“... § 305. custom of all the Jews. Ps.-Aristeas calls the practice of washing and then praying an ἔθος, a habit or custom. Although he interprets the practice allegorically, in this paragraph washing and then praying are not explicitly grounded in the lawgiver’s legislation. This is what Jews do typically, Aristeas tells Philocrates. washed … prayer. The modern translators take different approaches to this sentence. Hadas, for example, envisions two coordinate actions, washing and praying. The grammar of the sentence, however, subordinates the praying to the washing, since the clause with the verb for praying takes the form of ὡς ἄν with the optative. The men wash their hands in order that they might pray. Washing, then, is a prerequisite for prayer to God. For the practice of washing before prayer in the Second Temple period, see, for example, Jdt 12:7–8, where Judith bathes and then prays, and SibOr 3.591–593, which says of the Jews, “At dawn they lift up holy arms toward heaven, from their beds, always sanctifying their flesh [some MSS: hands] with water.” ...”