“He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer
One of the improvements introduced by the Romans was the public bath-house. This article discusses the formation of Jewish prayers, which were composed during the early rabbinic period, following the dangers of the public baths. Sages from late antiquity published two prayers: Before entering to the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/10/225 |
| _version_ | 1819079010394570752 |
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| author | Abraham Ofir Shemesh |
| author_facet | Abraham Ofir Shemesh |
| author_sort | Abraham Ofir Shemesh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One of the improvements introduced by the Romans was the public bath-house. This article discusses the formation of Jewish prayers, which were composed during the early rabbinic period, following the dangers of the public baths. Sages from late antiquity published two prayers: Before entering to the bathhouse, the bather has to pray for his safety, and after leaving the bath-house he has to thank Gd for not having suffered harm. The dangers of the bathhouse were deemed to include: Weakness, fainting or dehydration due to the heat of the bathhouse; Legs injury of the bathers due to the heat of the warm floor; Dental damage; Sliding on the wet floor; Fear of death due to collapse of the hypocaust. Due to changes in the bath-house in the modern era; these prayers lost their relevance up to a point; or at any rate; they were no longer prescribed or recorded in practice. Bathhouse heaters were no longer located in the hypocaust; and were rather only located close to the wall of the upper room. Hence; falling into the hot lower space was irrelevant. Following the introduction of domestic baths; these prayers have completely vanished. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T19:22:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-847767c4c3f843ee904d573f7b979912 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T19:22:11Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-847767c4c3f843ee904d573f7b9799122022-12-21T18:52:55ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442017-10-0181022510.3390/rel8100225rel8100225“He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish PrayerAbraham Ofir Shemesh0Israel Heritage Department, Ariel University, Kiryat hamadda P.O.B. 3, Ariel 40700, IsraelOne of the improvements introduced by the Romans was the public bath-house. This article discusses the formation of Jewish prayers, which were composed during the early rabbinic period, following the dangers of the public baths. Sages from late antiquity published two prayers: Before entering to the bathhouse, the bather has to pray for his safety, and after leaving the bath-house he has to thank Gd for not having suffered harm. The dangers of the bathhouse were deemed to include: Weakness, fainting or dehydration due to the heat of the bathhouse; Legs injury of the bathers due to the heat of the warm floor; Dental damage; Sliding on the wet floor; Fear of death due to collapse of the hypocaust. Due to changes in the bath-house in the modern era; these prayers lost their relevance up to a point; or at any rate; they were no longer prescribed or recorded in practice. Bathhouse heaters were no longer located in the hypocaust; and were rather only located close to the wall of the upper room. Hence; falling into the hot lower space was irrelevant. Following the introduction of domestic baths; these prayers have completely vanished.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/10/225ancient prayerbath-houseTalmudic literaturehypocaustcaldariumdangers of bath-houseJewish halakhaYehuda HanassiTractate Derech EretzKala Rabati |
| spellingShingle | Abraham Ofir Shemesh “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer Religions ancient prayer bath-house Talmudic literature hypocaust caldarium dangers of bath-house Jewish halakha Yehuda Hanassi Tractate Derech Eretz Kala Rabati |
| title | “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer |
| title_full | “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer |
| title_fullStr | “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer |
| title_full_unstemmed | “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer |
| title_short | “He Who Enters the Bath-House Utters Two Blessings”: On the Evolvement and Decline of an Ancient Jewish Prayer |
| title_sort | he who enters the bath house utters two blessings on the evolvement and decline of an ancient jewish prayer |
| topic | ancient prayer bath-house Talmudic literature hypocaust caldarium dangers of bath-house Jewish halakha Yehuda Hanassi Tractate Derech Eretz Kala Rabati |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/10/225 |
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