Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Everyday Judaism Podcast.

Welcome back, everybody. Welcome to the Everyday Judaism Podcast. We are now in the middle of the laws of washing hands for a meal, part two. We began last week, and we are on page 60 in the Kitz HaShochanaruch in the second volume. So page number 60, Simmon number 40, halacha number 10. Mayim meluchim, with regard to water that is salty, suruchim, putrid, umarim, bitter,
or akhurim, or muddied waters, im ein ru'uin l'shtias kelev, if they are not suitable to be drunk by a dog, psulim l'nitilas yedayim, then they are not suitable for washing nitilas yedayim. Meaning they have to be good enough for you to feed your dog in order for you to be able to wash your hands with those waters. Kodam a nitila, halacha number 11. Before washing nitilas yedayim, tzrichim l'hashgiyach ali yedayim sheyi yu'unikiyim. One must take care to ensure that the hands are clean.
Without anything stuck to the hand that would constitute a interposition between the hands and the water. So if you have a ring, take the ring off. If you have anything, a band-aid, take the band-aid off. Anything that would be a interposition between the water and the hand would be an issue. U'mi shetzi pornei ha-etsb'yosov gedolos, and one who has very long fingernails, soroch l'daktei klanakos, should be cautious to clean the nails, shelo yu'taktei entit v'tzoa, so that they not have dirt underneath them.
Mishum dahavi chatzitza, because that itself could constitute an interposition between the water and the hand. V'chein tzrichim l'hosir tabos, and one should as well remove their rings from the fingers. Shelo yu'taktei chatzitza, so that they not be blocking from the water reaching the hand, the complete hand. Halacha number 12. Mi sheyadav tzavo, someone whose hands are colored, so you are a painter, you have paint on your hand, you have a marker, you used a sharpie, and you overran the lines, and
now you have a mark on your hand. Ki im ein sham mamoshus batzeva, if there's no substance to the coloring, meaning it's on the skin now, it's just ink on the skin, it's not paint, paint, you got to peel it off because it's actual substance. But the sharpie, it'll eventually get off, but right now you're just going to be scrubbing for an hour, you're not obligated to do that because it's not something of substance.
Ki im chazusa ba'alma, if it only has appearance but it doesn't have substance, lo havi chatzitza, that is not constituting an interposition, a block between the water and the, by the way, these halachas also apply to mikvah, right? A woman who goes to the mikvah cannot have makeup on her, she cannot have, even on the nails, manicure, to have nail polish would be a, would be also a block between the water and the body.
So if there's no actual substance of the coloring on the hand, afilu rakmat, even if only a little, havi chatzitza, so lo havi chatzitza if there's no mamoshus, but if there is actual substance, like paint, you're painting your house and you have paint now on your hand, that's actual substance. That's actually something that you're going to have to wash off and remove before you wash your hands. That would be a chatzitza. Ah, however, im hu umon bekach, if his occupation involves handling this type of substance,
de hainu shuhud saba, he's a painter, he's a dyer, someone who dyes shoes, dyes colors, and now they always have color on their hand, their hands are like, or a mechanic, whose hands are always greasy with oil from the car, or someone who's a butcher, whose hands are red from blood, from the butchery, or someone who's a scribe, and is always involved with ink, and has ink on his fingers, and his fingers are soiled with ink, or the blood,
or whatever it is that, this is what he does, hu rug bekach, and he's used to using these materials and having them on his hands, v'cho bali umnosos, and anybody of such occupations, ein makpid bekach, they do not mind if their hands are soiled in this way, and therefore for them, lo havi chatzitza, it is not considered an interposition, something which is blocking the water to reaching the hands, ella im ken hu berov hayat, unless that substance
is on the majority of the hand, so if it's just on the fingertips, which if a scribe will have their fingertips, will touch the quill and the ink, and they're constantly, and plus they're on a parchment, and they're writing, they could sometimes blotch their fingers a little bit with that ink, but now that's not the case with actual paint, so paint is an actual substance of material, of matter, and therefore if that gets on one's fingers, you have to clean that off, even if someone is a painter, now, because
they'll have a complete coating of paint on their hand, that's not obviously going to be a chatzitza, v'chen, similarly, mi shi yesh lo maka al yodo, someone who has a wound on his hand, v'olel retio, she mitztayer lehasira, if there's a dressing on one's hand, someone got a cut, someone got stitches, someone had some type of, you know, or if someone has a cast on their hand, you can't take that off, right? But if someone has a dressing upon, that is painful to remove, lo havi chatzitza, that's
not considered, that does not constitute an interposition, v'dini chatzitza b'tvilas noshim, v'huadin l'tilas yadayim, that we'll see later in Simmon 161, when we get there, that regarding the laws of interposition with regard to a woman's immersion, and those same halachas applied to l'tilas yadayim, as we mentioned previously. We just have like seven or eight more halachas in the Simmon, so that we understand that when we wash our hands before we eat bread, we need to make sure that our hands are going
to be clean, which is why, why some people wash their hands, the halacha, what you remember last week, the halacha said, you have to wash your hands twice on each hand. There's some people wash it three times, because the first time they're cleaning their hand, and the second two times they're washing their hands, on their clean hands already, all right? That's just so you understand why people do it, but the halachic obligation is only to wash your hands twice.
