To like. I have a deep suspicion that we might like it. Seder HaYom. I think it’s important to get a little background on who wrote Seder HaYom, so we know which book we’re reading. We found a biography. The book was written by a rabbi called Rabbi Moshe ben Machir. Who was Rabbi Moshe ben Machir? He was among the great men of Tzfat (Safed), who lived some 400 years ago. He was a good friend of Rav Shmuel de Uceda. Shmuel de Uceda was the author of Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), and he was a student of Rabbeinu HaAri. So he lived during the time of the mekubalim (kabbalists) of Tzfat.
He’s best known for his work Seder HaYom, printed for the first time in Venice in 1599. I think Chaimie got us that print. He also founded a yeshiva in the village of Ein Zeitun, near Tzfat. For many years, Ein Zeitun had been known as a place of Torah and holiness. The Tanna (Mishnaic sage) Rabbi Yehudah, the son of Rabbi Ilai, Rabbi Kruspedai, and Rabbi Yosef Saragossi, known as the Tzaddik HaLavan, the white tzaddik, are buried there. In his book, Kruspedai’s kever (gravesite) is known there, right?
In his book Chachmei HaSfaradim b'Eretz Yisrael, Rav Shraga Weiss recounts that the Ari z"l (of blessed memory) was particularly fond of Ein Zeitun, and would normally go there to pray by the gravesite of the Tanna Rabbi Yehudah. He also directed his disciples to go there and recite special kabbalistic prayers that he had taught them. Rabbi Eliezer Azikri, the author of Sefer Charedim, would normally travel to Ein Zeitun on the eve of Rosh Hashanah to shed tears over the exile of the Shechinah and to pray for the salvation of body and soul. In Sefer Charedim, in the chapter that deals with mitzvot connected to the Land of Israel, he writes that the people of Ein Zeitun had the custom of reciting Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi’s Shir Yedidot, which begins with the words, “The holy land will call, will be called favored,” and beseeching God not to chase them out from His holy place, filled with ancient glory, where Jews had poured themselves out in prayer for hundreds of years.
Rabbi Moshe ben Machir built the yeshiva there, in Ein Zeitun, this very holy place, which very quickly earned a great reputation throughout the diaspora. There he also wrote the work called Seder HaYom. On the first edition’s flyleaf, we read: “A work entitled Seder HaYom, an exquisite explanation of the prayers according to the four types of wisdom known as Pardes: pshat (plain meaning), remez (allusion), drash (interpretive exposition), sod (hidden meaning), written by a man of God, entirely wise and pious, Rabbi Moshe ben Machir of Tzfat.”
The book was truly well named. It shows every Jew how to organize his day according to the ways of Torah and fear of God. It is designed for every segment of the population, and deals in particular with the course of the day from morning till night, during the week, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh (new month), and holidays.
Rabbi Moshe ben Machir wrote in his introduction: “This is why every man should push himself day and night, at all times and at every instant, not to lose even a second or moment of time to the vanities and charms of this world. From the time he arises in the morning until he goes to bed at night, a man should manage his time in such a way that he seeks only to accomplish God’s will. As for his own desires, they should be for the sake of Heaven, correct and pure. This is why I felt the need, I, Moshe, the son of Yehudah, from the family of Machir, to write the book that I have named Seder HaYom, because in it I deal with how a man should manage his days and nights, his Shabbatot and holidays during the entire year, whether at home or away, when going to bed and when arising.”
Seder HaYom spread throughout the entire diaspora, and it has been cited by all the poskim who dealt with the laws concerning daily life. Reb Moshe ben Machir made substantial promises. Here’s another reason why we like these types of books. Reb Moshe ben Machir made substantial promises to whoever studies his book and follows it. Oh, we have to follow it also? What kind of promise is that? He made substantial promises to whoever studied his book and followed its advice: “I am certain that by adopting this daily regimen, one will be loved by God and man. He will succeed in everything he undertakes. He will conduct himself faultlessly. He will attain an advanced age and long life, and will see children and grandchildren. Okay? And he will succeed in accomplishing God’s will. This is the right path for all to follow.”
Based on yesterday’s Mishnah Pirkei Avot, where we learned eizo hi derech (Which is the right path?) and eizu derech sheyavor lo ha'adam (Which path should a person choose?), so there you go: we have a good siman. Again, it’s a new sefer. I’m going to venture to say that there aren’t too many groups out there learning Seder HaYom, because there are no books. I don’t understand how this was not reprinted. Where did he get it? Where did you get it from, Manny? “Archives.” Really? “Yeah. Biegeleisen, where did you go?” “Quentin and 13th.” Wow. And he got 10 books, each one different from the next. Each one’s like randoms. Yeah, each one has a different print, different color, different—
All right, listen, we’ll read it, rabotai (my teachers), be'ezrat Hashem. Do we know where the author is buried? Maybe we can have an incentive. We’ll read the book, then make a siyum by his grave, like we like to do. I’m going to guess Ein Zeitun. Tzfat, you know, that area over there. That’s right. We probably saw it and said, “Ah, we don’t know who he is. Ah, Ba'al Seder HaYom (author of Seder HaYom), that’s not for us.” Oh, okay. I think I went to Ein Zeitun with Danny Sayada. I think we went over there. I think Shemayah ve'Avtalyon are buried there. We went to Shemayah ve'Avtalyon. Isn’t that where we prayed, and then did siyum ha-Shas and prayed at some—We went into an Arab village. Yeah, that was Rabbi Tarfon, what we saw on the road. That was Rabbi Tarfon. Yeah, that day we went into a small village, Safsufa. So around Safsufa is this place, Ein Zeitun. It’s an Arab village. We went in; they let you go in there, no problem. And they have Shemayah ve'Avtalyon. It could be it’s a different village, but it’s clearly in this neighborhood.
