Prayer Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Prayer Podcast.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, good morning. Welcome back, everybody, to the Prayer Podcast. This morning we are going to begin talking about blessings. The first blessing we're going to talk about is netilas yadayim, washing our hands in the morning. So if you open up your Artscroll Wasserman Edition Siddur that we will be using throughout this course, it is on page 14, in the middle of the page. It's a very short blessing, but let's read it together Baruch Atah Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech Ha'olam Asher Kideshanu B'mitzvosov V'tzivanu Al Netilas Yodayim, blessed are you, hashem, our God, king of the Universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and has commanded us regarding washing the hands. So let's begin our exploration of this incredible blessing. Our exploration of this incredible blessing.

01:09
Firstly, we need to be in awe of the fact that we are talking directly to Hashem. Blessed are you. In a direct term, you ata direct, and that means that wherever we are on planet earth, hashem is right there with us. It's a reminder wherever you go, wherever a Jew may be, on all four corners of the world, hashem is there with us. But we start off with Baruch. What does Baruch mean? It means to bless. God is the source of all blessings and we need to recognize that every time we recite a blessing, what we're identifying, what we're giving testimony to, is that Hashem is the source of all blessing, all blessings that we have, all blessings that we desire. We're recognizing that Hashem is that source of all blessing, all blessings that we have, all blessings that we desire. We're recognizing that Hashem is that source of blessing. So we say Baruch, we're referring to God as the blessed one. Why? Because everything that can be called a blessing is within Hashem and Hashem's ability. Hashem is capable of everything, which is the next thing, which is when we say Hashem's name, baruch Ata, in a direct term, we say Hashem Adon Kol, hashem is the master of everything. Hashem is the master, the master of all. Anything that you can possibly imagine Hashem can do, anything that you can possibly imagine Hashem can do. Anything that you can possibly need. Hashem can bring you. And that's just from the first three words, just from the first three words of this blessing which is, by the way, the beginning of all blessings is Baruch Atah Hashem. If we recognize that God is the master of all blessings, he's the source of all blessings, we talk to Hashem in a direct ata, direct form, with Hashem and Adon Kol. Hashem is the master of everything.

03:22
We're going to get into this more in detail. We're going to spend an entire class talking about these seven, nine words, ten words of the blessing, the introductory words of every blessing Baruch Atah, hashem, elokeinu, melech HaOlam, our God, king of the Universe, asher Kidishanu B'mitzvosav, who sanctified us with His commandments, v'tzivanu, and commanded us, which is a general thing. Hashem sanctified us with all of his commandments, but then gave us a specific commandment of washing our hands. Very, very interesting. We know that we are saying here that God sanctified us with his commandments, but if we look in the 613 commandments, washing our hands is not one of them. In fact, this is one of the seven commandments that were established by our sages.

04:23
What are those seven mitzvahs? Number one is the recitation of halal. Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh. We recited halal. Every Rosh Chodesh. We recite halal On the festivals, on Pesach, shavuot and Sukkot.

04:37
We recite the halal, sometimes the full, complete halal, sometimes the partial halal. We have, on many occasions, all of Hanukkah. We recite the hallow. Hanukkah itself is a rabbinic festival. That's one of the seven rabbinic decrees. Hearing the Megillah is a rabbinic commandment. Lighting Shabbos candles rabbinic commandment. Reciting blessings is a rabbinic commandment. Lighting Shabbos candles, Rabbinic commandment, reciting blessings is a Rabbinic commandment. Eruvin, putting together an Eruv that combines the community into one domain on Shabbos, so that we can carry from one domain to the other, is Rabbinic.

05:19
And finally, the seventh is washing our hands. So why are we saying that God sanctified us with his commandment? The seventh is washing our hands. So why are we saying asher ki dishanu b'mitzvosa v'tzivanu, that God sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to wash our hands? It wasn't God who made this commandment, it was the rabbis who made this commandment.

05:37
Sages tell us in Deuteronomy one of the commandments that are given to us is that the sages have the ability to institute commandments. Now the rabbis don't just pull out of a hat a commandment. The commandment is very well sourced. The commandment is very well already, you know, embedded into the Torah. Now we may not know where it's embedded. The sages do.

06:08
But let's go into the washing of the hands, washing of the hands. We see this is not a simple thing. We see that the Kohen, before he was able to eat the truma, the sanctified foods, he had to wash his hands Before he went to serve in the temple had to wash his hands. We, he went to serve in the temple, had to wash his hands. We see that anything having to do with holiness always required the washing of hands. Before a Kohen blesses, the congregation had to wash their hands. So we see that washing hands is not something which is a new concept. But before eating bread, the commandment to wash our hands is rabbinic in nature.