Halacha number 13, hamayim tzrikim she'yavo al'yadayim, l'tilas yadayim, waters must come onto the hands, mikoach kavra, with human force. So I don't know if we mentioned this previously in our class, I was just someplace last week with my family, and there was absolutely no cups to be found for, you know, we were washing in a public area, there's no washing cups, there's no, so what do you have to, and it's all electronic, electronic, you know, faucets.
So the first push of your hand in front of that sensor is the koach kavra, is the human force, but not what continues to flow after. So the first force, so you put your hand in front, okay, and you do that a couple times, and that first spray of water is considered human force, but not the rest of it. Obviously on Shabbos that would be prohibited anyway, but this wasn't on a Shabbos, it was just an ordinary Monday.
Avol im hamayim bo'im me'eleihem, but if the water comes by itself, lo havi nitila, that is not considered a valid washing of, for nitila sidayim. V'chaviz sheyesh bo'u barzo, a barrel that has a plug, ve'hezeres ha-barzo, and now one removes that plug, thus releasing the water that is in the barrel. Azay hamayim ha-bo'im bikoach harishon, de'haynu kiluach harishon levado. So imagine that it has, you have this big barrel that has water, on the bottom it has
a little faucet, or a little, so the first drop that comes out, the first burst out, is from human force. After that, it's not human force already, and now it's just flowing. So the water that comes forth from the first force, that is the first stream of water only, that is considered to have come from a human force. Avala mayim ha-bo'im achar kach, but the water that flows after this first burst of water, ein achshavim bikoach gavra, are not considered to be human force.
Elo ki ilu bo'u me'eleim, it's as if, it's considered as if they're just a flow of water that comes by itself. L'chein, therefore, mishur otzolito yodav, one who wants to wash his hands, derech barzo, one who wants to remove the plug from a water barrel, tzorokh leida must know for sure, shebik ilu achurishu niskas sekol yad, that he has to be careful that the whole hand be washed with the first flush of water, right, with the first flow.