Anyway, we start Seder HaYom. Beautiful. He called it the mikveh of Hillel ve-Shamai or Shemayah ve'Avtalyon, but that was just a sketch. Correct, but that, yeah. He made that up; it’s not really—Since Shemayah ve'Avtalyon lived in the neighborhood, he called that their mikveh. Okay, keshe'adam ne'or balailah (When a person awakens at night). So when a guy wakes up in the middle of the night, velibo omer lo lakum (and his heart tells him to get up), and his heart tells him, “Get up.” You woke up already, so get out of bed. But again, he looks at the clock, and it says 2:00 in the morning. Ein lo lehit'atzel badavar (don’t be lazy about it): don’t be lazy, ela yakum bizrizut va'azirut chayil. Get up with alacrity and gird yourself with strength, kodem sheyitgaber alav yitzro, before the yetzer hara starts to talk to you, beta'anot uvito'anot levakesh shelo yakum. He’s going to start talking you out of it: “Ah, it’s late. It’s early in the morning. What are you doing?”
Veyitchakem alav uval yeda mah ki hu zaken vechasil. Listen, the yetzer hara is experienced. He’s an old man, and he’s a wise man, veyode'a derech latzud et ha'adam. He knows how to entrap a human being, ulehapilo bemahamorot, to get him into his traps, bal yakum, so he doesn’t get out of bed, vehakol bemo'atzotav kedat netunot. And he has a standard method for getting the guy.
Velachen tzarich kol ba'al nefesh yareh vechared lidvar Hashem shelo yishma velo yekabel mimenu: don’t listen to him, veyashlich oto acharei gavo, throw the yetzer hara behind your back. Ve'af im yiheyeh alav letorach—let’s say his body is very heavy in the middle of the night, mitzad kavedut haguf ve'atzluto, laziness is clearly against him—yasim neged mabato retzon Melech Malchei HaMelachim HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Put against that the question, “What are you getting up for?” To serve God. Vehakol lenegdo ke'ayin. All the other considerations are worthless.
Vehamitlamed oto baderech hazeh—if you train yourself this way—dalet o heh yamim, four or five times, that’s all you need, lo yichbad alav, finished. You train yourself. It takes four or five days to get up early, and then you break that habit. Oh, that’s good advice. I thought it takes 30 days. No. Four or five times you do it, get up for kollel chatzot (midnight study program), and all of a sudden you’ll see that aderaba haba letaher mesay'in oto: the guy who comes to purify himself, they give heavenly assistance. Veha-yetzer hara yitkapel lefanav. It’s an amazing thing. The yetzer hara will fold up. He’ll fold. He’ll walk away. He’ll leave him alone. He says, “This guy doesn’t fall for my tricks. Go bother your next-door neighbor.” Ke'eved lifnei adonav velo yimot le'olam miminhago hatov. Ve-yisof ve-yivaleh bah (and continue to grow in it) u-minah lo yazuz ke'avodat Hashem. Don’t leave that tradition of getting up in the middle of the night. Ve-yihyeh lo ben chayil ve-gibor milchamah lehitgaber yetzro lishbor kol ta'avatav ha-ra'ot. Fine.
U-vekumo. So he’s still in bed. This is the item. Now you got up. U-vekumo, yomar miyad Modeh Ani (I thank You) lefanecha Melech chai ve-kayam shehechezarta bi nishmati bechemlah, rabah emunatecha. Okay, say Modeh Ani. So it’s not an Ashkenaz thing, Modeh Ani. Modeh Ani is—Huh? Wow, look at this: Ve-hu ha-rishon she-hevi nosach ha-Modeh Ani, ha-mekubal be-kumo ba-boker. Listen, is that any source? Where is Modeh Ani? Right, Maran does not bring down Modeh Ani? “No, sir.” No. I was just thinking now, I don’t remember seeing it. It’s unbelievable. Wow. What do you mean, Ashkenaz? Open up the Mishnah Berurah for a second. Mishnah Berurah brings Modeh Ani. Maybe he brings it from Seder HaYom.
Well, we know—No, right here, check it out. Right in the beginning, page alef amud bet (page one, column two). When were these sefarim printed, this set? He said 1599. No, no. But when were these sefarim that you’re holding printed? “These? I don’t know.” Look at the bottom: Mishnah Berurah, U-vekumo. Yeah, they’re recent. Recent? Where he says you shouldn’t jump up right away, you should—It’s like 40 years. U-vekumo, Modeh Ani lefanecha Melech chai ve-kayam shehechezarta bi nishmati. Beautiful. Where’s the letter there? Yod. Seder HaYom! Seder HaYom! Look at that! Unbelievable. Who knows this over here? This is the book of Modeh Ani, by the way. Without this book, there’s no such thing as Modeh Ani. So it’s an important book! It’s an important book. The first thing in the siddur comes from this guy over here. Wow. The Mishnah Berurah found him.
I was also—Uh, nice. It’s a serious book. Mishnah Berurah is quoting Seder HaYom. Right, I’m sure the minhag was to say this thing. I mean, this is something that people said. But he brought it! Yeah, yeah. I said, you know, the Mishnah Berurah says—okay, where did we get it from? We get it from here. But it’s—He doesn’t have any other source! That’s it! Wow. 500 years ago—that’s it. 400 years ago. Who knows? You have to find a siddur more than 400 years ago. He could be quoting the minhag, what people said, but he’s the first one to—This guy wrote it. That’s it. He didn’t find an earlier source besides the Seder HaYom. That’s a chidush in itself. And the question is, how did the Chafetz Chayim have the Seder HaYom? Now, exactly! We’re in America. We struggle to get a copy of it, and he’s—Okay, but that is very comforting. That tells us that the Chafetz Chayim learned Seder HaYom. So it’s definitely worth our time, then.
Ve-ein tzarich la-zeh netilat yadayim. Okay, Modeh Ani doesn’t need netilat yadayim; we know that. Ki afilu yiheyu yadav metunafot, even if your hands are dirty, ein chashash, keivan she-eino mazkir lo Shem ve-lo chinui, there’s no concern, since you’re not mentioning God’s name. Modeh Ani lefanecha Melech. Melech is not a chinui; Melech is Melech.
