According to the editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, the prevailing notion in ancient middle eastern cultures was that bodily ailments and defects, such as blindness and loss of hearing, as well as circumstantial ailments, such as poverty, were punishments for sin ; the blind, together with cripples and lepers, were outcast by society and were prevented from entering towns, becoming paupers as a result.

According to the editors of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, the phrase netilat yadaim referring to washing of the hands, literally " lifting of the hands ", is derived either from Psalm 134: 2, or from the Greek word natla ( αντλίον in Hebrew נ ַ ט ְ ל ָ ה ), in reference to the jar of water used.

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