004 - Dinei Netilas Yadayim - ד דיני נטילת ידים ובו ב' סעיפים

Siman 4: Laws of Netilas Yadayim, containing two seifim:

Recording: Seifim 1–2

1. The Sages ordained that one should wash his hands with water every morning and recite the blessing on netilas yadayim.

And the reason.

Some explain: on account of the Shema and the Shacharis prayer.

Because the hands are busy, and presumably touched the soiled places of his body during sleep, as will be explained.

And the support for this washing is what is said: "ארחץ בנקיון כפי, ואסובבה את מזבחך ה', לשמיע בקול תודה וגו'" ("I will wash my hands in cleanliness, and I will go around Your altar, Hashem, to proclaim with a voice of thanksgiving...") (Tehillim 26:6–7).

And although when he has no water he may clean his hands with anything that cleans, for it does not say "I will wash in water" but "in cleanliness", as will be explained in Siman 92?

Nevertheless it is a mitzvah to seek water, up to a mil.

And even if he is traveling, he should turn back up to a mil.

As will be explained there.

And the blessing is recited on this mitzvah in the way blessings are recited on all rabbinic mitzvos.

But for Torah study, and for mentioning the Name in other blessings, apart from the Shema and prayer, he need not seek water; it is enough to clean his hands with anything that cleans. Therefore even when he washes with water he should not recite the blessing.

But for the Minchah or Maariv prayer he must seek water up to a mil, as for the morning prayer, according to this view.

And according to this view, he must also recite the blessing on netilas yadayim for Minchah or Maariv, if his hands are not clean and he must wash.

But this is not now the custom throughout Israel^[1].

Rather, the blessing "on netilas yadayim" is recited only in the morning.

For this was the ordinance of the Sages: to wash the hands with water every morning only.

And not for cleanliness of the hands for prayer.

But for the reason explained in the Zohar (Parshas Vayeshev), and mentioned also in the Gemara^[2]:

To remove the spirit of impurity that rests on the hands.

Because of the departure of the holiness of the soul from a person's body at night while he sleeps.

And to become sanctified with the holiness of the Omnipresent, blessed be He, by sprinkling pure water from a vessel.

Like a kohen who sanctifies his hands from the laver^[3].

Therefore they ordained the blessing "who has sanctified us, etc."

Nevertheless, it is fitting to take the first view into account too in practice.

To seek water, also for the Minchah and Maariv prayers, up to a mil.

But not to recite the blessing.

For in a doubt about blessings one is lenient.

But he need not wash from a vessel; he may rinse in it.

Even if it is not whole.

Even in water on the ground.

Even if there is not a revi'is.

Even with water that is unfit for washing before a meal.

For since washing for prayer is only for cleanliness, it requires no vessel, no force of a person pouring, no fit water, and none of the other things that are indispensable for washing before a meal.

But he must wash up to the joint^[4], as for a meal.

That is, up to where the fingers join the palm, according to the first view at the end of Siman 161^[5].

And to fulfill also the last view there, he should take a little more water in his palm and rub the palms together, to clean them.

To fulfill "I will wash my hands in cleanliness":

2. In the Talmud too they warned about this spirit of impurity that rests on the hands.

And they said that it does not fully leave until he washes three times, alternating^[6].

And they warned greatly not to touch with the hand before washing.

Not the eye, not the ear, not the nose, not the mouth, not the opening of the rectum, not the place of bloodletting, not the organ, such as from the corona and below, or for marital relations, and not the water in the tub prepared for washing the hands for all the household^[7].

So that he not make them impure with his hands.

So too he should take great care, while washing his hands from the vessel, not to touch the water inside the vessel and make it impure.

For water purifies the hands only by pouring.

All the more so must he take great care not to touch any food or drink before washing, so as not to make them impure. And one must warn women about this especially, for most preparation of food is by them.

But one need not be concerned about the touch of gentiles.

For this spirit of impurity desires to rest only on a holy vessel, in a place from which holiness has departed^[8], namely the bodies of Jews when they sleep and their holy soul departs from their body, and then the spirit of impurity rests on their body.

And when the soul returns to the body, the spirit of impurity departs from the whole body, and remains only on the hands.

For this reason it became the custom to be lenient with the touch of young children who have not reached the age of training, because the completion and essence of the entry of the holy soul into a person is at thirteen years and one day for a male and twelve for a female.

That is why they then become obligated in mitzvos by Torah law and become subject to punishment.

And the beginning of the entry of this holy soul is at the training in Torah and mitzvos, in which the Sages obligated training.

(Also in the mitzvah of circumcision^[9].

Therefore, one who is careful about the touch of a child from the day of circumcision onward, "קדוש יאמר לו" ("he will be called holy") (Yeshayahu 4:3)):

Recording: Discussion of these halachos, explained in detail

Notes

1. Not now the custom: Mahadura Kama gives the reason: "Because when the Holy One, blessed be He, returns a person's soul to him, he becomes like a new creation... Therefore we must become sanctified with His holiness and wash our hands from a vessel, in order to do His service and serve Him" (Mahadura Kama 4:1; see note 1 there). And in the Rulings of the Siddur: "Because he must become sanctified with the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, and remove the impurity from his hands" (Rulings of the Siddur, Order of Washing). And for one who has no water, Mahadura Kama says: "If he wishes to pray immediately, he must clean his hands before the prayer with a pebble, or earth, or a beam, or anything that cleans, and recite the blessing 'who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us on the cleanliness of the hands'" (Mahadura Kama 4:3; see note 3 there). This blessing is not brought here.

