Laying-on of hands

The laying on of hands is a ritual that is a part of religious practices found in various cultures throughout the world.

In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit primarily during baptisms and confirmations, healing services, blessings, and ordination of priests, ministers, elders, deacons, and other church officers, along with a variety of other church sacraments and holy ceremonies.

The practice of laying on of hands is used in Navajo religious ceremonies.

The laying on of hands was an action referred to on numerous occasions in the Tanakh to accompany the conferring of a blessing or authority. For example, Isaac blessed his son Jacob by laying on of hands (Genesis 27:27).

Aaron and the High Priests who succeeded him symbolically transferred the sins of the Children of Israel to a sacrificial goat by the laying on of hands: Leviticus16:21. Moses ordained Joshua through semikhah—i.e. by the laying on of hands: Num 27:15–23, Deut 34:9. The Bible adds that Joshua was thereby "filled with the spirit of wisdom". Moses also ordained the 70 elders (Num 11:16–25). The elders later ordained their successors in this way. Their successors in turn ordained others. This chain of hands-on semikhah continued through the time of the Second Temple, to an undetermined time. The exact date that the original semikhah succession ended is not certain. Many medieval authorities believed that this occurred during the reign of Hillel II, circa AD 360. However, it seems to have continued at least until AD 425 when Theodosius II executed Gamaliel VI and suppressed the Patriarchate and Sanhedrin.

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