V'yistom esabaruz, and then he blocks the stream, and ala opens it again, and that second can wash the hand again, and now he just did his hand twice. V'yachzer yiftechehu bishle shvicha shnia, ve'mi she'einu yodeh aleshair, and anyone who cannot figure out how much is in that first flow, ein lolito yodav b'derech zeh, should not wash his hands in such a way. U'mekol mokom she'ein lito yodav minakir, certainly one should not wash his hands from
a basin, sheyesh lo barzo kotan, that has a small plug, a small spout, because that would not be sufficient in its first bout to wash the whole hand. V'akilu ahudak, because the stream will be so narrow, and it'll be unable to cover the entire hand. Halacha number 14. Asu l'achoblon etilo, it is forbidden to eat bread without washing, etilos yedayim, without washing hands. Afilu imrotz likroch yodav b'mapa, even if one wishes to wrap his hands in cloth, so
as not to touch the food, see he's gonna, he's not gonna, that way I'm not gonna touch my bread. V'imu b'derech, if one is traveling, ve'en l'mayim, and he has no water, im yodeh, if he knows, ki b'od derech dalad mil l'fanav, o'mil l'achorav, yim tzo'mayim, mikhoyiv l'leches l'fanav dalad mil, o'leches l'achorav mil. So if he knows that within the next four miles in front of him, or one mile, you're traveling, you're heading to San Antonio, and there's no exits in the next four miles, and there's
no exit one mile back, right? No, you can't make a U-turn like that anyway, but either way. So then you're, if there is within that amount, then you have to go, you have to wait, and make sure you find a way to wash. But if you do not have within this distance, avol im gam shamalo yim tzo'mayim, if you don't have accessible water within that distance, o'shu hu im chaburu, or if you're traveling
with a group, and you can't like get the whole group to like, guys, I got to go wash my hands so that I can eat. They don't, they're either not Jewish, or they don't, you know, they don't know, o'misyor li parad mim, or you're going to lose your crowd, you're going to lose your people, due to the danger involved in traveling alone. V'chein, mi she yesh lo shahar ones, or anyone who has any unavoidable circumstance, she
einu yochal ito yodav, that he cannot wash his hands, yikroch yodav v'mapo, such a person may wrap his hands with a cloth, so as not or wear a glove, v'yochal kach, and he can eat his bread without touching the bread, even without washing his hands. So, but the idea is we need to have clean hands before we touch our bread. We mentioned the spiritual side of it last week in our episode last week about washing away our arrogance.
Here we see that we need to really have holy hands before we touch our bread. Halacha number 15, ha'os etzroch of kodam achilo, one who relieves himself before eating, which is appropriate, one should relieve themselves before they eat. Shehutzor achlito yodav l'birkas asher yotzar, now he needs to wash his hands, as we learned previously in the Everyday Judaism podcast, that one needs to wash and recite a blessing of asher yotzar after relieving oneself in the restroom.
Shehutzor achlito yodav l'sudah, but now he needs to wash for two reasons, he has to wash because he finished relieving himself in the bathroom, and he needs to wash his hands because he's about to sit down to eat a meal, yesh b'zeh kama sfechos, there are several doubts about this, whether or not the blessing upon this washing were he to wash only once for both obligations, alkei nachon, therefore, let's explain what is the proper way for one to, the proper procedure.
Shehito t'chilo yodav, sh'lo k'din y'tios y'dayim l'sudah, de hainu shehishpokh rak mat mayim l'chofno achas, y'shav sheif shtey yodav b'mayim eilu, v'inag v'imheyteh, v'ivorach asher yotzar, v'achakach yito yodav k'din y'tios y'dayim l'sudah, v'ivorach al'y'tios y'dayim. He says, get your hands a little wet first, rub your hands to clean them really well, and recite the blessing of asher yotzar, and then appropriately wash your hands for y'tios y'dayim, for your meal. Now the halacha, and I've seen this written multiple places, that you can wash your hands
just for the meal now, and that washing of the hands applies for both the asher yotzar after relieving oneself and for the meal. But that, again, we can address in a situation-by-situation scenario. Halacha number 16, mi sheh be'emtza se'udah, someone who during the meal naga be'gufo b'mekom asa m'chusim. So we mentioned previously that the person who touches a covered part of their body needs to wash their hands. So what's if during the meal someone touched themselves in a place which should be covered,
or someone scratches their head that they're here, or someone needed to use the bathroom for what we call small things, which is urination. So a person needs to wash their hands a second time, but does not recite the blessing during the meal. V'chein afilu im as etzrochav, you know, til yodev emtza se'udah, ein etzroch lavorach al nitir az yedayim. In such a case they do not need to recite the blessing of al nitir az yedayim again when they return to their meal.
