Brachot | Rabbi Yossi Goldin | January 13th 2026

uh in general kola kavo to all those who make it for the first shear but uh certainly on a morning like this um great to see everybody um and um as we always do we open up our shar with our with that our learning should be audim protection for all of our kayim um should be a rafua for all those who have been injured during this war and affected by this war and um and we continue to dive in that hashem should give guidance to all of our leaders to make the right decisions Um, this year is sponsored by Hedi and Ben Lipshits. So, thank you to the Lipchases for for your sponsorship. Okay. So, what we're doing today and just to kind of again frame what we're doing today, which is we're now we've begun going through the the sitter through the through the through the um and we're now with the part part of the morning really dealing with what we would call sedar haboker uh the order of the day when we wake up in the morning. Um so we did we did modi we mentioned the the uh the are often said after and now we're up to um ostensibly we're up to the but in order to really be able to talk about and the we say what I wanted to do today was to really understand why it is that we wash our hands um in the morning. Now, at first glance, that might seem like a silly question. A, we're so used to it. I think we wake up in the morning and and what do you do after you wake up when you sleep? You wash your hands. It's uh for cleanliness reasons. We'll see exactly why we do it from a perspective. Um but the truth is that this isn't just something that we that we do for for sanitary reasons. There actually is a that when a person wakes up um certainly in the morning and as well um even if you sleep during the day, we'll talk about that situation probably more next week. But when a person wakes up in the morning, a person is required as part of your morning schedule to wash your hands and to and to say the source for this is is a gumar in source number one. We're going to end up referring to this gimmar over the next few weeks a number of times because the gamarra really discusses the order that a person should have um of their morning. Um but this is just to help frame for this morning as well. So the gmorrah opens up by starting actually by the night before. So the garra says in source number one as a person gets ready to go to sleep before they before they go to sleep you should say the paragraph of the first par the first in the first paragraph of there there are many that have the to say all three paragraphs and to say other and then and then the then there is a called which is a special that we're supposed to say before we go to sleep. We're not going to discuss it in detail now. I skipped the actual text for our purposes today just so we can continue. Then the garra continues at the end of the first line when you wake up in the morning or then we have this text called which we will get to as well. It's also part of our morningot. So we we noted when we talked about modi that initially the garra says this is the first thing you should say. The gamarra itself does not mention mudi as the thing that we say the gamarra mentioned saying elk sh the challenge is which we noted when we discussed mani the challenge is is that when a person wakes up in the morning you haven't yet washed your hands the or the or the of shama has god's name in it and it's not appropriate for us to say god's name when uh without having washed our hands and therefore elk shama was pushed off to later on as part of our morning schedule and we start with modani instead okay then the garra continues We're at the middle of the second of the second line. Again, some of this we're going to discuss in more detail in in the coming weeks. Kishama karnagle. Those of you who heard the chicken this morning or maybe you heard alternatively the uh pelts of uh of rain that were on our So, okay. So, that was our version of the tarnagle. So, it used to be back in the day that how would a person wake up in the morning? They would hear the rooster. The rooster would be roosting before even I guess before sunrise. It it knows it's coming. That was how you going to get up. So when you say when you hear that you're supposed to say the we say to that he gave the rooster the ability to distinguish between night and day. That might sound familiar. That is part of the week what's known as shakar. Again we'll get to we'll discuss this in the coming weeks. But it used to be the garra said that rather than saying them all in shul as part of our schedule which is what most of us do which is what we do now. It used to be that each of these bra were said at different stages of the waking up process. So when you first heard the chicken you would get or the rooster you would get you would say the first when you open your eyes you should say thank you Hashem or blessed is Hashem that opens up the eyes of those who are who are blind when you would sit up you would say thank you is or blesses Hashem who uh who releases those who are who are who are who are tied up literally that's what it means When you would when you would get dressed, you would say, "Thank you." Or, "Blessed is Hashem who gives clothes to those who are not clothed, who are naked." When you would stand up, blessed is those who straighten those who are bent. When you would put your foot on the ground, blessed is those Hashem or the person who had created or separated the land from water. When you would start to walk, then you would say, "Thank you is Hashem who prepares the steps of a person who enables us to walk." When you would put on your shoes, you would say," meaning after fully getting dressed, "Thank you, Hashem, that you have created or given me everything that I need. when you would put on your belt is that he girds is with strength when you would put a kurchchief on your head that thank you or blessed is Hashem who gives crown to Israel with glory. Okay. So basically what used to be done or what the Gmorrah suggests