2. In the Gemara: "When he washes his hands, he should say: Blessed... who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us on netilas yadayim" (Berachos 60b).

3. Like a kohen: There is also the matter of immersing in a mikveh before prayer, and the Rebbe writes on its connection to prayer: "ויש להסבירה גם ע"פ נגלה, ע"פ דברי הרשב"א - הובא במגן אברהם ריש סי' ד' - אשר האדם בקומו בבקר הוא ככהן המתכונן לעבודה, והרי אין נכנסים לעבודה אלא בטבילה תחלה. וג"ז דבר משנה הוא (יומא ל, א). אף שלא קבעו זה חובה" ("It can be explained also according to Nigleh, by the words of the Rashba, brought in the Magen Avraham at the beginning of Siman 4: on rising in the morning a person is like a kohen preparing for the service, and one does not enter the service without first immersing. This too is a Mishnah (Yoma 30a). Although they did not establish this as an obligation") (Igros Kodesh, vol. 11, no. 3782). And in another letter: "הזהירות בטבילת עזרא שייכת ביותר ומשפיעה ביותר על אופן התפלה ומדריגתה" ("Care about the immersion of Ezra is most connected with, and most affects, the manner and level of prayer") (Igros Kodesh, vol. 18, no. 6654); and see Shulchan Menachem, Immersion before Prayer.

4. Up to the joint: Here this is washing for prayer. For the morning washing, the Rulings of the Siddur say: "Also to wash the whole joint of the palm up to where it joins the forearm, for the impurity spreads up to there on the hands" (Rulings of the Siddur, Order of Washing); and Mahadura Kama: "He need wash only the fingers. But it is good to wash them up to the joint of the arm" (Mahadura Kama 4:7; see note 5 there). And the Rebbe writes: "אבל בכתבים - שהובא במג"א ובבה"ט - כתבו סתם שצ"ל עד פרק הזרוע. וכ"מ קצת גם בסידור רבנו. אף שבת"ב ויוהכ"פ לד"ה נוטל רק עד קשרי אצבעותיו. כן הורה ג"כ כ"ק מו"ח אדמו"ר שליט"א" ("But in the Kisvei HaArizal, brought in the Magen Avraham and the Be'er Heitev, they wrote simply that it must be up to the joint of the arm. So it appears somewhat also in the Siddur of our Rebbe. Although on Tishah B'Av and Yom Kippur, according to all opinions, one washes only up to the knuckles. So too the Previous Rebbe instructed") (Igros Kodesh, vol. 3, no. 506).

5. Siman 161: There: "The measure of netilas yadayim is the whole hand up to the bone of the arm, like the measure of the sanctification of the hands in the Beis HaMikdash. And some say that they were lenient with netilas yadayim and required only up to where the fingers join the palm. And it is fitting to act according to the first view" (Siman 161, seif 8). So there the first view is up to the bone of the arm and the last view up to where the fingers join the palm, while here it says the reverse. Kuntres HaShulchan emends the words here to read "the last . . . the first" (brought in the notes of the Kehot edition, Siman 4, note 34).

6. Three times, alternating: "It was taught: Rabbi Nasan says: She is a free woman. And she is insistent until he washes his hands three times" (Shabbos 109a). The Rebbe writes: "ומנהג החסידים מוציא מהדעות שצ"ל לא בסירוגין... או שצ"ל ד"פ" ("The custom of the Chassidim excludes the views that it should not be alternating... or that it should be four times"); and in the Previous Rebbe's letter, brought in the publisher's note there: "נהגו כל החסידים ליקח הכלי בימין וליתנה ליד שמאל, ולשפוך על ימין תחלה" ("All the Chassidim have the custom to take the vessel in the right hand, pass it to the left hand, and pour on the right first") (Igros Kodesh, vol. 3, no. 764). So too in Mahadura Kama: "Therefore he should take a vessel of water in his right hand and pass it to his left, so that he pours water on his right first" (Mahadura Kama 4:10).

7. Not to touch: "He used to say: A hand to the eye, let it be cut off. A hand to the nose, let it be cut off" (Shabbos 108b).

8. A place from which holiness has departed: The Rebbe explains that tumah applies where there is holiness, or at least the possibility of holiness. Only an extremely limited vitality was allotted to the kelipos of tumah, so they push toward the place of holiness to draw additional nurture from it; where there is no added holiness, there is no special effort on the part of tumah to rest there. Similarly, idolaters do not convey tumah in a tent and do not become tamei through a corpse (Rambam, Laws of the Impurity of a Corpse 1:13) (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 27, Shemini 3, section 2).

9. Also in the mitzvah of circumcision: On the beginning of the entry of the holy soul through the mitzvah of milah, see Likkutei Sichos, vol. 3, Lech Lecha, sections 7–8 (where it is suggested that the source of this law may be the book Menoras HaMaor); Likkutei Sichos, vol. 10, Lech Lecha 2, section 3 ff.; Likkutei Sichos, vol. 3, Yud-Tes Kislev, section 2.