Ve-yilbash chaluko bitzniyut gadol. Okay, now you have to get dressed. In the old days, people often went to sleep naked, and therefore when you got out of bed you revealed yourself. You’d have to have a robe right next to your bed so you could cover yourself right up, and so on. Tzniyut gadol ve-evarav, ki afilu korot beito me'idim alav im tzanua hu im lo. Even the beams of his house are going to testify against him one day, whether he was modest or not. Women, in terms of their hair. Right, same thing. A guy shouldn’t be walking around his house immodestly. Guys, what if no one’s looking? I’m alone. The walls, the walls are going to testify, the beams. “The birds.” The birds, exactly! The birds! Exactly, the birds. Ve-yelech tachat kanfeihem.
Ve-lo yahfoch chaluko mashahu le-tzad panim le-tzad chutz al shum davar ba-olam. Ah, don’t wear your clothes inside out. A lot of times that happens with socks. Yeah, because socks are black on the inside and black on the outside; you just have the hem, whatever it is. With a shirt, normally we’re not going to wear it inside out, maybe an undershirt. So he says to be careful not to wear your clothes inside out. Is that an inyan not to buy reversible stuff? Oh, one that goes either way? Yeah. Maybe that’s the way it’s worn; that’s a good point. Right.
Ve'af al pi she-yiheyeh shum davar nakel—even though you might say, “What’s the difference?”—u-mimah ba-zeh chashash, what concern is there in this, since it’s under his garments? He’s wearing socks, nobody sees that they’re inside out; nobody sees that his undershirt is inside out. Afilu hachi inyan gadol hu. Tzitzit—it should be makpid, I’m saying. I don’t even know which side is the front. Well, you probably do know from the corner. Which side should be out? Which side should be back? It tells you. No, you can tell. Of course you can tell. It tells you, but it’s obvious. The little tag is there, yeah. It does have the tag, too. What do you mean? This is obviously the back of it. Is it? It’s obvious? I don’t know. It’s not obvious? This is the way you—No, I had the same question, by the way. First of all, first of all, it’s not obvious to you that this would be the back of the tallit? Yes, yes, the patch. So no, the rabbi’s is a lot different in color; mine is kind of the same color. It’s obvious on my pair. Obviously they’re not going to wear it with this showing. They want it to be standard. Okay. I have a tag on this, that’s why. I would believe that some are not. Correct. So then how do you know? Yes.
So he says, and don’t take this lightly: afilu hachi inyan gadol hu. An inyan gadol, ve'ra'ui lehakpid alav, u'bifrat im tzurba merabanan hu, o ish shel tzurah, sheyesh po kpeida gedolah, sod Hashem lirei'av (The secret of Hashem is for those who fear Him). Kabbalah. He’s telling you, if you’re a man of stature, you’re a talmid chacham, don’t say, “What do you mean? What’s the difference? Who sees that I’m wearing my shirt backwards?” Don’t fool around with it. There’s an inyan. Huh? Again, your guess is as good as mine. He didn’t tell it to us. You want to tell it to us? Okay.
Now we get to the next one. By the way, Mishnah Berurah brings this down also, right in the beginning. Okay, let’s open up Mishnah Berurah, Benny. Right when he comes along and says what to do when you get dressed in the morning. Maran. Maran will say, “Yikach chaluko,” or what does he say over there, Maran? Before the right and left shoes. Bring us a Mishnah Berurah also, so we could double up on this. T-shirts—it could happen to, exactly. Stuff like that, yeah. So he says over here, Mishnah Berurah: lo yilbash chaluko meyushav. Bet. Yikach chaluko, get dressed under the bed so you don’t have to reveal yourself. So the Mishnah Berurah comes along and says—“Dad, open the door.” Mishnah Berurah says at the bottom—“Just a minute. I’m coming.”
Yeah, he says over here, first: hamani'ach malbushav merashotav—you shouldn’t put your garments under your head. Guys in the airport do that, when they put their clothes under their head, their sweatshirt, and sleep on their sweatshirt, right? Because it’s meshakei'ach limudo (causes him to forget his learning). Now, efshar im mani'ach davar acher mafsik, ein kpeida: if you sleep on your carry-on, it’s okay, because the carry-on intervenes between—Jacket, same thing? Jacket, I’m not going to go through every garment. Vechen yizaher milelboh shenei malbushim yachad befa'am achat: don’t wear two garments at the same time, ki kasheh leshich'chah. Okay, so that’s that one. But he doesn’t bring the—he doesn’t bring putting it on backwards? Taking off two garments is also—? Yeah, you shouldn’t put them on; you shouldn’t take them off. Okay, but he brings it out lema'aseh that one should be careful not to put his garments on—Someone who takes off his pants with the belt on, is it a problem? I don’t think that’s what it means. I think it means—Like a sweater and a shirt? That’s right. Or your tzitzit and your undershirt, when you pull them off together. Okay. I don’t see it in the Mishnah Berurah, but okay. Continue.
Let’s start one more paragraph. Achar shelavash chaluko vekhisah atzmo, after he put on his clothes and covered himself, or sheyashan bechaluko, he slept in his pajamas, let’s say, bekumo memitato, and he gets out of bed, kodem sheyiga bemalbushav, before he touches his clothes, o bechol inyan vedavar, or anything else for that matter, yitol yadav techilah. Ah, so the first thing is netilat yadayim, leha'avir mimenu ruach tum'ah hashoreh alav balaylah, to remove from him the spirit of impurity resting on him at night. Ve-ein lo lehishtamesh bo beshum davar ve'afilu lelech dalet amot. You have to be careful; they don’t want you to walk even four cubits.
