lev 7:12
If he offers it as a thanksgiving offering [for a miracle that had happened to him, e.g., recovering from an illness], then along with the offering of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, and [unleavened] cakes of well stirred fine flour mixed with oil [ten cakes of each of the four kinds].
Rashi’s Commentary
Stirred . . . flour—Bread stirred with oil, as much as is needed to saturate it.
18 I will fulfill my vows [i.e., the offerings that I vowed] to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all his people,
1Co 10:16
Is not the cup of thanksgiving which we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a participation in the body of Christ?
This work is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0