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 Minimum Age Requirement for a Judge
Must One Immerse in a Mikveh Before Praying or Learning After Becoming Tameh?
Living in Eretz Yisrael
Giving Charity "Intelligently"
May One Recite Birkat Ha’ilanot During the Month of Adar?
Avoiding Contact With Members of the Opposite Gender
Verifying a Couple’s Status as Husband and Wife Based on a “Hazaka”
If a Woman is Widowed or Divorced While Pregnant or While Nursing an Infant
Remarrying in a Different County After Divorce or a Wife’s Death
Does the Prohibition Against Marrying an Egyptian, Edomite, Amonite or Moabite Apply Nowadays?
The History of the Prohibition Against Bigamy
If One’s Parents Disapprove of His or Her Choice of a Marriage Partner
How Many Times a Day Must a Person Stand in His Parents’ Honor?
Calling a Sinner for an Aliya to the Torah
The Daily Reading of a Verse Corresponding to One's Name
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found