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...
Rosh Hashana-The Misva of Shofar
Rosh Hashanah – Are Women Required to Hear the Shofar?
Rosh Hashanah – Candle Lighting on the Second Night
Rosh Hashanah – The Addition of “Te’anu Ve’te’ateru” in Kaddish
Rosh Hashanah – The Text of “Tichtebenu Be’rahamecha”
The Custom to Fast on Ereb Rosh Hashanah
Can One Ask or Hire Non-Jews to Play Music on Shabbat?
Is it Permissible to Pour Milk into Cereal on Shabbat?
High Holy Days- Habdalah- Separating Ourselves Is The Key to Judgement
Rosh Hashana - Tashlich- Shaking One’s Garment, Feeding Fish, and Women’s Participation
Rosh Hashanah – Covering the Shofar While Reciting the Berachot
Rosh Hashana- The Proper Salutation When Writing a Letter in The Month of Elul
Confessing Sins and Crying During the Rosh Hashanah Prayer Service
Halachot of Rosh Hashanah That Falls on Thursday
Visiting Graves of Sadikim on Ereb Rosh Hashanah
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found