Rachtzah
Excerpt from Rabbi Goldie Milgram on Reclaiming Judaism Website
In 1386 in Ferrara, Italy the plague was rampaging across all human lives. A representative was sent to find out why the Jews were reported to be surviving better. The Jewish community was to be indicted for practicing witch craft, which many thought was the reason for their superior fate.
Two findings were reported which might prove relevant explanations. One was obviously witch craft, the authorities reported. Just before eating the Jews would wash their hands, lift them into the air and recite an incantation.
Also, as soon as it became apparent that someone was infected with the plague, they would be moved to a "beyt merkhak", a house of distance, on the edge of the community for forty days or until they died, whichever came first.
This was all before germ theory was proven. The incantation was the traditional blessing for washing the hands: Barukh atah Adonai Eloheynu Melech ha olam asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al n'teelat yadayim. Blessed are You, Adonai (root word is "adan - threshold"), our God, King (I like to think of King as equally "organizing principle") of the universe, that makes us holy through sacred acts of consciousness (mitzvot) and instructions regarding the lifting up of hands.
It is a tradition to lift your hands up like a surgeon does as you finish the washing and say the blessing. Can you feel the fabric of the universe lifting up with your intentions to infuse holiness, healthy caring living into the world through the way you use those hands? Little did we realize this simple gesture would carry healing of mind, spirit and also safety for the body.
And the "house of distance" for forty days? The forty days is drawn from Leviticus, when someone who was ill would be put outside the camp for that amount of time. This is the origin of the sanitorium and practices to prevent the spread of illness. What is the Italian word for forty? You got it. Quaranta. The agent who reported back to the Vatican this curious practice of the Jews went on to transform it into a practice known as quarantine. Retaining the practice didn't just save us, it impacts unto this very day upon most of humanity.
Reading by Rabbi Rachel Gartner
May healing waters pour forth over us all.
Every one of us. Everywhere, speedily and in our days.
May healers the world over be blessed with a well-spring of strength.
Part the seas before our nurses and doctors and health care workers.
As you turned the sea into walls of water for our ancestors, raise up mountains of protection around our healers, send them all they need, so they may walk through the torrents in safety and in health. And as the Israelites relied on each and every person to do their part to carry the community across to dry land, so may we be vigilant in sharing our healing resources as they are now, and as they emerge across the horizon.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל־נְטִילַת יָדָֽיִם
Blessed are You, Adonai, our God,
Sovereign of the universe, who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us regarding hand-washing.