How to Drink Water: Jewish Prohibitions from Our Grandmothers

How to Drink Water: Jewish Prohibitions from Our Grandmothers

Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (the Rashba) wrote: “One must not reject the traditions of Jewish grandmothers, even if six hundred thousand refutations are found for them, for the customs of our people transcend nature and reason.” Many people remember how, in childhood, their grandmothers forbade them to drink water from a cup or bucket that had been left uncovered and unattended—they insisted that it was dangerous to one's health and even to one's life. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 31b) likewise mentions a warning of this kind concerning water left uncovered: perhaps a snake had drunk from it and released its venom into the water, or some other impure force had done so, and anyone who drank it would be poisoned. But there was another prohibition associated with water: not drinking water from a vessel unless some of it had first been poured out. Why? The Gemara (Chullin 105b–106a) relates: “Rabbi Pappa had a shed who served him as a slave. One day, he went to fetch water for his master and was delayed for a long time. When he returned with the water, Rabbi Pappa asked him: ‘Why were you gone for so long?’ The shed replied: ‘I saw other shedim drinking water from the stream, so I decided to wait until the water they had drunk had flowed away, and only then did I draw water.’ While they were speaking with one another, Rabbi Pappa poured out a little water before drinking from the pitcher the shed had brought. The shed then said: ‘If I had known that you normally pour water from the pitcher onto the ground before drinking, I would not have delayed because the shedim had drunk from that water. There is such a remedy (refuah): one must pour out a little of the water brought from a well or stream.’ The Tosafot (Chullin 106a) then raises a question: if the shed knew that pouring out some water before drinking was an effective remedy, why did he delay? He could have poured some water from the pitcher after seeing the shedim drink from the stream—for by pouring some out of the pitcher, he would not have endangered people. The Tosafot explains that this remedy does indeed exist, but only the person who is going to drink must pour out the water himself. Therefore, the shed could not pour it out himself. The Tosafot also asks: why did the shed not draw the water immediately, while the other shedim were drinking, and tell the people, “Do not drink until you have poured some out yourselves”? He would then not have needed to delay. The Tosafot offers the following explanation: the shed was afraid to teach people this remedy in the presence of the other shedim, lest they report that he was teaching people various remedies. (Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak Ashkenazi of Janów, Tzena Urena)