DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 598 KB)
Performing Netilat Yadayim with Cloudy Water

Halacha requires that when one washes his hands before partaking of bread, he must use clear water (Orach Hayim, Siman 160:1). The question thus arises in situations where the water appears "cloudy" when it first comes from the tap, whether a person must wait for the water to clear before performing Netilat Yadayim.

Rabbi Yitzchak Weiss (Galicia-Israel, 1902-1989), in his work Minchat Yitzchak, in Helek 9 Siman 13, addresses this question. He rules that preferably one should wait a few minutes until the water clears up and then make Netilat Yadayim. He concedes, however, that if one used the water while it was cloudy, BeDiavad he doesn’t have to wash again. However, Hacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul in Ir L’Tzion, Helek 2, Peek 11:7, rules leniently even Lechatchila. This leniency is also the ruling of Hacham Ovadia Yoseph in Halichot Olam, Helek 1, page 336.

As for the final Halacha, one may perform Netilat Yadayim with water that appears cloudy upon leaving the tap, and does not have to wait, but it is nevertheless preferable to wait a minute or so to allow the water to become clear before washing one's hands, in order to satisfy all opinions.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Lag Ba’omer – The Reasons for Celebrating; Reciting Yehi Shem, Visiting Meron, and Other Customs
The Custom of Giving a Boy His First Haircut at Age Three
Visiting Meron on Lag Ba’omer
Lag Ba’omer – Shaving on Friday When Lag Ba’omer Falls on Sunday; The Reason for Celebrating; Fasts, Eulogies and Tahanunim on Lag Ba’omer
Shaving and Haircutting on Lag Ba'omer That Occurs on Friday
Is It Permissible for Sephardim To Take A Hair Cut On The 33rd Day Of The Omer When The 34th Day Falls Out On Shabbat
Sefirat Ha'omer – A Person Who is Unsure Whether He Counted
May Women and Children Take Haircuts During the Omer Period?
Sefirat Ha'omer – May Women Count the Omer?
If a Person Reads a Text Message Informing Him of the Omer Counting, May He Still Count with a Beracha?
Sefirat Ha’omer – The Proper Way to Respond if Somebody Asks Which Day to Count
Guidelines for One Who Forgets to Count the Omer or Cannot Remember if He Counted
Sefirat HaOmer: If One Counted the Days but Not the Weeks
Sefirat Ha’omer – If a Person Counted Either the Days or Weeks Incorrectly
If One Forgets or Doesn't Remember If He Counted The Omer
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found