Ha'och ha-dover she'tibu lo b'mashke, one who eats any food that is commonly dipped in liquid, or food upon which liquid was poured, and it is still moist from the food that was poured onto it, it's still wet from it, even if you're not touching the place of the food that was now made wet from this liquid. So nevertheless, tz'roch lit'r yodev t'chila, you need to wash your hands before eating it. Rak sh'lo yivorach al nitir az yedayim, but you do not need to recite the blessing of
al nitir az yedayim. V'haber mikilim b'zein, many are lenient about this, and do not wash their hands before eating such food. Avokol yirei sh'mayim, yesh lo lahach meratzmo, but however, a God-fearing person should act stringently about washing his hands before eating. Now we mentioned this in our Pesach Seder, every year we say that, right, because what do we do before we dip the karpas, we dip it in salt water, we wash our hands, we don't
recite a blessing, because any time you eat a fruit or vegetable that's dipped in water, you have to wash your hands. So I'm sure there is a lot of scientific reasons what happens to these foods when they are exposed to water, when they're washed with water, it could be that they have certain, you have to make sure that your hands are clean. Okay, halacha number 18, just four more halachas in this semen, mashkin le'inyon zehema sheva,
there are seven liquids that qualify with regard to this halacha, v'elohen, yayin v'cheyn wine and similarly wine vinegar, dvash dvorem, bees honey, shemen zais, olive oil, chalav, milk, u'bechlal zeh gammei chalav, and included in this is wei, which is also included in this category, tal du, dam shel behema chay ve'of, blood of an animal, beast, or fowl, v'haynu kish'ol chilum l'rifur, but only when this is medicinal, for medicinal purposes, and mayim, and any regular water, and this is, there's a mnemonic for this, which is
yad shochat dam, which is the yud, the dal, the yud for yayin, the dalet for dvash, shemen, chalav, tal, and then dam of animals and mayim, avo, sha'ar me'eperos, other fruit juices, afil b'mokam shurgin la'asam mashkin l'shtia, even where it is common to produce drinks, mishkitas ezaperos, by squeezing out certain fruits, ein lohem din mashkin l'inyin zeh, there is no requirement to wash your hands before, so you have orange juice, you don't have to wash your hands for that, right, because it's juice, juice, any type of, or if you
pour juice, sometimes people will pour juice over a food, sometimes people pour beer over certain types of meats, you know, so like it marinates in it, so that does not fall into the category of liquid that requires washing one's hands before eating that. Okay. Halacha number 19. Kitzu discusses the halachic status of preserves with regard to this law. Peros shemerukachim b'tzukar, fruits that are preserved in sugar, okay, ein tzvir g'nit do not require washing your hands before eating them, ki ha'tzukar lo habim mashkin, because
the sugar is not a liquid, ve'gam l'achluchis she'yotze m'na peros, additionally moisture that exuded from the fruits, and you have this many times, they have like a little sap that comes out of the fruit, lo habim mashkin, that is not either considered to be liquid with regard to this halacha, shehu mei peros, because it is fruit juice regarding this matter, im merukachim mitvash, however, if the preserves, if they are preserved in honey, then the law
is im nikrash ha'tvash hei tev, if the honey hardened well on the fruit, so if you have those apples that they have honey on them, a'zay yotze b'chal mashka, then it loses its status as liquid, ve'nasa ochel, and now it's just part of the food, ve'ein tzvir g'nit yosdam, and you do not need to wash your hands for that, only when it's moist and it's liquidy, once it hardens, it's not considered liquid, and you do not need to
wash your hands on those kinds of fruits or vegetables that are dipped, okay, or moist. aval im lo nikrash ha'tev, however, if the honey did not totally harden, a'ela nis'abu me'at, they thicken somewhat, but they're not completely hardened, ve'adayin hem nigarim, they're still somewhat fluidy, tzurichim nit'yos yedayim, in such a case, the fruits do require us to wash nit'yos yedayim, ve'chein likewise, chemo shehu b'chal ha'cholav, butter, which is included in the category of milk, and the seven liquids that we previously mentioned,
im hi krusha, if it's solidified, the butter, ein o'mashke rak ochel, then it's considered to be food and not drink, aval im hu nimocha ha'rei hi mashke, then it's considered to be a liquid, and in such a case, having butter on any type of fruit, I don't know anybody who does that, but whatever it would be, that would be considered a liquid, and therefore would require one to wash their hands for that. halacha number 20, dvarim she'darken la'ochlon, regarding those foods, food items, that are
