Q&A: Washing the Hands
Washing the Hands
Question
Are you careful about all the laws of morning hand-washing—for example, that one may not touch the nose or the eyes, etc., before washing—or since nowadays “an evil spirit rests upon him” no longer has any real meaning (presumably, in my estimation), is there no reason to keep paying attention to this? Are you careful about washing at the end of the meal, or even though it says that final hand-washing is obligatory, since nowadays there is no Sodomite salt, etc., is there no reason to keep paying attention to that either?
Answer
It doesn’t seem to me that one needs to be concerned about such concepts. As for final hand-washing, I do practice it, but in truth I’m not sure there is any real point to it.
Discussion on Answer
Obviously that is not indispensable. Already among the medieval authorities (Rishonim) there is dispute over whether there is any evil spirit at all nowadays. And I myself am doubtful whether there ever was. See a survey here: https://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/1946
It’s interesting that Maimonides did not bring the Talmud’s statement that it is forbidden to touch the eyes or the nose because of an evil spirit, and Rabbi Kapach noted that this is because his way was to distance all matters involving demons and evil spirits, etc. In short—he disagreed with the Sages regarding the facts.
“Evil spirit” is basically just bacterial contamination resulting from poor hygiene (they didn’t even have toilet paper).
The considerations were always health-related in the end.
So does the Rabbi wash three times alternately? Is that indispensable? Or is any minimal rinsing enough, especially with soap? 🙂