Аннотация:The paper deals with the metaphoric and literal understanding of hygiene sacra in early rabbinic literature (Mishnah and the Talmud) against the foil of the New Testament and patristic literature. Biblical ritual rules of immersion and defecation became the subject of play in rabbinic literature. The rabbis rendered over-literal what the biblical prophets made metaphorical. The roots of that semi-comical rendering derived from Hellenistic Jewish literature. The philosophical fight against anthropomorphism ironically created hilarious understanding of things sacred.