Hilkach kol ish sheyare et Hashem uva'al nefesh tzarich sheyazmin etzel merashotav shenei chelim, echad malei mayim ve'echad rekan, veyehe oto rekan mechuseh venaki, hamalei baruch veharekan arur. Amazing. He’s among the rabbis who want you to put the negel vaser next to your bed. Put one keli with water, cover it, and put an empty one next to it. The water is the baruch (blessed); the other one is arur (cursed), the water that you empty out. Ve'im yiheye shavur ma'us tov veyafeh. The keli you’re putting the water into should be broken, not a nice one—like the one you pour your dam, tzefardea, kinim into; you’re not supposed to use a nice keli. Use a junky, broken one.
Ucheshehu rotzeh litol yadav yikach hakeli shel mayim bimino. There we go. You take the cup with your right hand, lehamshich alav mimei chesed (waters of kindness) to purify yourself, and afterward you give it to your left hand, ki hu hashamesh, which means the left hand serves the right. So the right is as if giving it to the left to say, “Pour on me.” Therefore, it’s okay to give from the right to the left. Vera'ui lehashkot kedin Levi lekohen. Aha, it’s like the Levi serving the kohen. The left hand is the Levi, and the right hand is the kohen. So it’s okay for the left to serve the kohen. Veyishpoch min hasmol leyamin. Now look at this: veyishpoch min hasmol leyamin gimel pe'amim. All right. Leha'avir mimenu ruach hatum'ah, uminhago bezeh peh adif.
Ve'achar kach yiten hakeli leyad yemino. Then give the keli to the right, because it’s in his left hand, and the right hand is now tahor. Veyishpoch al hasmol gimel pe'amim acherim, because also in this, “God made one corresponding to the other, both of them together.” So that’s not the way we do netilat yadayim, yes? I mean, he was following the mekubalim over here. He’s telling you one, two, three, one, two, three. Obviously, we don’t do netilat yadayim like that. We follow the mekubalim who held—So he says—Oh, he has a whole piece over here.
Ve'inyan hazeh. “This matter is written in the Sefer haZohar, Parashat Vayeishev, page kuf-peh-dalet: Rebbi Shimon patach erchatz benikayon kapai (Rabbi Shimon began: I will wash my hands in purity), ad ve'eich be'irat kadisha (in the holy city), ba'ya chad mana letata vechad mana le'eila (one vessel below and one vessel above are needed), sheyitkadesh me'hahu dele'eila vehahu deletata, deha zuhama dimes'avu beh, veda keli lekabala mes'avu, veda itkeri shemeih, veda baruch veda arur.”
Ve'inyano, shetzarich ha'adam bechol derachav lehakir et bor'o yitbarach, veleshavot Hashem lenegdo, tamid, velo yasiach da'ato mimenu afilu keheref ayin. Don’t take God out of your mind even for one second. Uchesherachatz yadav bifrat baboker, o be'od laylah, tzarich bechol inyan lehitrachek mimenu, velo yidbak beyado me'umah min hacherem. The water is tum'ah, so you have to discard it. Therefore, tzarich lechaven bezot harechitzah, likach oto keli shel mayim nekiyim uthorim. Make sure the water you get is good water. Vehu remez lemayim elyonim. So that water of netilat yadayim is a remez to the upper waters in shamayim, which are called mimei chesed. Lehamshich otam: you draw the upper waters into the cup of water that you have, ulehitkadesh bahem, uleha'avir bahem hatum'ah she'alav, ki ein lo chelek bechevel bah. You have no chelek in the tum'ah that’s on the hands.
Ve'oto makom shenofel bo ruach hatum'ah, where the water falls, tzarich lehishamer mimenu leyached lo mekom tum'ah. That’s a bad place. Ki tamei tamei yikra, vetzarich leshachnam bimkom hara'ui lahem vehu beit hakise, which we do; it goes down the faucet. But I guess you shouldn’t do netilat yadayim over kelim. Let’s say there are vessels in the kitchen sink. You don’t want to pour the tum'ah water on the vessels, even though you’re going to clean them afterward. O mekom tinofet, ve-ein la'asot bahem shum tashmish ba'olam kelal. Don’t use the water after you finish netilat yadayim. Don’t save it and wash your dishes with it or do something like that, neither for a small thing nor a big thing, sheyira'eh bekiyumo, because then it looks like you want to keep it. And the pasuk says, velo yidbak beyadcha me'umah min hacherem. You’re not supposed to leave any trace.
Ve'im notel yadav me'ish acher, bein katan bein gadol—let’s say somebody else is washing your hands, you have a shammash, let’s say, when you wake up in the morning. Obviously, he has to wash his hands first and then wash yours. Vechiper ba'ado uve'ad beito. Wow, look at this. Gotta be Rafi meant it. That’s why he sends texts over there. Rafi, I knew it. How did I call it? He sends you a text one word at a time. “Hi.” “Rabbi.” Wait, are you guys still going? You’re still going? I put him on mute. He’s still going. I’ll see it when I see it. Unbelievable, the guy. One text and your battery goes dead.
There you go. Ve'im notel yadav me'ish acher, bein katan bein gadol, tzarich litol hamatil techilah. Ah, that makes sense. The one washing has to wash first. Ve'achar kach yitol mimenu. A remez for this: vehizah hatahor al hatamei. Nice remez. Vehizah hatahor al hatamei. Ki keitzad ya'avir me'al chavero ruach tum'ah vehu nidbak bo adayin. It’s the same thing with kapparot. If you’re making kapparah on somebody else, let’s say I’m making it on my son, zeh chalifat'cha, zeh tmurat'cha, zeh kapparat'cha (This is your exchange, this is your substitute, this is your atonement), they say first do it on yourself. Now you got kapparah; now what? Now you can be mechaper on acherim.
Vechiper ba'ado uve'ad beito. How can you take tum'ah off of somebody when you have tum'ah? Ela yetaher atzmo ve'achar yetaher acherim, ke'inyan koshu vekoshu. Same thing: beautify yourself and then beautify others.