is at each stage of the waking up process you would you would praise and and almost bless Hashem for that opportunity. Then the continues when you wash your hands. Then you should make the uh that we are commanded to wash our hands when you wash your face. Then you have the Hashem takes away the tiredness from our eyes and then they continue with the which we are which we are familiar with. Okay. So as part of this schedule we have this idea that a person is obligated or meant to wash their hands and make a special braha and it seems to be part of this regular schedule. But it the interestingly enough if you look very closely the act of washing your hands and the braha we make on it is fundamentally different from everything else in this kumar. Anyone anyone understand why what I mean? In what way is the act of washing our hands totally different from everything else? And the braha actually that is said here is also totally different. >> It's the one thing that you wouldn't do naturally. >> Exactly. Okay. First of all, the act of washing your hands now we're so used to it. It's so normal for us. It's so standard for us. Okay. And certainly I honestly don't even know like certainly in the non-Jewish world if you were to go to the bathroom you'd wash your hands. But other than that, is there a concept of waking up and washing your hands before you if let's say you're waking up and you're just I I don't even know. Meaning washing your hands is not necessarily something that we would naturally do automatically just out of a right opening up your eyes, putting your feet on the floor, sitting up, getting dressed. These are all part of our natural daily process. Washing your hands is something that the Gmorra is almost telling us this is something different. This is something extra that needs to be done. Because of that the braha that we say is actually fundamentally different from the rest of the brahot that are on this list. In order to understand this we have to understand a little bit of background regarding okay there are generally in the world of braot three different types of braot that that we say as part of our regular schedule. Okay as part of our regular day or just in general. The first is what we would call okay from the word pleasure and that refers to a we make before we derive pleasure from something. So what would be a classic example of anyone know anyone? Before you eat exactly before you eat anything, before you smell certain things, you're supposed to and before you benefit, there's a concept of blessed is Hashem to thank Hashem. The idea is is that recognizing that everything comes from Hashem, but before we benefit from it, we should almost ask for permission or thank Hashem for having it. That's one category of then there's another category of which are known as mitzvah. mitzvah are that you make before you do a mitzvah. There's a mitzvah that I'm supposed to do. Hashem commanded me to do a mitzvah and that mitzvah and when I before I do that mitzvah I say a brah. So classic example would be for sorry >> exactly this morning before I put on my fillin I made actually two and before I put on my I made the of but when we sit in the before we take the okay so those that's another type of which is a before we do a mitzvah and that by the way you can tell when you're doing that when you're saying that because it will also include the the phrase because we're basically saying you have sanctified us by commanding us to do this and therefore we're showing we're appreciating that we have this mitzvah. That's the second c category of the third category of is what's known as are basically where we're praising and or thanking Hashem for something in the world. Okay, what is a classic example? Many of you probably at some point or hopefully if you didn't then maybe we should at some point this morning or last night said the on thunder and lightning. Okay. So the orit these are where we're praising Hashem for the wonders of the world. Okay. Uh another and actually most of the that we say that we say here most of those are we're praising and thanking Hashem for all aspects of who we are or everything that we have in the morning. Okay. So many other that are not that are just more describing in nature. We're describing either thank you or we're thanking Hashem. uh if you haven't seen if you haven't seen a a a yam an ocean in in 30 days there's a braash and we praise Hashem for the fact that different things that he has created. So those are the three types of braot and as I mentioned most of the braot that are on this list are what we would call we're thanking hashem we're praising hashem for the various things that he has given us. The one on this list that is different and you you know it because as part of the text it says is the is not avoir mitzvah. Why? Because since we would not have necessarily washed our hands as part of our regular schedule and the only reason I'm washing my hands is why? Because God commanded me to. There is a mitzvah for me to wash my hands every single morning. And we'll see why that is. And therefore, this is now called a mitzvah. Mitzvah. Okay. So, this is just interesting for us is to recognize again sometimes we do things so automatically and it becomes so a part of our day and a part of our routine that we don't even realize, wait a second. This isn't necessarily it's good that that's the way because that's what we do and we should be doing the thing we should be following the but this is actually something a little bit different. Washing as opposed to the rest of things on this list. Washing our hands is not necessarily something that a person would do automatically just because they woke up in the morning. We do it because commanded us. And therefore the braha that we make on it is going to be fundamentally different from the bra that we say uh for the other brah that we say another another classic example of which hopefully we'll get to soon is the brah of sayar at the we don't right there's no kish it's actually