Question: Should we wash our hands in the bathroom with soap and water, or by pouring water from a vessel with handles three times, alternating hands? I have heard it said that a vessel is used only in the morning upon awakening. What are the rules pertaining to young children? What is the protocol if no vessel is available? Additionally, may we dry our hands via an electric dryer?
Harry Koenigsberg
(Via E-Mail)
Summary of our response up to this point: The Mechaber (Orach Chayyim 4:1) rules that upon arising in the morning, a person must wash his hands three times in order to remove the evil spirit that rests upon them at night and recite the blessing “Al Netilat Yadayim.”
The Rashba explains that in the morning, our souls return to our bodies and we are created anew. The Zohar elaborates that at night, when we sleep, our holy souls ascend to heaven and an evil spirit descends on our bodies in their absence. When the souls return in the morning, the evil spirit leaves but lingers on our hands. The Zohar specifies that water must be poured on our hands from a vessel.
The Mishnah Berurah notes that one should alternate pouring water on the right and left hands, three times each. The Machebar lists times at which one must ritually wash one’s hands and warns that a person who forgets to do so will forget what he learned or go out of his mind.
The Vilna Gaon explains that washing three times is only required upon arising from sleep. The Mishneh Halachot, Rabbi Menashe Klein, discusses the importance of teaching small children to perform netilat yadayim, for cleanliness (purity) reasons and also for educational reasons.
The Ba’er Heitev states that a person should say “Al Netilat Yadayim” after washing and not wait until he dries them. The Sha’arei Teshuva disagrees and states that an evil spirit does not depart one’s hands until after they are dried. Therefore, should dry one’s hands first and only then say “Al Netilat Yadayim.”
R’ Abuhu maintains that eating bread without wiping one’s hands first is like eating defiled bread. The Zohar adds that wiping one’s hands is required after washing in the morning and upon departing the lavatory.
The Mechaber rules that washing one’s hands in the morning upon awakening takes care of all washings for the rest of the day if water is scarce. The Rema disagrees, ruling that one must always wash for bread.
We quoted from the responsum of Rabbi Tovia Goldstein, zt”l, on wiping one’s hands after Netilat Yadayim. R. Abahu states that eating without wiping one’s hands first is considered loathsome; the bread is considered ritually defiled. The water that remains on one’s hands after washing are considered defiled and must be wiped away.
Last week we noted that the Mordechai cites the Tosefta in Yadayim as stating that a person who immerses his hands in a mikveh need not wipe them as there are no defiled waters involved. The same is true if a revi’it is poured on one’s hands (together or individually). The Mechaber rules in accordance with this Tosefta.
The Tur, as well, like the Maharsha, sees no need for wiping in this instance as there is no tum’ah residue when one’s hands are washed in this manner. However, according to Rashi, one must always wipe one’s hand due to mi’us. If one washes with less than a revi’it, the Maharsha too would require wiping one’s hands.
Rabbi Goldstein notes the difficulty in reconciling Rashi with the Tosefta in Yadayim.
(Clarification: A number of readers wrote to me that I did not clarify what kind of washing is necessary after leaving the bathroom. I, however, addressed this point in Part III, citing the Mechaber (Orach Chayim 4:18) who mandates washing three times from a vessel, not only upon arising in the morning, but even when exiting the bathroom. The Vilna Gaon cites Sha’arei Teshuva, though, who notes that only upon arising from sleep in the morning is such a washing mandated. When washing after leaving the bathroom – a washing that clearly is necessary for cleanliness purposes – a regular washing with soap and water is sufficient. Many nowadays act leniently in accord with this position, although Sha’arei Teshuva himself advises stringency.)
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Rabbi Goldstein cites further from the Levush (Orach Chayim 148:12-13), who quotes Ezekiel about Bnei Yisrael cooking over charcoals of human waste and animal dung and, as a result, eating tamei bread. The implication from these verses is that something very loathsome is considered tamei, and R’ Abahu states that eating bread before wiping one’s hands is considered loathsome.
The Levush explains the two sides of the dispute regarding wiping one’s hands after washing as follows. According to those who cite the Baraita (Tosefta, Yadayim 5:1) – that a person who immerses his hands [in a mikveh] need not wipe his hands – the passage in Ezekiel is problematic since it seems to suggest otherwise. They therefore must explain that the Gemara only uses these verses as an asmachta (a “support”) from which we issue no rulings. We might also suggest that they were only quoted to derive the gematria equivalence between “lachmam tamei – their bread defiled” with “b’lo niguv yadayim – without wiping one’s hands.”
Those, on the other hand, who maintain that wiping one’s hands is always required (to avoid loathsomeness) would argue that the halacha does not follow the baraita that makes an exception for dipping one’s hands in a mikveh.
The Levush offers another suggestion to reconcile the Gemara and baraita. Those who rule like the baraita would maintain that although one need not dry one’s hands after dipping them in a mikveh (since there is no tamei water to speak of) one must wait until they dry of their own accord. Those who follow R’ Abahau in the Gemara and always require wiping one’s hands would argue that not wiping is always considered loathsome – regardless of whether the water on one’s hands is tamei or not.
(To be continued)