Ve-ein kpeidah bazeh ki im davka bivnei Yisrael shacharit—No, I’m sorry, bnei Yisrael... ki im davka binetilat shacharit min hata'am shezacharnu, because you have tum'ah. Aval bish'ar hayom binetilot acherot ein lehakpid, because it’s not an inyan of tum'ah there. Vechol hamakpid eino ela min hamatmihin. Okay, because what do you mean, so makpid over there? It’s, uh—Well, I see that Levi'im, by Kohanim, wash hands first. Right, that’s brought down, brought down, brought down. He says it’s only for shacharit.
Ve'im tomar, eicha hayamin mekabel mayim min hasmol, vaharei hu tamei? Aha! How does the right hand receive water from the left hand? Let’s say you do it the way we do. You did one on the right. Now what are you doing? According to him, you really purified the right hand. You did one, two, three. Now what are you doing? He said originally that you take the cup with the right hand. You fill it up, then give it to the left hand because the left hand serves the right hand. It’s as if the right hand is telling the left hand, “Serve me.” So you give it to the left hand. And now, according to the rabbi, you did one, two, three. It’s tamei. No, so now the right hand is okay. So now he’s saying, how could the left hand give it to the right hand when the left hand is tamei? How could the tamei give it to the right? Because now the right has to pour on the left. So he doesn’t—
In the parentheses, he wants to understand: how could the left hand give it to the right if the left hand is tamei? I understood the opposite. You mean, how is the left hand pouring on the right? Oh, could be also. But before that he says, eicha mekabel. Okay, mekabel. Fine. Fine. Mekabel mayim, receive water. Fine. Both, both, fine, both. So he said—not “which means”; it’s based on what he just said, that the tahor has to be—That’s his question: what we just said, that the tahor has to be metaher the tamei. Now the tamei is being metaher the tahor. So he says, yeish lomar delo dami. Why? Dehacha hu chafetz leha'avir hatum'ah mimenu umevakesh keitzad ya'aseh. Here he wants to get rid of the tum'ah from his hands, and he’s figuring out a way to do it. Ela mipnei shema'alat hayamin she'rotzeh leshamesh lismol hikdim bo techilah. The inyan is to start with the right hand.
Aval hu chozer alav leha'aviro velo efshar belav hachi. Ve'aderaba, mikcho umitzido ba alav leha'aviro. But a person who has not been purified yet and is still standing in his tum'ah has no power in his hand to remove tum'ah from someone else. Listen, over here I want to purify myself. What should I do? I have no choice; otherwise, I have to start somewhere. Mah she'ein ken: this guy over here has the option to purify himself, but he didn’t purify himself, and he wants to purify me? So he’s more poshe'a. Go purify yourself. You have an option! Here, I don’t have an option. It’s like i efshar. What should I do, take a shot in the dark? I have to do something first, so I do the right first. Then: how can the left go now? But what should I do? My kavanah is to metaher. Mah she'ein ken, this guy over here who’s remaining betum'ah—go purify yourself. “No, I don’t want to. I want to purify you first.” So then you’re entirely to blame. But he doesn’t go into the story where they tell you, “Put the cup down.” That’s what I was waiting for, too.
So he says, fine. Uve'arvei pesachim yizaher harbeh me'od shelo yelech dalet amot beyadayim mezuhamot, mizuhamat nachash, asher sharah aleihem balailah. Walking four amot gives the tum'ah power to rule over him. Ve-al zeh ne'emar, lo yihyeh vecha el zar, ve-ha-inyan hu ka-asher katavnu ki ein ra'ui le-hiten lo ko'ach u-shelitah. You’re not allowed to give the tum'ah any sovereignty, even for one moment, because of lo yidbak. Ve-chen ha-inyan be-chol davar she-tzerichat yadayim, kegon beit ha-kise, she-yirchatz yadav teichef u-miyad. When you come out of the bathroom, you have to wash your hands immediately, because there’s tum'ah in the bathroom. So don’t leave the tum'ah on your hands longer than you have to.
Ve-af al pi she-ein tzarich ba-zeh le'arot aleihem gimmel pe'amim—ah, see that? He holds that you don’t have to do three times. If you do it because of the ruach tum'ah of the body, but still, there’s tum'ah on your hands. Interesting. Coming out of the bathroom, he holds you don’t have to do it three times. Put your hands under the faucet, just clean your hands because of nekiyut, but there’s tum'ah also, I guess. But you don’t need a three-time washing there. So obviously, bedi'avad, if somebody washed his hands one, two, three, one, two, three—I mean, clearly, I’ve said that the Ari z"l is saying now that’s how to do it.
Okay, let’s go one more paragraph, rabotai. Chaim, you want to read?
Ve-ita ba-Zohar. She-yizaher adam ki, ke-she-yotze mi-beit ha-kise she-lo yeshamesh mitato kol otah sha'ah. Wow! A guy comes out of the bathroom; he shouldn’t have tashmish ha-mitah for that hour. Now the question is, does an hour mean fifteen minutes or twenty minutes? But he shouldn’t have marital relations right after coming out of the bathroom. Why? Mishum de-midabek bo shed de-veit ha-kise u-fogem oto zivug. Wow! Benny! So there’s stuff in the bathroom. There’s a shed of the beit ha-kise, and that’s going to go into the zivug. Now the guy wants to know why the kid came out all messed up: he’s got the shed from the bathroom! Right? Right. Middah ke-neged middah (measure for measure).
Ve-nir'eh de-zeh ha-ta'am hu mishum ru'ach ha-tum'ah, ve-zeh ha-ta'am be-veit ha-kise kavu'a she-yesh lo sham mekom moshav. It seems that this reason is because of ruach ha-tum'ah, and the reason applies to a fixed bathroom that has a place to sit. Aval makom acher derech ara'i lo. If you go into a field and urinate, that’s not considered a beit ha-kise. So there’s no tum'ah there, no fixed place. But a makom kavu'a where there’s a bathroom, the toilet’s there and all that, that’s already a fixed place. So there’s a difference.
