Abstract
Ritual purity was vitally important feature of every believing Jew in the Old Testament times, it pointed to holiness, perfection and beauty of the Lord. Being ritually clean, having pure hands, had in the practical life of cult bigger say than living ethically in the submission to the Lord, having clean hearts.
This was subject to critique through the prophetic theology. Even after the year 70 AD, the Rabbis went on in honoring ritual laws, redefining them spiritually, so that even without the temple, the rituals might continue symbolically.
It is only in the church that the original ritual law is abandoned completely. Understanding of prerequisites necessary for approaching God are thus radically transformed.
This pivotal turn from temple to abandonment of ritual practice is traced in the article.