Portion "ki – Tisa"
"And you did a copper sink… And put water there. Aaron and his sons washed their hands and feet when they come into the tabernacle". "Washed their hands and feet ... And that law will never to him and his generations". (30, 18-21)
The purpose of this is double bath: Purification and sanctification. Washing hands and feet for the purpose of purification similar dip in the mikveh, like baptism ritual, to immerse the whole body at once, because there is no purity in half, Of course, it also should be priests wash their hands and feet at once. So the second verse says: "washed their hands and feet" without a break between hands and feet. Washing is also giving additional purification holiness, for their worship at the temple.
Because prayer is like a temple priest's job, that the prayers were in memory of the sacrifices at the temple. Maimonides studied these verses; every Jew should wash his face, hands and feet before prayer. But, here there is a difference: the priests washed their hands and feet only, not their faces. Whereas Maimonides adds that the faces wash before prayer! Why?
Explanation for this: The difference between the face arms and legs is, hands and feet are "doing power" of the person. While the face, head, internal powers are superior, like intellect, sense of vision, hearing and speech.
Of course, then: While the temple, when she was the Divine Presence in Israel, the internal powers were segregated secular business, and were only matters of holiness. Therefore, did not have priests to sanctify, but only their hands and feet which were body needs. They held the verse: "the product of your hands you eat", only the hands were immersed in the business world, and brain and heart. But while the exile "happening" investing the internal powers of intellect and emotion in business physical hardware. Therefore, during the exile, the person should wash the face before prayer.
