Why do we wash our hands this way? Going by the Torah, only priests had to wash, and they only had to wash before eating food that was set aside for them from their duties in the Temple. Today there is no Temple in Jerusalem, no altar, no priests, and no sacrifices. Instead, every home can be a Temple, every table an altar, every meal a sanctified experience, and every Jew a priest. And eating, a mechanical biological function, can be transformed into a ritual with meaning, "elevating the holy sparks" in the food.