it's a it's a bra that is thanking hashem for the fact that physically we our body works and is able to we are able to go to the bathroom and and if you think about it it's an incredible idea right how many people thank God for the ability to go to the bathroom It's and and we believe that every single aspect of who we are is something that we have to thank for. But is a classic example of a mitzvah. Okay. Now where does this so so that is the so so we have it. So what we see from this is there is a mitzvah to wash our hands in the morning and there and that and to and to make the in order to understand why this is meaning what what is the reason why are we why do we need to wash our hands in the morning so I'm sure many of you have heard a few different ideas there are actually three suggestions that are given um in in in the in the gummor in in the rishonim and in order to understand that we have to get a little bit more background so now let's move on to the next garra the garra in source number two discusses another time where there is a concept where the where where a person is meant to wash their hands throughout their day and that is before there's an idea that that especially if you know that your hands are dirty but even if you don't there is generally that a person should wash their hands before they source number two if a person really wants to accept the yoke of heaven you should go to the bathroom and you should wash your hands and then then only then should you put on fillin and so part of the process of if you want to do it properly is says you should go to the bathroom so that you make sure that your body is fully clean you should wash your hands that your hands are clean and then put on fill in and dain that is the most ideal way to accept upon yourself the yoke of heaven continues the Anyone who does this who goes to the bathroom before they dive in to cleans their clean their body and then washes their hands and then does what they need to do. It is as if this person has built an altar upon which to bring a corban and brought a corban. Why? Because the puk says I will wash in order to clean my hands and then I will go and I will surround or walk around your misbeh. And because the pu connects someone who cleanses themsself and specifically it talks about cleansing your hands. Kapay is your palms and therefore there's a connection between that and and bringing but then the continues and tries to understand the nature of what is required when you wash your hands before I once saw a rabbi who came from the west from Omar and he said the following what if you don't have water I want right I'm outside and I want there's a minion and I don't have any water am I supposed to then you can find something else to wipe your hands on in order to clean them. Very often the there here they talk about using dirt. I'm not really sure how using dirt is going to w to to clean your hands. Okay. Or it says to use a rock. I think standard they say sometimes if you use wood there's other ways that you can try to clean your hands. Find something more natural. If you don't have any water, rub it on something in order to cleanse your hands and then and then you should dab it. shop your and responded to Ra what you've said is very good and I'll show you how it's good why the doesn't say what it says when the the we quoted I'm going to watch does it say washing in water it just means you're supposed to clean it says it just says you're supposed to clean it anything which you're going to use that can clean your hands is considered good enough the doesn't specifically specify by mim and therefore anything you're going to use is considered is considered to be good and the gammor goes on to point out that there was some people who sometimes because they were so mocked to use water for davening because of that they ended up missing some mantila because they couldn't find the d they could they couldn't find water and the and the rabbi said that's not what it's supposed to be you're supposed to wash your hands if you can and if you can't don't miss out on mantila wipe try to clean your hands in the d in another way okay so this is one model of of why a person should wash their hands in the morning besides Sorry besides the morning for and what's the reason for washing our hands what's the reason it says according to Gmorrah cleanliness okay so one model for why a person should wash their hands throughout their day again we're not yet talking about in the morning we have to see based on existing models why it is we wash our hands in the morning but one model that exists is the reason we wash our hands in the morning the reason we wash our hands before dovening in the afternoon and in the evening is because we're afraid our hands might be unclean from the day and it's appropriate that you should entered Filah with clean hands. Look at the Garra in source number three. The Gumarra in source number three discusses another situation where we wash our hands and this is the more well-known situation which is when do we wash our hands and say before we eat bread. Okay, before we eat bread. So the Garra says the following. If a person wants to wash his hands in order to eat something that is kulin which mean back in the daytime the beta mdash sometimes you would eat kulin which is something which is doesn't have any holiness and then there was eating truma which only the kohanim could eat truma and it had to be eaten holiness. Okay. So the garra says that if you're washing your hands to eat something which isn't holy then you only have to wash adapic mean which means up to one up up to the joint. Okay, lruma adaperic and for truma if you're going to eat truma you need to wash your hands to a to a even a later joint. It doesn't specify the the specified it's talking about different parts of the hand that if you're washing it for you have to wash up to a certain point. If you're washing your hands to eat then you should wash your hands up even more than that. If you're doing if