Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 30:20/אבן עזרא על שמות ל׳:כ׳

אבבאם, ירחצו מים. הטעם רחיצת מים כי ידיהם ורגליהם הם הפועלים וכמוהו רבים:

1WHEN THEY GO INTO THE TENT OF MEETING, THEY SHALL WASH WITH WATER. The meaning of yirchatzu mayim⁹⁶ is they shall wash with water.⁹⁷. In other words, yirchatzu mayim means yirchatzu rechitzat mayim, for the noun rechitzat is implied in the verb yirchatzu (Filwarg). In his short commentary I.E. notes that yirchatzu mayim is short for yirchatzu ba-mayim. He might mean the same here. The reason the hands and feet have to be washed is that they are the active parts of the body.⁹⁸. They are the parts of the body that are usually soiled. Vat. Ebr. 38 reads, ha-pu’alim, the ones acted upon, i.e., being washed. According to this reading we should render: The meaning of yirchatzu mayim is, they shall wash with water, for it is the hands and feet that are being washed. There are many such instances.⁹⁹