06:54
Waking up in the morning and washing our hands before we start our day, before reciting a blessing, before saying Hashem's name, is rabbinic in nature. Why, again, it's sourced in the Torah. It's sourced in the Torah, where we see that it's not something which is a crazy idea that the rabbis came up with. Now, al netilas yodayim, our sages tell us our connection with the physical world is with our hands. What do we do in washing our hands? So, just to get it clear, for those of you who are not familiar with our Everyday Judaism podcast, we're in it. We talk about the step-by-step process of washing hands. So we wake up in the morning. The first thing we do in the morning is we can say moda'ani, which we, in two podcasts ago, we talked about the explanation, understanding moda'ani, but in the words of moda'ani, we do not say Hashem's name, because you cannot say Hashem's name when you're not in a state of purity.

08:03
Why are we in a state of impurity? Our sages tell us two reasons. Number one because when we are sleeping, our soul departs our body and our body is left like a corpse. And then Hashem restores that soul within us when we arise. So now we're a new person, restores that soul within us when we arise. So now we're a new person. Because we were in a state of semi-death. We have to cleanse ourselves and wash ourselves before we resume our activities. That's reason number one.

08:34
Second reason brought in halacha, is because while one sleeps, their hands move around. They could have touched a part of their body which is a covered part of the body and therefore it would render us impure, our hands impure, and therefore we need to wash our hands. By the way, if someone were to scratch their head, that would also be impure. They need to wash their hands. Someone cuts their nails, someone gets a haircut. There are many different reasons why someone needs to wash their hands because of spiritual contamination, but also, as we know, just ask the CDC. They'll tell you wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

09:16
The Torah tells us this thousands of years ago, because we understand that where there's spiritual contamination, there's most likely the possibility for physical contamination as well. So our physical connection with this world is through our hands. One second, so let's go back. So, moda ani, we recite without washing our hands, but then we can't say Hashem's name before we wash our hands. So what is the first thing we do in the morning? We fill up a cup of water, a vessel, and fill it up with your right hand holding it, pass it to your left hand and you wash your right, your left, your right, three times each hand. Some customs do four times. And now your hands are purified, so to speak, from their state of impurity. And now you can recite a blessing and say Hashem's name, and we continue the Reish Hashem, which we talked about last week. You can say that, because that does have Hashem's name in it. You can recite that then. And then we say the blessing of Al-Natilat Yadayim. So that's the blessing that we're talking about today.

10:23
The physical connection with this world is our hands. You realize that Everything that you have in contact with the physical world is with your hands. It's amazing. You get into your car, what do you do? You open the door handle with your hand. You start your engine with your hand. Every connection with the physical world is with our hands. How do you eat With your hands? Right, you hold a knife and fork. You don't eat with your hands, obviously, but you hold a knife and fork and you connect with the physical world in that way. Our entire connection with the physical world is through our hands, which gives us a little bit of an understanding why it's so important for us to wash our hands and to have ritual purity of our hands and why we have this blessing of Al Netilat. Yadayim Hashem commanded us upon the washing, concerning the washing of our hands, because in the process of getting our whole world, our whole physical world connection is with our hands. We have to make sure that we go in with the purified state of these hands. You wash and purify your hands.

11:41
Now there's an interesting thing, the Talmud asks. There's an interesting thing, the Talmud asks. There's two contradictory verses. There's one verse that says the land, the earth, belongs to God, but there's a different verse which says and God gave the world to mankind. So which one is it? Did God give it to us? Did God give us the earth or is the earth? God's Sages tell us in the Talmud.

12:16
Well, one is before a blessing blessing and one is after a blessing. If someone before someone recites the blessing, it's all gods. After someone recites a blessing, that's when it becomes yours. How do you acquire it? By recognizing God's presence. What is a blessing? A blessing is not asking permission. A blessing is recognizing God's dominion, god's rulership, god's creation of this world. That's what it is. So when we recite a blessing, what we're doing in essence, we're establishing Hashem, you're the creator of this world, it's all yours. Hashem says oh, we have that established. Now you can have it. Now it's yours. God gave it to mankind. Only after we recite the blessing we know the Talmud says that anybody who enjoys from this world without reciting a blessing first, it's as if they have stolen.

13:23
You've stolen. What do you mean you've stolen? I earned my income, I paid my taxes, I bought an apple, I ate my apple, and now you're saying I stole it because they didn't recite a blessing. I paid for it. The idea is on a whole different level perhaps, that when you recite, when you enjoy from this world without reciting a blessing, you're enjoying from this world without recognizing the gift that has been given to you. You're stealing from yourself the opportunity to be happy. You're stealing from yourself the opportunity to be happy. You're stealing from yourself the opportunity to feel enriched. You're stealing from yourself the opportunity of feeling a closeness with the Almighty. That is something that a person has to take into consideration. We have to be very, very careful about this, not to waste the opportunity You're about to enjoy something. Take it up a notch. Take it up a notch. Take it up a notch. You want to live a luxury life, a life without any anxiety, without any fear or worry, without any stress.