you're washing your hands because you're about to enter the beta mikdash then you should even wash it says here adher which means up until uh up until where your hand meets your meets your arm. Okay. So what the Garra is outlining for us here without getting into all of the details is that another reason we wash our hands is we wash our hands before we eat bread. And sometimes the will be different whether you're washing to have bread that's truma or if you're washing to have bread that's not true or if you're washing your hands simply to enter the uh to enter the beta mikdash. Yes. >> Today when we wash on bread where do you wash your toes? >> Generally we understand and we'll talk about that. Yeah. We're going to get to that is we wash up also you're supposed to wash up until up until your wrist because we're we'll see we'll see why in a second. Okay. Um so the gamarra then goes on to discuss that much of the way that we wash our hands today even for bread is meant to be modeled after the kohanim who used to wash their hands in the beta mikdash and especially whenever they would eat shuma. Okay. Now what's the reason that we need to wash our hands before we eat bread? The gumari here doesn't specify why. But if you look at source number four the mission of rur writes that there are two reasons why we wash our hands before we eat bread. We're in source number four. The reason why we wash our hands before we we eat bread is for two reasons. One is because of the idea of we're out of concern for if a person were to eat truma. What does that mean? Says the since our hands very often touch lots of things throughout the day wherever we go, right? Our hands are the way that we interact generally in the most classic way with the physical world and they touch everything in the times of the mdash where people needed to be very careful about certain things were were or had had were holy and certain things weren't and the kanim would want to eat truma. What did they need to do before they were ever going to touch the trauma? They needed to make sure to wash their hands because the hands were the most likely part of the body that may have become. So it says says the were in the middle of the second line. They would have to wash their hands. The kanim before they ate anything that had trauma would wash their hands in order to make sure that their hands weren't have someone have some kind of that if they were to touch the truma the truma would then become impure. And because they wanted to make sure that this was going to happen, the rabbis made a gazer that anybody who eats bread, even if you're not a Cohen, and even if this bread is not specifically Truma, wash your hands. In order to make it part of the regular schedule, that anyone who's going to eat Truma, that way that ensured that if a Cohen was going to eat bread, which was Truma, and apparently back in the day, the classic Truma was often came in the form of bread. Therefore, the gazer was everyone before they eat bread should wash their hands to ensure cleanliness says the truma and even nowadays where there is no tum even there's no don't eat in order even though nowadays where two doesn't exist nevertheless We've kept this takana up in order for us to get used to washing our hands every time we have bread so that we're ready as he says when will be rebuilt. We will already be in a certain have a certain process by which we eat bread and make sure that everything stays the same. So it's a very if you think about it it's actually something inspiring. Part of why we wash our hands before we eat bread now is because we're practicing for when the beta mikdesh will be rebuilt and there will be kohanim. will be eating truma to make sure that we that we keep that same that same standard. So that's that's reason number one. Reason number one for why we eat why we wash our hands and say abra before before we eat bread is because we're basically practicing for when the mikdash will be rebuilt the and now we're in the bottom line on source number four. Another reason, the other reason is is out of a sense of cleanliness and holiness that there are moments in time throughout our day where we aspire to raise ourselves on a different level where we aspire to even if we're not going to eat shuma, even if there's no practical need for it. Nevertheless, there's a time there are moments where we aspire to have ourselves be on a higher level. And therefore, and the it's based on the where the Torah tells us that we should sanctify ourselves. And therefore, it was chosen specifically when we eat bread. Specifically, again, bread is a symbolic of a meal. When we're sitting down to eat the meal that we strive to raise ourselves up on a higher level. Okay? So, and there this is why when we before we eat bread, we wash our hands and we say abra. We have two different models from these two gumarot of two different kinds of reasons for why we generally wash our hands throughout the day. One is for which is the model of I do it because my hands might be dirty and I want to make sure that I'm clean before I go into doning. And the second model is a little bit different. It's not just about dirtiness or not. It's about raising ourselves up to be on a higher level to kind of raise what what what we would call vikida cleanliness and holiness. Okay. The question is when we wash our hands in the morning which model are we are are are we are we aspiring to are we catering is the reason we wash our hands in the morning because of cleanliness similar to davining? I'm going to do in in a little bit. So I just wash my hands in the morning in order to davin. Or is it something different? ism more similar to what the reason we wash our hands um after before we eat bread. That is actually a in the rishonim. If you look in the rishonim when they discuss why it is that we wash our hands before every morning when we wake up they each of the these two ideas these two models are mentioned as the potential reason for why we wash our hands in the morning. Oh