Ve-chen ra'ui le-dakdek ba-zeh ke-she-yitol tzipornav, when you cut your nails, u-megale'ach se'aro, when you cut your hair, o she-naga be-met, or touch a dead person—things like these that require netilah—tzarich litol alav kol mah she-efshar le-hakdim le-ha'avir me'alav ko'ach. That’s a big thing. You know where this happens, God forbid, when a person goes to a funeral. He walks out of Magen David and says, “I’m tamei; I was at the funeral.” He makes the levayah, walks down the block, and says, “Ah, you know what? I’m going home anyway. I’ll wash when I come home.” So he gets in the car and drives all the way to where he’s going, and when he gets to the shul he does netilat yadayim. Really, that’s not the best thing to do. He’s saying to go back into Magen David and wash your hands right away.
“Rabbi, I always had this question. So a Kohen who doesn’t get involved with a funeral doesn’t have to wash?” Yeah. No, no, no. “Because I always wondered.” No, no, no. It’s not 67th Street that brings the tum'ah, it’s—It’s not the street that brings the tum'ah; it’s the ohel. The ohel. Right. Therefore—but I’m just saying, sometimes you’re lazy: “Oh, I’m going home anyway, so...” You know, in Israel they used to build the toilet separately from the—Okay, but still, the toilet—They put the toilet in a separate room from the—Okay, but still, when you go into that room, it’s—Right.
U-mipnei she-ha-yadayim remez gadol ba-adam... ein nidbeket tum'ah ki im bahem. Aha, which means the yadayim have a certain kedushah, the ten etzba'ot, so the tum'ah goes on the etzba'ot, because there’s some type of kedushah on the ten etzba'ot. That’s why there’s an inyan of netilat yadayim. Ve-ein tzarich litol kol ha-yad be-elu ha-inyanim. Wow! Ki im ha-etzba'ot kulam le-vad ve-hem yud-daled perakim she-cholim bein shetei. Wow, so he holds that you only have to wash up to the knuckles. By the way, we know that on Kippur and Tishah Be-Av. I mean, obviously, if it weren’t allowed, you wouldn’t be able to do it on Tishah Be-Av. Or at least you wouldn’t make a berachah. Right. And they let you do it that way le-chatchilah on Tishah Be-Av and Kippur. So you see, it has to be the 28, 14 knuckles, and 14 times 14, which is ko'ach.
Ve-hem ko'ach... o le-tum'ah o le-taharah. Ah, that’s the pshat. The ko'ach means the hands over here, depending on how you treat them with the netilah: they can bring either ko'ach tum'ah or ko'ach taharah. Before you wake up in the morning, netilat yadayim is ko'ach tum'ah, so you have to turn this ko'ach into ko'ach taharah, kefi hasagat hachanat ha-mekabel ha-hu, im le-tov ve-im le-hafacho.
Ve-nir'eh li she-be-chol elu ha-inyanim ein tzarich le'arot aleihem mayim gimmel pe'amim ki lo nizkar. That means regarding cutting nails and haircuts, he holds you don’t need to do it three times for those things. Why? Ki lo nizkar irui gimmel pe'amim ela bintilat yadayim shacharit, aval lo bedavar acher, ve'afilu bintinat yadayim la'achilah. That’s true. Open Maran. Maran doesn’t say three times for netilat yadayim la'achilah. Pour a revi'it on your hand, pour a revi'it on your hand, and then do another revi'it to get all the dirty water. If you use less than a revi'it, then you need to do it a second time to get the first water off. But if you use a revi'it, you’re okay.
Why do we do three times for netilat yadayim? Obviously, it’s some Kabbalah matter somewhere. But min hadin, netilat yadayim—Chazak uvaruch, Chacham Amram was here—revi'it, revi'it, chalas na: one time, goodbye. You have to know that, because sometimes you’re somewhere there isn’t enough water and you think, “Oh, I can’t wash; there’s not enough water.” There’s not enough water? One, two, chalas na. “Oh, you didn’t do three times?” Three times is—He’s saying that even for haircuts and nails you don’t need three times.
Vehate'am peresh shebalaylah yesh ko'ach leru'ach hatum'ah lishlot acharei sheyatz'ah min haguf haneshamah. At night there’s an inyan of tum'ah when the neshamah leaves the body. That’s a different type of item; it’s a serious tum'ah. Ve'al ken matza lah makom vehachanah bechol ha'evarim lishlot bahem velashut bahem ad sheyachol lehavi lidei keri. Wow, this tum'ah can bring a person to tum'ah, to tum'ah, and cause it to happen. Vehaneshamah chozeret mitpared uva lishlot al hayadayim. So when the neshamah comes back in, it stands on the hands. Veta'am shechezkat tum'ah gedolah becho'ach gadol vehachanah tzarich irui gimmel pe'amim uvitlata havei chazakah. That’s the pshat for why three times: chazakah! Once you do something three times, it becomes established. Veholech lo, ad kan, al ken, uvifrat bekavanah sheyechaven adam keshenotel kemo shebe'arnu. But other matters—she'ar inyanim ein sheriyuto sheriyuta velo azka. Is the tum'ah of nails and haircuts such a big tum'ah? Ki eino ela derech ara'i uvishfichah achat aleihem kara'ui mo'il. There you go. One pouring is enough to help with those matters.
By the way, open up Shulchan Aruch. Does Shulchan Aruch say you need three times? When you get to netilat yadayim, where he says all the things you need netilat yadayim for, he comes along and says—Yeah. Maran writes in siman dalet (section four), halachah: Elu devarim shetzrichim netilah bemayim (The following items need washing with water). Okay. Lehasir ru'ach ra'ah hashorah, al ken yemaher litol techef: remove the evil spirit that rests there, so wash immediately. Vehanetilah tiheyeh ad haperak, ve'al kol panim ad sof kishrei etzbe'otav, at least up to the end of the joints of the fingers, as we just said. Okay, and what are they? Hakam min hamitah, hayotzei mibeit hakisei, hanotel tzipornav (One who rises from bed, exits the bathroom, or cuts his nails), all these things over here.
