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BS"D YouTube Jeshiva presents
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Siman 2
Laws of the morning Netilas Jodaim (washing the hands)
Because in the morning, apon arising, a person is as if he has been created anew, so
for the purpose of serving the Creator (may His name be blessed) he must
sanctify himself by washing his hands with water from a utensil.
A person is then similar to a Kohen, who would sanctify his hands daily
from the Kiyor (Laver) prior to performing his
Temple service. While this washing is a Rabbinic
enactment, there is a Scriptural support for it. It comes from
Tehillim 26: „I will wash in cleanliness my hands and circle around
Your Altar, Hashem, to proclaim thanksgiving in
a loud voice.” There is another reason for
this washing. Since during sleep, when our holy soul leaves
the body, a spirit of impurity (ruach roo) comes and rests on our body. When
the person awakens from his sleep this spirit of impurity departs from his whole body
except for his fingers where it stays until he pours water upon them three times.
It is prohibited to walk four amos, which is about two meters, before washing one's hands
except in cases of necessity: when one must attend to his needs or
when the water is not available. Mishna Brura says, that in such cases
one may consider the whole room to be an are
of four amos. The first garment one should put on
in the morning should be tallis koton so as not to walk a distance
longer than four amos (about two meters) without tzitzis. However since one puts
tzitzis before netilas jodoim then so when the hands are not yet
clean, one should not recite the blessing upon putting on tzitzis at that time.
According to Kitzur Szulchan Aruch (siman 9) a person, after washing his hands, should take
tzitzis in his hands and then say the blessing: Baruch Ato Adoishem
Elohejnu Meilech Ho-oilom asher kidshonu bemitzwoisow wetziwonu al micwas tzitzis.
This applies to people who, for shachris prayer, do not put on the big tallis
tallis godol). Those, who put on tallis godol, when
reciting the blessing: Boruch Ato Adoishem Eloheinu Meilech Ho-oilom
asher kidshonu bemitzwoisow wetziwonu lehisatef batzitzis should have in mind,
that this blessing applies also to talis koton. Mishna Brura says though,
that a person should first wash the hands and then put on tzitzis.
Here is the procedure for the morning netilas jodoim: one takes the utensil
filled with water with right hand and transfers it to the left hand. Then he
pours his right hand, takes the utensil with right hand and pours the water onto left hand.
It should be done 3 times. Only this way one can remove the spirit of impurity (ruach roo)
from his hands. Doing it one time with large quantity of water does not work
the same way. It is proper to wash
the hand until the wrist. However, when there is not enough water and on
Yom Kipur and Tisha b'Aw when washing for pleasure is forbidden,
one should wash the hands until the knuckles which join the fingers to the palm.
One should also wash the face in the morning, as it states in Bereshis 9:6: „for
in the form of God He made man”. One should also rinse out the mouth to
remove the stale salive that builds up overnight as to utter the Great Name of
Hashem in purity and holiness. Then one should dry his hands and face..
According to Orach Chaim (4:20) leaving the face wet is not healthy for the skin.
One should wash the hands in a way that the water falls into a utensil (for example basin).
It is because, in earlier times in houses there were only earth floors
and used water was poured out onto the floor. And because the water used for
netilas jodoim contains ruach roo (the spirit of impurity) one was no allowed
to pour it out on the floor in one's house. For the same reason one is not allowed
to benefit from the water used for netilas jodoim. Because now
we use basins the problem does not exist anymore as right after washing
the water drains away. Prior to washing hands in the morning
one should refrain from touching any orifice of the body.
That is mouth, nostrils, eyes (Mishna Brura says that even
eyelids when eyes are closed), ears and *** [CENSORED]. One may not touch the wound from
bloodletting or food (according to Mishna Brura the food that was touched
with not yet washed hands may be eaten when rinsed off three times).
It is all because ruach roo (the spirit of impurity) can
cause harm to the person and to food. It is proper to scrupulous
or holes, it should have a correct volume (it may be a problem if
the utensil is too small for the amount of water required). The utensil is
also needed because one it is required to use human force when performing netilas jodoim.
So one may not just pass his hands under the water flowing from the faucet.
In a situation when an utensil is not available and a person wishes
to pray he may wash his hands with water from any utensil and
with any type of water and even without human force. And he may still
say the blessing Boruch Ato Adoishem Eloheinu Meilech Ho-oilom
asher kidszonu bemicwoisow weciwonu al netilas jodoim. It is though allowed only in
pressing circumstances. If there is a river nearby it is better
to dip hands in the river three times. Another way is to
put hands, three times, into snow. One has to remember then to put the hands every time
in different place. If there no water available
at all, one should wipe his hands with dry cloth and recite
the blessing Boruch Ato Adoishem Eloheinu Meilecj Ho-oilom asher kidshonu
bemitzwoisow wetziwonu al nekius jodoim. And such way is sufficient with regard
to washing for prayers, but it does not remove ruach too. So if the water
becomes available later one should wash hands again but without reciting
the blessing. In Tehillim 103:1 it is written: "Bless
Hashem, O my soul and let all of my innermost being bless His Holy Name." These words teach us, that
when we bless Hashem our whole body must be in proper
state of purity. That is why one may not say any blessing
untill he has cleansed his inner organs. That is why after arising in the morning and washing one's hands
but before using the toilet one may not say the blessing
al netilas jodoim. Only after using the toilet and washing the hands again
one should say blessings: al netilas jodoim, asher jocar,
Torah studying blessing and Elokai neshomo.
There are four situation in which, after washing the hands, we do not say
the blessing al netilas jodoim: 1) when one woke up in the middle of the night,
washed his hands and did not go to sleep until dawn
2) or when after waking up and washing the hands went to sleep again, during the night
3) it applies also to a person who, during the days, was sleeping for the time longer than
"sixty breaths" which is about half an hour 4) or to a person who did not sleep at all
during the night.
And in all these situations there is a problem whether to wash hands or not.
So halacha says that one should wash hands but without reciting
the blessing. These are activities which render hands unclean
thus a person engaging in these activities must clean his hands either before
praying or studying Torah: 1) sleeping (according to what
has been said earlier), 2) using a lavatory or bath-house,
3) cutting nails, 4) cutting hair,
5) taking off shoes (if one touches them in order to take them off),
6) engaging in marital relations, [censored] 7) touching a louse,
8) delousing a garment, 9) scratching his head,
10) touching a part of body in places which are usually covered,
11) leaving the cementary, after attending a funeral or staying in an area where there was
a dead body 12) after bloodletting.
It is worth noticing, that Kitzur Shulchan Aruch had been written few hundreds
years ago so some of these activities are no longer performed and may seem
a bit preposterous.
Animation and subtitles: Azriel Iser Szczukowski
Presented by: Hubert Chlopicki
Based on Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, The Kleinman Edition
Contact: ytyeshiva@gmail.com
15th September 2010/7 Tishrei 5771 Warsaw, Poland