Q&A: Blessing Before Washing
Blessing Before Washing
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I tried looking a bit into the halakhic decisors who say that the custom is to wash one’s hands and only then recite the blessing (as opposed, for example, to the view of Maimonides). From what I saw, the explanations revolve around the idea that hands are busy and liable to touch things. But I did not find in the Talmud that such “busy hands” prevent a blessing, only eating terumah. Is there a source for this, or is this an unsupported halakhic pilpul, so that perhaps one should follow Maimonides and recite the blessing beforehand?
Thanks in advance
Answer
This is not halakhic pilpul but an explanation of the custom. And that explanation seems entirely reasonable to me. It is not because “busy hands” prevent the blessing, but because it is preferable to recite a blessing with clean hands, even if that does not invalidate it. Like a convert who recites the blessing after immersion, and the like.
Discussion on Answer
As I wrote, if there is a view that the hands’ being busy and liable to touch things prevents the blessing, that does not sound right. But that does not mean one must follow Maimonides.
How does one decide how to act in a case like this?
Is there some criterion, or does each person just go by his own reasoning?
Where Jewish law is not firmly established in your hands, follow the custom.
I called it pilpul because it seems they are trying to justify the custom to the point of saying that one must not act otherwise. (The wording of the Mishnah Berurah is “we do not protest against him,” which makes it sound as though this is something serious.) You write that it is preferable to act this way, but it is not at all clear to me where that is derived from.
Maimonides rules:
“He who performs a commandment and did not recite a blessing—if it is a commandment whose performance is still ongoing, he recites the blessing after performing it. But if it is something already completed, he does not recite the blessing. How so? If one wrapped himself in tzitzit, or put on tefillin, or sat in a sukkah, and did not bless first, he goes back and recites after wrapping himself, ‘who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tzitzit’; likewise after putting on tefillin he recites ‘to put on tefillin,’ and after sitting in the sukkah ‘to sit in the sukkah’ [it is implied from our master’s words that he need not stand up, recite the blessing, and sit down again; rather, he blesses while sitting, just as he need not remove the tallit or take off the tefillin in order to bless and put them on again, but rather blesses while they are on him], and so too in all similar cases.”
“And similarly, if one slaughtered without a blessing, he does not go back after slaughtering and bless, ‘who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding slaughtering.’ Likewise, if he covered the blood without a blessing, or separated terumah and tithes, or immersed and did not bless, he does not go back and bless after the act, and so too in all similar cases.”
It seems, then, that washing and only afterward reciting the blessing may involve a Torah-level transgression of bearing God’s name in vain.
When there is a reason suggesting that it is forbidden to bless after washing, versus a rationale that perhaps it is preferable to have clean hands, aren’t we obligated to follow Maimonides specifically?