[Avodah] Is dirt clean?

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 06:03:53AM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: My question is simple: Why is dirt in the category of "things which clean"?
: It seems to me that if I would rub my hands with dirt they would (almost
: always) be even dirtier afterwards than before.

The early Greeks apparently used clay, sand, pumice and/or ashes to remove
the oils and "to draw toxins out of the body". Then they washed it odd
and annointed themselves with oil, often scented. (This annointing with
oil is likely familiar from discussions in hilkhos Shabbos and tannis.)

Galen had them shift to soap to ward off diseases of the skin. He lived
around the same time as R Meir and Rashbi.

Interestingly, the Tur mentions using a pebble or anything that cleans.
The BY inserts "ve'afar", and repeats it in the SA.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When we are no longer able to change a situation
micha at aishdas.org        -- just think of an incurable disease such as
http://www.aishdas.org   inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change
Fax: (270) 514-1507      ourselves.      - Victor Frankl (MSfM)