before we even get to that sorry I brought for you here something very interesting. If you look at source number five, Rabbi Mamemed Rabid in his pin, sorry for uh just want to make sure you guys are all uh still with me, keeping you keeping you on your toes. Back to number five for one second. Rame explains why specifically the hands, and we've touched upon this before, but he explains in a few words why it is specifically that the hands are what we focus on when we talk about uh cleanliness. says the way that a person acts in the physical world is generally through your hands. It's how you take things. It's how you receive things. It's how you carry things. You give things to other people. Again, we don't always think about it, but the way that we re we interact mostly in the physical world is through our hands. It's how you use the things that you have. It also mean it's also how you take care of your body. In addition or connected to the practical aspect of how important our hands are, the physicality of how we use our hands also means that sometimes they're touching the dirtiest parts of of who we are or the dirtiest parts of the world. more than other parts of our body. They are the most likely to get dirty or to become or to become impure either in a physical sense or in a spiritual sense. If a person or when a person wants to raise themsself up and to try to raise and separate themselves from the physicality of this world, in order to be involved in holy things. That's why we wash our hands. We wash our hands specifically because our hands represent the physical the most physical aspect of who we are. That is the general idea of that's just a little bit more of a of a to understand specifically our hands. But based on this, as we said, we now have two different models. Do we wash our hands because of cleanliness or do we wash our hands because similar to washing our hands before bread, we're trying to raise ourselves up to something higher. If you look in source number six, the rush rush is one of the rishonim. He suggests the reason we wash our hands is similar to washing our hands before domining because during the night time our hands probably moved around and touched inappropriate things or touched areas of our body that are normally covered and what he and therefore practically if we're going to go about our day and specifically if we're about to die in we need to we need to wash our hands. We're in the underlined part in source number six. A person's hands are very active. Also, when you're sleeping, it's almost impossible that our hands didn't touch a part of our body that would normally be covered or is somewhat sweaty or dirty of some sort. And because of that, the rabbis instituted that when we wake up in the morning, we need to wash our hands and we need to make a because we're making a braha on the fact that we've now cleaned our hands in order to be able to davin. So for the rush, this is a very practical mitzvah. The mitzvah is very simple. Why am I washing my hands in the morning? My hands got dirty. Because my hands got dirty in the morning and I want to go dive in. And as we saw, before you dive in, a person needs to wash their hands. And therefore we wash our hands and we make a braha says the rush something very very interesting first he says if that's the model if the model is just to clean my hands then we also saw what if a person doesn't have any water so we saw that a if when a person's clean washing their hands before doing if they don't have any water what could they use anything else that will clean their hands and that's what the rush says here in the second paragraph in source six let's say you're washing your hands and you're using something else. So he actually says you should change the text of the you should make the of that I have cleansed my hand. Now we are minag is generally that no matter what you always make the but there are opinions that suggest depending on what you use to clean your hands the braha might be different because this is all about cleaning your hands before you and then says the something very interesting says if if this is what it is if this is if the reason we're doing it in the morning and we make the we make the braha is because we're preparing for the same thing would be true later on in the day for the Because shakar is only one. There's also what if a person says the rush goes to the bathroom and washes their hands before. We saw that you need to wash your hands before. Should you make a braha? Anyone know? >> So we so we generally see that we pos that we don't but says the rush according to my logic that the only reason we do it in the morning is because we're washing our hands in preparation for and there we do says the rush the same thing would be true if we would do it from before. If before a person were to go to the bathroom and then wash their hands, you should make a bra. Look at source number six, the third paragraph based on this because we have a gimmar. Our first gimra says that you that you say a bra when you wash the hands and we're saying and to me the reason you're doing that says the rush is because you're preparing for doning. The same thing would be true. The same thing would be true. If you washed your hands and you would and you wa if you went to the bathroom and then you wash your hands then you should wash then you should wash your hands. What about the rest of the day? Let's say the rest of the day I wash my hands. I go to the would I make a then he says no this is only for dvening. But if you go to the bathroom at another time and you wash your hands, you wouldn't say you'd only say. Why says the rush? Because the principle here is as I'm washing my hands in preparation for davening, I make the braha. And when I wash in the morning, when I wash in the morning, I need to I the reason I'm doing that is in preparation for davening in order to make the braha. That's one suggestion for why we wash our hands in the morning. In source number seven, the rashba, another