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...
The Power of Speech
The Importance of Learning during the Summer
Respecting One’s Father When He Visits on Shabbat
Must One Stand for His Rabbi or Parent While he Studies Torah, Prays or Recites Birkat Ha’mazon?
When Must One Stand in His Parent’s Presence?
Standing Up for a Parent Who is One’s Student
Standing in the Presence of One’s Parent
Laws Pertaining to Meals: Etiquette for Guests and Hosts, and Torah Scholars Eating with an Am Ha’aretz
Are There Restrictions on Whom a Female Kohen May Marry?
If a Kohen Marries a Woman Forbidden for Him
May a Kohen Fly on a Plane That is Carrying a Dead Body?
May a Kohen Visit the Gravesite of a Sadik?
May a Doctor Who is a Kohen Perform Biopsies or be in the Same Room as Body Parts From a Living Person?
May a Non-Kohen Bless Somebody With Birkat Kohanim?
Reciting the Verse of “Vi’yhi Noam” Before Praying or Performing a Misva
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found