14:30
Give thanks to Hashem, and that's what we're doing. When we recite the blessing, the simple blessing, of Alnitil Asyadayim of concerning the washing of our hands. Recite the blessing, the simple blessing, of Al-Nitilas Yadayim of concerning the washing of our hands, that one blessing, what we're doing is we're recognizing that our entire connection to the physical world is a blessing from Hashem. Every physical pleasure that we have is a gift from Hashem. Not to take it for granted, to recognize and appreciate it. Just like the priests, before their service or eating the terumah, wash their hands. The term netilas yadayim comes from to elevate, not law it also means a pitcher but also to elevate, to raise up our hands. We gave the two reasons. We explained the two reasons of why we wash to remove the spirit of death, and our hands are busy at night and we could have touched things that are impure.

15:30
Our sages also tell us that we're transforming our hands and our body from a state of impurity to purity. The first action we do when we wake up we only say moda ani, prior, or the only thing that precedes washing our hands, is saying moda ani. What's the first action that we do? We say God, we want to serve you in a state of purity. We wash our hands First, physical action we do every day Incredible. Our sages warn us, though, that if you look at the first letters of Al-Nitilat Yadayim, the first letters is Ayin nud yud, ayin nud yud. What is that? Ani Ani means poor, impoverished. Our sages tell us that those who are careful with the washing of their hands are guaranteed a blessing of never experiencing poverty. And if, god forbid, one is not careful with washing their hands, there's terrible things that our sages tell us that we're bringing upon ourselves. By not being careful with washing our hands.

16:54
We elevate our hands. We say we elevate our hands. We say we elevate our hands because we're elevating them from a state of impurity to a state of purity, of holiness. We say a bracha after performing the mitzvah. Usually we say the blessing before performing the mitzvah, right Before we shake the lulav, recite the blessing. Then we shake the lulav Every mitzvah we, Before we shake the lulav, recite the blessing. Then we shake the lulav Every mitzvah we do. Before we put on tefillin. We recite the blessing, then we put on the tefillin, we recite the blessing on our talis or our tzitzis and then we do the mitzvah Every mitzvah. We do that, except for there are a couple of few exceptions. One of them is washing our hands. We wash our hands and then we recite the blessing.

17:38
Say just tell us, because you don't want to recite a blessing when you're in a state of impurity, because you're getting into a state of purity only after you wash your hands. Therefore you recite the blessing only then. But we have to understand that washing our hands is not only from dirt. We know that when our hands are dirty we wash them. When we wash our hands before we eat bread, and we recite the same blessing of Al-Natilat-i-Daim. It's not only because our hands are impure, it's not only because our hands are physically dirty, but because they're spiritually dirty, and that's what we want to wash ourselves away from Now.

18:21
I want to just share and close out on this following idea. We mentioned this previously. But what are we doing when we wash our hands? As we mentioned earlier, our physical connection with this world is through our hands. As we mentioned earlier, our physical connection with this world is through our hands, but our arrogance is also through our hands because we can convince ourselves ko chiva otsem yadi. It's my strength, it's my talent, it's my ability that brought about my success. Look at my livelihood, look at my business a flourishing business. Look at my success Me, my hands, my doing, these 10 fingers, these hands this is what brought my success. We're about to eat our bread. We're about to start our day. We can think that we attribute things to my own doing. I'm so smart, I'm so capable, I'm so talented.

19:22
We wash away our arrogance Before you touch your bread, before you start your day. We wash our hands away from that thought of arrogance. We cleanse ourselves of the thought that we have any accomplishments on our own. Everything is from a blessing of the Almighty. Without Hashem's help we cannot do anything, and that's what we're recognizing with Netil HaSyedayim. It's so special, this mitzvah, to wash our hands every single day in the morning and throughout the day, before we eat, of course, after we use the restroom, which we're going to see next week. We're going to talk about the blessing of Asher Yatzar, where God created us with absolute physical perfection.

20:11
We're going to get into that next week, but this week we have to focus on the blessing that God gives us the ability to connect with his world with our physical hands and washing away thoughts of impurity, washing away thoughts of arrogance and coming to God with a sense of humility that we realize everything is from Hashem, which is why we lift up our hands, say Hashem, we've got nothing without you. How do prisoners POWs when they're giving up? They raise their hands I have nothing. That's what we need to do in front of the Almighty. When we wash our hands. We raise up our hands. It says, opposite your face, so you can see you really have nothing. You've got nothing here. Hashem, it's all from you, everything that we do have. We have to give thanks to Hashem. My dear friends, let's work on this this week, work on our's work on this this week, work on our prayer, work on recognizing each blessing as we go week by week. God willing, we'll have the opportunity to focus on each blessing, one at a time.