commonly eaten with one's hands, blo kafim ve'umazleik, that's eaten by hand, hand food, hors d'oeuvres, things like that, that are hand food, that we don't use a fork or spoon to eat with, the halacha, if such a food was dipped in liquid, and specifically regarding fruits, so if you have like these little cut up fruits and vegetables, that people don't, for whatever reason, use a spoon or fork, tzurichim nit'yos yedayim, it requires washing of the hands, avol dover, however, an item, she'en darko le'chol rak al yeday kaf, but
food which is commonly eaten only with a spoon, kigon le'vivos ve'kayotze behem, such as dumplings and the like, you don't eat that with your hand, you eat that with a spoon, or a fork, ve'khen peres merukochim mitvash, or fruits that were preserved in honey, be'mokom she'en darken la'ochlon, in a place where it is uncommon to eat them directly with the hands, rak al yeday kaf o'mazleg, only with a spoon or a fork, ayn tzurichim nit'yos yedayim, you
do not have to wash your hands for such food, because you don't, your hand does not come into physical contact with that food, so yes, you do need to recite a blessing before eating it, but you don't need to wash your hands as if you're washing for bread, like nit'yos yedayim. And finally, the last halacha in Semen 40, halacha number 21, melach she'naaseh mi'mayim, salt that was produced by the evaporation of water, havi b'chalal mayim, is included
in the category of liquid water, one of the seven liquids enumerated above, ki mayim, for water afal pi she'nikoshu, even when frozen, lo yotz b'chalal mashgah, they do not cease to be classified as a liquid, ve'lachayim, therefore, ha'tov el tznon ve'kadoma be'malach she'naaseh, one who dips a radish or the like in this type of salt, tzorok nit'yos yedayim, is required to wash nit'yos yedayim before eating it. Ya'in tzorof she'naaseh mi'tvua o mi'perus, liquor that is produced from grain or fruit,
ei'no mashgah li'nyozeh, is not classified as a liquid with regarding to this halacha, like we mentioned about the beer, once you make it into a beverage that is drunk on its own, makes you drunk too, but a liquor, right, so that is already, does not fall into the category of water, even though it's majority water in many, sometimes, well, soda might be, but ei'no mashgah li'nyozeh is not considered a liquid with regard to this halacha,
diloh ha'vi rakzeh o mi'na tvua o mi'na perus, for the liquor is considered to be a mere moisture or sweat of the grain or the fruit, ve'af opishi yeish bo gam mayim, even though there is still a lot of water that is in that beverage, umozuk gam kein be'mayim, and it is also diluted with water afterward, mi'ko mo'koim heim ha'myut, nevertheless, it is not considered a liquid of water since the water is the minority ingredient of the liquor, so one of the things I remember when
I went on the Kentucky Trail and we went to many of these distilleries, they were all bragging how they get, they have a stream over there of fresh water that they use, we have the freshest water, we have spring water, it comes straight down this stream right to our distillery and that's the water we use for our beer and whatever, or bourbon or whatever it was that we were looking at, so they have a lot of water that's being mixed in with
those grains that are lo'chein, therefore, ha'toval bo eizeh davar ve'okhlo ein tsorokh netila sidaim, therefore, one who dips any food into liquor and eats it that way is not required to wash netila sidaim for that, aval, however, ya'in saraf she'na'aseh min ha'char tzanim ve'ha'azagim, liquor that was produced from seeds or skins of grapes, o min ha'shmarim shel ya'in, or from the lees of wine, nir'et ahavi mashka, then it could be considered liquid with regarding to this aloha and would require one to wash their
hands. So this, my dear friends, concludes semen number 40. I think even if today there aren't many people that I know that wash their hands for dipping fruits in liquid, it's important to know the halacha. It's important to know that it's there to open up our mind to the intricate details of our Torah. And now we are going to open the floor for ask away number 28. I want you to know about 28. 28 is the number of strength. Koach is strength. We
are full force ahead in 2026 with all of our questions, with all of our learning, with our intentional Judaism, being focused on doing things intentionally. Don't just do it out of habit, being intentional Jews. So my dear friend, I'm really excited to begin the next segment of our everyday Judaism podcast, ask away number 28.

You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by Torch, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit Torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.