Where? So he says over there in Mishnah Berurah: Ve-ein tzarich shalosh pe'amim ki im bekam min hamitah. Like the Seder HaYom said. Veyesh machmirim beholech bein hametim umeshamesh mitato deve'inan shalosh pe'amim, uvesefer Heichal Hakodesh hechemir beyotzei mibeit hakisei shalosh pe'amim. But that’s a chumra! Where I pour—and min hadin, now it’s not a keli either, but presumably it’s a keli over there. Now, shalosh pe'amim—what do you mean, what are you doing? The faucet: on, off, on, off, on. In those days they didn’t have faucets; they took the keli. But by the way, you see clearly that even the Mishnah Berurah is saying Maran didn’t say three times, anyway. Because you cut? You cut? Cut! One time, one time. Okay, it’s good to know.
So why do we do three times? And for hamotzi also? I don’t know about hamotzi. Hamotzi also—this rabbi holds like that. But we haven’t seen that here yet. For sure Maran doesn’t say three times by hamotzi. Maran says revi'it. You said the rabbi, the Chief Rabbi, also? Revi'it, revi'it. Why do we do three? There’s a Kaf Hachayim that says maybe it’s just to get—because if you don’t use a revi'it, they want to wash the—That’s it, that’s why. Anyway, okay, just to know the sources here. Also, Rabbi, I’ve seen rabbis grab the cup with a towel. Yeah, that’s okay; we’ll get to that later. Why do they hold the towel? To dry their hand. They dry their hand. Oh, there’s a whole story on that, a whole story.
Umipnei zeh nir'eh li sheyashen bayom yoter mishishin nishmei, more than 60 breaths. David Hamelech, what was that? Five hours or something? Three hours? Oh, I thought 30 minutes. Shishin nishmei? Sixty breaths is a few hours. Oh, yeah? Yeah, presumably it’s a few hours. Ta'am mitah ves hara alav ruach tum'ah. Sleep in the day for 60 breaths—that’s a long time. That requires netilat yadayim. Yeah, because David Hamelech slept from the night and used to get up at midnight. Yeah, but I thought he would get up when—No, three or four hours. Could be three or four hours, shishin nishmei. It wouldn’t be half an hour. He slept from chatzot lailah akum lehodot lach (At midnight I rise to thank You). He slept before chatzot. But how—He wouldn’t sleep more than—He wouldn’t. Not more than four hours, whatever the number was, whatever the shiur was. In other words, it’s not 60 breaths, it’s not a minute, it’s not what we’re talking about. No, shishin nishmei, no. Whatever the shiur is, the poskim say it’s a significant time; it’s not ten minutes, it’s a long time.
Umipnei zeh hayashan bayom yoter mishitin nishmei deta'am ta'am mitah ves hara alav ruach tum'ah shetsarich netilat yadayim le'arot gimmel pe'amim kara'ui leha'avir mimenu ko'ach otah tum'ah. Even though they mentioned ruach tum'ah and pouring three times only at night, vehainu mishum shelo dibru ela behoveh. I mean, people usually sleep during the night; that’s why he mentioned it. But ein hachi nami, if you sleep during the day for a significant shiur, aval mi sheyashan bayom shehigi'a lemadreigat hatum'ah, ein hachi nami shesharah alav, uvemkom metzulot hagerver, vetsarich leha'aviro tum'ah. Halo bedilo teima hachi, unless you would say this: ela she'ein shorah ela balaylah, that it only rests at night. Shiur reshuto hamazikim vechol hatum'ah, afilu holech imahem mitpare'ot tzipornam vegoras se'arot, bayom ein makom litol hayadayim. So then, when you cut your nails in the day, there should be no tum'ah. If you say tum'ah is only a nighttime matter, why, when you cut your hair in the day, do you have to do netilat yadayim?
Ela maspid shezeh—a certain tum'ah, a certain tum'ah that’s out in the day also. It’s less. Ad shekara tum'ah tzolet. So what can you say? Makom matza lo shav vesharah. No, no. If a guy does something that can bring it on, then it will come on. Sof sof shorah bechezkat yoter me'at, vehizkiru gimmel pe'amim. Fine. So therefore, if he slept in the day, he also has to do it. It happens sometimes: a guy takes a nap in the afternoon, and gets up. Shabbat, Shabbat—you can go sleep for a couple of hours, get up, and do netilat yadayim. According to him, three times, whatever it is.
Ve'achar shenatal yadav yevarech al—Al netilat yadayim. Al netilat yadayim. Ve'af al pi shebechol hanetilot im ratzah levarech kodem yevarech, veshapir avad, dahavei over la'asiyatan. Wow, he holds that for the other netilot, where you have to make a berachah, let’s say for bread, you can make the berachah before netilat yadayim. Al netilat yadayim, then go wash your hands. Wow. Over la'asiyatan. As long as the hands are clean, you can make the berachah. Yeah. There’s no tum'ah, so say al netilat yadayim, then go wash your hands, he says.
However, benetilat yadayim shacharit yitol kodem sheyevarech, shemevarech beyadayim mezuhamot, she'ein lecha zohemet zohemah gedolah mizohamat hanachash. You can’t make the berachah with this tum'ah on your hands. Vera'ayah lezohemah tokef gadol shetsrichim irui mayim gimmel pe'amim. Again, from the fact that you see you need three times, it’s the only time you need three times, when you wake up in the morning. Kederech shetsarich irui gimmel lichli yayin nesech hanitma'im. And when you have yayin nesech that’s tamei, they dip it three times in the mikveh. It’s brought down. So you see that three times is serious. Vera'iti katuv sheyesh al hayadayim gimmel ruchot. Some say there are three spirits on a person’s hands; because of the ko'ach tum'ah, you have to pour three times to get the three spirits off his hands.