one of the rishonim gives a totally different interpretation for why we wash our hands in the morning. He's also bothered by the question which is why is it that specifically in the morning we make a braha based on other garas it doesn't seem like we make a braha when we wash our hands. So the rash said you know what maybe we should but says the rash but we don't but but other don't mention making a for washing your hands before you eat bread. It does say you should make make a braha but when it talks about ding washing your hands before davening no mention of a brah is made so why here in the morning am I making am I am I making a braha says the rashbah source number seven we're going to actually start from the from the third paragraph from the third paragraph he says why would be different why in the morning am I making am I washing my hands and making yar says something really beautiful every morning. We talked about this when we talked about we are like a new creation as the says right the newness of the morning and great is your that we talk about how in the morning there's this concept of we're recreated and we need to thank Hashem that he created us to serve him to serve and and to thank him says the that's why we make all those that we thought we saw in that first they're all about thanking Hashem for a new day that we are up we are awake we've come alive and that we're able to do all those things that we could do says the rashbahimades says the before we thank Hashem for all of those things and we get up and we do what we're going to do we need to sanctify ourselves we need to elevate ourselves and what's the model for that says the rashba just like the kohagadul the kohagadul before he would do the holy service in the beta mikdash what did he need to do wash his hands so We before we begin our own holy service of avodat hashem we need to wash our hands. So says the rashba this isn't something that we do because we're about to dav in this isn't and it's a specific thing in the morning every morning as we wake up and we are a new creation and we get ready to go through our experience of avodat hashem just like the cohen used to wash his hands as he prepared to do his service toku. So too we prepare for our service toku by washing our hands. Very inspiring concept. The concept of recognizing that we every single morning are getting ready about to be involved in our in our service and therefore it's proper to do that by washing our hands modeled after the modeled after the cohad. So this model for the rash is very different than for the rash. For the rush that we the for the rush it was about cleanliness. It was about preparing for tvening and therefore some you would do it even you would make a bra even before even before m for the rashb it's very different for the rashb it's not about dvening it's about the morning every time you any whenever you begin a new day it's appropriate to wash your hands and to make a braha it's true you should also wash your hands before dinging for cleanliness but you wouldn't make a braha then you would just wash your hands that's for a different reason so interestingly enough we're not going to get into the details but there would be a number of practical differences between these two opinions. For example, what hap for example, should a person wash make a bra when they wash their hands before? According to the rush, you would. He even said you should. According to the rush, but you wouldn't. What if a person sleeps in the middle of the day and it's not morning? Should you make a braha when you wash your hands? So according to the rush, he might say, if you're going to dive in soon at some point, so you should make a brahen. According to the rashba, it's not about sleeping. What is it about? the beginning of a new day and if we didn't have a new date. So again we we'll discuss this practically next week. What should you do in those scenarios? Generally our approach is we keep we try to be strict for both approaches. We wash our hands but we don't say the braha because when we have a suffach we'll do the act but we won't make the brah we won't invoke God's name because we're concerned about invoking God's name in vain. Okay another interesting question. What if you were up all night and you didn't sleep. So according to the rush that it's about your hands are dirty because of when you slept you touched places. Maybe he would say that you don't need to make a bra in the morning. The rashba, it's an interesting question for the rashba was the the idea that every time there's a new morning, even though I was up all night, I'm still like a new creation or is only if I slept that I'm like a new creation. So, we don't know. Again, these are just just to see that the different opinions will sometimes have different conclusions regarding certain hik issues. Yes. >> Generally, yes. Generally, yes. We'll talk more about that next week. But the general understanding is that yes, everything we're saying so far is is the same for men for men and women. Now, if these were the only two reasons for why we wash our hands, we wouldn't necessarily need to do it right away in the morning, right? According to the rush, you would only need to make sure to do it when before you den, right? You could wait. You could forget about when to make the brah. We're going to talk about that soon. But we all know that we make the braha. When do we wash our hands? We at least wash our hands as soon as possible. According to the rashba that it's about beginning our day, you could say, "Okay, make it as soon as possible." But there wouldn't be a rush. And many of us are probably familiar with the idea that you should wash your hands immediately upon waking up. And we're going to see soon. Some even say you shouldn't walk a certain amount of distance without washing it. Now, where does that come from? Neither of these reasons would lead to that. So, there's a third reason. There's a third reason that's mentioned as to why we wash our hands. And when