If a person is eating a meal with bread, and in the middle of the meal he touches a Megilla, a Torah scroll, of the straps of the Tefillin, must he wash Netilat Yadayim again before resuming his meal?
The reason for considering such a requirement is the Halacha established by the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (14) that the parchment of a Sefer Torah is treated as though as it is Tameh (ritually impure). The Sages enacted this measure to discourage the Kohanim from storing their Teruma – the Kohanim’s special food which had to be maintained in a state of purity – with the Torah scroll in the Hechal. The Kohanim did this in order to ensure that the Teruma would remain Tahor (pure), but this resulted in mice entering into the Hechal and gnawing at the parchment of the Torah scroll. The Sages therefore imposed a state of Tum’a upon the parchment, so that the Torah scrolls would not be used for storing Teruma. This decree requires one who touches a Torah scroll to wash his hands before eating Teruma. Even if a Kohen had washed his hands before eating Teruma, and ensured to keep his hands clean, he must wash again if he touches a Torah scroll.
A separate decree was enacted requiring Kohanim generally to wash their hands before they begin eating Teruma. The Halacha we observe to wash before eating bread was instituted because of the requirement to wash before eating Teruma. The Rabbis wanted to accustom the Kohanim to wash before eating Teruma, and so they instituted that everyone wash before eating bread.
The question, then, becomes whether the Rabbis extended this measure so far that one must wash his hands if he touches a Torah scroll during a meal. Did the Sages merely enact a requirement to wash before eating bread, or did they actually compare our bread to Teruma, to the extent that if we touch parchment we must wash our hands before resuming the meal, just as a Kohen would have to wash before eating Teruma?
The Be’ur Halacha (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933), in Siman 165 (listen to audio recording for precise citation), cites the Hayeh Adam (Rav Abraham Danzig of Vilna, 1748-1820) as writing that one should seemingly be required to wash his hands before resuming his meal after touching a Sefer Torah. However, the Hayeh Adam adds that since he did not see this mentioned in earlier Halachic works, one should not recite a Beracha over this washing. The Be’ur Halacha disputes this ruling, noting that the Rabbis enacted two separate measures – that Torah scrolls should be regarded as Tameh, and that we must wash Netilat Yadayim before eating a bread meal. These are two distinct Rabbinic enactments, and we should not assume that we can combine them to reach the conclusion that one must repeat Netilat Yadayim if he touches a Sefer Torah during a meal. According to the Be’ur Halacha, then, one is not required to wash in such a case.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in his work Halichot Olam (vol. 1, p. 341; listen to audio recording for precise citation), notes a number of sources in the Rishonim (Medieval Halachic scholars) who indeed seem to follow the Hayeh Adam’s ruling, requiring one to repeat Netilat Yadayim after touching a Torah scroll. He therefore rules that it is proper to wash again in this case, without a Beracha, in accordance with the Hayeh Adam’s view. Hacham Ovadia adds, however, that one who does not wash in this case certainly has authorities on whom to rely.
Summary: If one washes Netilat Yadayim for bread, and at some point during the meal he touches a Sefer Torah, Megilla or Tefillin straps, he should preferably wash his hands again (without a Beracha) before resuming his meal.
