Question: Should we wash our hands in the bathroom with soap and water, or by pouring water from a vessel with handles three times on each hand alternatingly? I have heard it said that a vessel is used only in the morning upon awakening. What are the rules pertaining 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)
Answer: The Mechaber (Orach Chayyim 4:1) rules that upon arising in the morning, a person must wash his hands and recite the blessing Al Netilat Yadayim. The Mechaber adds that one should take care to pour water over one’s hands three times in order to remove the evil spirit that rests upon them at night.
In Beit Yosef, his longer commentary on the Tur, the Mechaber refers to the Gemara (Shabbos 108b-109a), which lists a number of places on one’s body that one should not touch before washing one’s hands. The Gemara notes that R. Natan taught that the evil spirit bat chorin (lit., “free spirit”) is a free agent and insists on remaining on one’s hands until one washes them three times.
He then quotes the Orchot Chayyim, who states that one need not use the full measure of a revi’it for washing one’s hands in the morning. This position is based on the Gemara (Berachot 14a-15b), which cites Psalms 26:6 – “Erchatz be’nikayon kappai – I wash in cleanliness my hands” – and notes that the point is to wash one’s hands “in cleanliness.” Thus, perhaps one can wipe one’s hands with anything that cleanses.
He also quotes the Rashba (Responsum 191), who was asked why our Sages required the blessing Al Netilat Yadayim (meaning “in the matter of washing the hands”) in the morning if any means can be used for cleansing. He answered that it is our custom to recite this blessing in the morning upon arising, and we are so scrupulous about it that we require that all the rules applying to washing one’s hands before meals – where a minimum of a revi’it of water is required – should be observed in the morning as well. He adds, “Yet, I have not found any clear reference to the requirement to wash in the morning in the same manner [with a vessel containing a revi’it], for if it concerns [the evil spirit] shivta (see Chullin 107b) or bat chorin, washing [without a vessel] should suffice, and if for prayer or the recital of the Shema, any manner of cleansing, such as with powder or dry sand, is sufficient, as the Gemara in Berachot states.”
The Rashba explains that in the morning, when our souls return to our bodies, we are created anew, as Eichah 3:23 states: “Chadashim la’bekarim rabbah emunatecha – They are renewed in the morning; great is Your trust.” We therefore have to thank G-d, who created us for His honor, to serve Him and to bless Him. That is why our Sages required all the blessings we recite in the morning. We sanctify ourselves for that purpose just as the kohen gadol sanctified himself before the service by washing his hands in the kiyyor in the Beit Hamikdash.
The Beit Yosef also quotes R. David Abudarham who requires that the act of washing involve human effort [i.e., pouring the water]. He also notes that the Zohar (Parshat Vayeshev) provides arcane reasons that are not mentioned by the poskim. Commenting on the verse in Psalms quoted above, “Erchatz be’nikayon kappai,” the Zohar remarks that there is not a person in the world who has not experienced a taste of death at night and, as a result, an evil spirit rests upon the body. How is that? When the holy soul leaves the body to go up to heaven when the person is asleep, an evil spirit descends on the body in its absence. When the holy soul returns in the morning, the evil spirit leaves but lingers on the hands. That is why one should not touch one’s eyes until one has washed one’s hands. The Beit Yosef notes that it is clear from the Zohar that the water has to be poured on one’s hands from a vessel.
Thus, from the Beit Yosef, it would seem that the Zohar and R. Abudarham are our sources for washing one’s hands in the morning by pouring water from a vessel, for the Gemara (Shabbos 109a), citing R. Natan, only states that the evil spirit insists on remaining on the hands until one washes the hands three times.
Surprisingly, the Beit Yosef makes no mention of Rashi (ibid. Shabbos 109a, sv “u’makpedet”), who explains R. Natan’s teaching and states as follows regarding the spirit bat chorin: “She is insistent as to their [the hands] being washed well, and is not satisfied until one pours sufficient water three times on [each one of] one’s hands.”
Now, how is one to pour onto one’s hands if not with a vessel? Thus according to Rashi, this requirement would be understood from the very words of the Gemara.
(To be continued)