you put it all together, it explains what we do. What is that third reason? The third reason is more cababalistic in nature. Okay, in order to understand it, we'll begin with a gumar in source number eight. Okay, we'll just we'll just see some of it. If you take your hand and you and you touch your eye and Rashi explains it's talking about in the morning before you wash your hands, it would be better if your hand were cut off. Meaning a person shouldn't touch his eyes in the morning before washing his hand. And then the Gmorrah says if you touch your nose and refers to again uh the the inside of your nose the Garra basically describes that if a person were to touch certain parts of their body and Rashi explains it's referring to the morning when you wake up touching them before you wash your hands it'd be better if they were cut off meaning that there is something wrong with touching various parts of our body specifically the openings in our body without washing our hands our hands in the morning and then the Gmorrah goes on to describe that that what you need to do is you need to wash your hands three times alternatively. What's but what the Gar doesn't explain is why what's the reason? What's what's the what's the idea here? So Rashi explains that there's this concept of ru literally means a bad spirit that when there's some kind of bad spirit that we have when we wake up in the morning and be in order to get rid of that ru we need to wash our hands three times al alternately in order to get rid of that bad spirit. Where does this come from? So if you look in source number nine, the beta Yoseph Cairo, he quotes the Zohar that gives us a little bit of a taste into understanding what this is about. If you look at the second line, we'll start with the second line in source number nine. We see new things regarding the new ideas that are not mentioned in the post game. And what are those new ideas? Shimon Shimon opened up with the following teaching. We're in the third line in source number nine. The says I will wash in by cleaning my palms. We we quoted that says the Gar. Now this is says the Zohar the B. Now this is Aramaic so bear with me but it's interesting to see the language. I want to teach you a secret raza means a secret a secret idea. There is no person in the world dooim tima deosa belia who does not taste some kind of taste of death during the night time. What is he basically saying when we're sleeping there is a certain some small tiny experience. It's a taste of death that when we sleep the gumar even says the gmorrah says that sleeping is 160th of death. So says the GR says the says the Zohar there is no person in the world who has not quote unquote tasted death when they sleep and at that moment when you're sleeping when you're getting that small taste of death there is a bad spirit that comes upon you on your body my what's the reason because your as we talked about when we dugi We believe that a person's soul leaves the body when they're sleeping and goes up and up to heaven. So that means that spiritually you've tasted death and therefore there is a bad spirit that overcomes your body while you are sleeping. Okay. If you look at source number 10 discusses this and mentions it in in proper Hebrew. So just I brought it as as again a better way of understanding this says in source number 10. When a person sleeps and he's he doesn't move, there's no thought and there's no action. A person tastes a little bit of death and then there is a spirit, an impure spirit that comes upon him. That is what say when they say that that sleeping is 160th of death says he tries to explain what this is about. He says what is the main purpose of man is to be active is to is to be involved in the world. And when we're sleeping means like the inaction but when when you're not being involved you're not being active. you're not actualizing your spiritual and physical potential. You lose a little bit of the godliness because the godliness is expressed by the things that we do, by the way we interact with the world. And when we're inactive and we're sleeping, there's a piece of that that we lose. love. And then there's a certain an impure spirit that comes upon you when you do wake up. consciousness returns that that impure spirit leaves you because now you you're now back to what you were and it only stays that at the end of your body at the end of your body your hands still have a remnant of this. So when we wake up and we're now able to be active and we have then then our our you know spark of God returns but the remnant remains on our on our hands and that's why by washing our hands that is how we remove the impure spirit. Okay. So what we've seen now is that we have three reasons why we wash our hands in the morning. Reason number one was the rush was it's a preparation excuse me it's preparation for it's in order to prepare for to clean our hands. Reason number two the more I would call the more in inspirational type of idea the very ambitious idea is we're like the coen god who's preparing for his day of hashem and we do the same way to raise ourselves up as we prepare. And the third reason is a is a cabalistic reason which is our body not just physical uh um cleanliness but spiritually our hands are unclean. And because of these three reasons that is why the things that we do all come together. For example we do say the says we do make a braha. Why? Either because for the rush when you prepare for ding you make the braha or according to the rashba because we're modeling ourselves after the kohha who prepared the before he did the avoda. We we we say abra in the morning that's why we do that you have to wash in a certain way okay why is it that when we wash for for hamoti usually the we do two times on one hand and two times on the other in the morning we don't wash like that but if it's modeled after holiness if it's modeled after one and the answer is because there's another reason which is and the only way to remove the ruar cabalistically is to do it three different times the way again what they say is you should pick up the cup you should put it in your left hand you and wash your right hand then switch and and do we do it alternately alternating your hands three time three three different times in addition we're going to see again we won't get into all the details but many although for you wouldn't necessarily need to use a cup and for you wouldn't necessarily need to certain certain things that we do nevertheless because according to some people we're doing this and we're mirroring we're mirroring the cohadul we're mirroring what we do when we wash for bread therefore all the that we need for washing bread which we need you need to use a cup you need to make sure that it's be that that you need to you need to make sure that you're using water that is clean etc. So all of the and that's why we generally try to follow all the for washing before we washi we also should do ideally in the morning although it's not it's what but if you can't it's not considered to be problematic and finally why is it that we rush why is it one of the first things we when we wake up in the morning is we wash our hands that's not because before because before you could push it off it's because of this because of this third reason where we want to we want to get rid of this spirit this impure spirit when it's possible. That is why we wash our hands as soon as we can, right when we when we wake up. Now, you only have Oh, we're already at 10. Okay. So, what we're not going to do is we're not going to see again, I brought down the word where where the brings all of this down, but we basically mentioned all of the different aspects of of washing, which is you should wash as soon as you can. Um, you should make sure to wash three times. Again, you put your put the cup in your left hand and then you wash your right hand and then you wash your left, etc. alternately three times. All the rules that would generally apply to washing hamotzi aside from that which is you know you try to make sure to use a cup you try to make sure to use water that is clean etc. you should you should do here as well. But if you can't, we saw that if you can't and you can use something else. Let's say for some reason you don't you can't find that it's all it's also considered to beally fine. Any kind of water would be good because that will remove the ru the one question I wanted to discuss now uh in the last couple of minutes is the question of and this is the question that comes up is what about the idea of walking a certain distance before we wash. Okay. There are many people who have the min that they have a a a big thing of water that they put by their bed and they wash right away, not even, you know, walking to the sink near you. Where does that come from? So, if you look at source number 12, the Bach, which is a commentary on on the on the tour, he mentions this in from the Zohar as well. or source number 12. The Zor says the following. Somebody who walks for and doesn't wash his hands, he is high of he's high of death. Okay, so no one here wants to be high of death, right? No one wants to. Okay, so it sounds pretty serious. And then he says, well, wait a second. Why why doesn't the Bose mention this? Okay, so the Bach quotes this Zohar and the Mishnabura in source number 13 quotes this as well. The Mishnabura says ideally a person should not walk more than four before washing. You should keep a thing by your bed because the Zohor tells us that you should not have the on your hands for longer than you need. However, but he does mention at the very very end he does mention that there are some people who say that your entire house is considered with like within form. When we say for ammo, we mean outside. Some people say that the a person's home is hakically considered to be always within form even if you have to walk from one side of your house to the other. And therefore the mission says those people who rely on that they have upon whom to rely which is why one of the reasons that many of us don't necessarily have this mig our sink before we wash our hands. In addition, if you again I'm rushing a little bit just because of time. If you look at source number 14, I brought you a a a quote from Rav Victor's Nevin is the RV of the old city, a big and in his commentary on the Mishna, he quotes in the name of the many people who say that nowadays certain aspects of don't apply nowadays. And he called in the name of the GRA that they were not that the students of the GR were not makid to to to do this to make sure that they that you that you didn't walk for am even with even outside of your home that they would just walk to the closest to the closest sink in order to in order to wash their hands. Okay. So and many post mentioned that as well. So you have those of us who don't and it's mentioned that if it's what you want to call the you want to call it something whatever you want to call it it's considered to be of nicera for those who have the to do so and are able to mid to put some of water by your bed and not walk more than four am but those who do certainly have uh upon whom upon whom to rely either because your whole home is considered to be within form or because there's an idea that the ru that was that was mentioned in the zohar for various reasons we didn't get into the details does not apply apply today. So we we discussed the various reasons for why you wash our hands. And next week we'll talk a little bit more about some other practical pieces to this. And then the question we didn't discuss was the braha. When do you make the braha? Do you make the braha when you wash in the morning right in the morning or do you make it in shul? There's different minhagim uh we'll discuss that next week. Oh actually sorry next week just a technical next week. I'm I'm not unfortunately I'm not here. I think Rabbi Pllo who is now the new the new staff member at OU Israel will be will be covering for me next week. So, we'll continue with this bes in in two weeks.