Ucheshemevarech al netilat yadayim yagbi'ah yud etzba'otav lema'lah. Ah, when you make the berachah, you have to lift your ten fingers up, sheyishreh aleihem ruach hataharah, so that the spirit of purity rests on them. A remez for this: vayenatlem, vayenase'em. You wash your hands, and then you lift your hands up. Ve'efshar she'al zeh nikra netilat yadayim, shenotel mizeh venoten lazeh. Netilat yadayim: from the expression notel, notel mizeh venoten lazeh. It means removal, that he removes and transfers the ruach tum'ah from the hands. I mean, notel—what do you mean, notel? I mean, he removes the tum'ah. Netilat yadayim, netilat hatum'ah me'al hayadayim. And in its place I’m putting taharah. Shenotel mizeh venoten lazeh, vehu leshon hasarah, shemesir uma'avir ruach hatum'ah me'al hayadayim, lehashrot aleihem ko'ach taharah. Notel venoten. I mean, he removes the tum'ah and puts the kedushah in its place. I might as well finish it.
Ve'achar shenatal mehem ko'ach hatum'ah, yenase'em beko'ach hataharah uchedushah, vecheivan sheha'inyan ken, tsarich sheyihyu kol hayud etzba'ot lema'lah, moshav hakise lekabel aleihem hakedushah vehataharah, ve'af al pi shebishi'ar netilot lo re'uyah ko'ach la'asot ken. For the other netilot, you don’t have to lift your hands up. But for this, you have to lift your hands up. Keda'azlat itah dahavei ra'ui venachon la'asot ken, and not as some say, that it’s proper to lower them. Ule'arot aleihem milema'lah. From the side of the arm, in order to lower the tum'ah, so it doesn’t remain attached to the arm and body. It seems to me that the reasoning isn’t correct, because our intention in pouring three times is for these waters to draw the mimei chesed upon us. It’s not just that you’re getting rid of the tum'ah. We said that this is mimei chesed. So when you’re putting holy waters on your hand, you want them to flow down this way. Ela lehamshich otam ken al eser etzbe'otav kulam beshaveh lehorid hachesed aleihem. You want it to go equally onto your ten fingers, to bring the chesed down on them, velidchot mehem hatum'ah vehazohama she'ein lanu chelek bahem. These go down to the earth, and these come from the shamayim. That means this water is coming from the shamayim, this water. Ve'al ken nirmaz besefer Bereshit veyeilech arucha. Since it’s coming from shamayim, you want to lift your hands. Fine.
Ucheshemevarech alav yechaven biberachah litol hazohama hahi. What’s the kavanah when you make the berachah? That I’m getting rid of the zohama on the hands, ulehakim al yadav, so that kedushah should come down on the hands. Uvishe'at hakavanah yevarech viychaven beremez zeh bapasuk: Se'u yedeichem kodesh uvarechu et Hashem (Lift up your hands in holiness and bless Hashem). Fine.
Ve'od romez hakatuv, ki ein lehagbi'ah et yadav ki im biberachah, o betechinah, o bitfilah. Aha, the mekubalim have a general rule: you’re not supposed to raise your hands in vain. You only raise your hands when you have a purpose, either netilat yadayim or during prayer, but not just for nothing. Aval be'arba'ah devarim ba misod, vechen matzinu baZohar, keshe'adam magbi'ah yadav lema'alah, ve'eino lo zman tefilah velo berachah, haSatan omed lekatreg alav, veru'ach tum'ah shorah al hayadayim, ki ein hatum'ah shorah ela be'atar pagum, ulezeh ein ra'ui levarech birkat hamazon beshulchan reikam. Another point: wherever there’s emptiness, the tum'ah can go in. So you’re not supposed to say birkat hamazon on a table that doesn’t have food on it; you’re supposed to leave all the bread. Ki keshehashulchan rekan, yesh reshut latum'ah lishlot, umevarchim machzikim oto bimkomo, aval ko'ach hataharah vehakedushah einah kayam ela al davar shalem. Where there’s completeness and wholeness, that’s what taharah is.
Veyesh bo mamash, umizeh hata'am eino shorah bedavar hamadud vehamanui vehashakul—which means tum'ah doesn’t rest on something that is counted, measured, or weighed. Shekeivan shehadavar nimdad venish'ar venigbal, ve'omed le'einei hakol ein makom liverachah lachul. Oh, it’s the opposite! He’s saying that something you counted, measured, and weighed can have ayin hara go on it. But something not measured, counted, or weighed isn’t restricted, so it doesn’t get ayin hara. Let’s read again: Umizeh hata'am eino shorah bedavar hamadud vehamanui vehashakul, shekeivan shehadavar nimdad, once you measured it, venish'ar, and it was limited, venigbal, vehu omed le'einei hakol, everybody sees it, ein makom liverachah lachul. There’s no berachah. Keivan shechal alav ein adam—once the ayin of the adam goes on it, it’s flawed and spoiled, and the sitra dikdushah doesn’t rest there, only in a complete place.
And this is what it says: Yetzav Hashem et haberachah ba'asamecha, bedavar hasamui min ha'ayin (Hashem will command blessing in your storehouses, in what is hidden from the eye). Whatever the eye cannot see is not yet flawed, and ayin hara has never ruled over it.
Vekodem haniguv, before you dry your hands, say the berachah, ve'otam hamayim hanish'arim al hayadayim tehorim hem. Aha, the water that remains on your hands after netilat yadayim is tahor, because I guess it served its purpose. Okay, so we have a chizuk on netilat yadayim, a little better clarity on the mitzvah. Again, the benefit of these books, gentlemen, like the benefit of all musar, is that it mechazek. You know, we already feel netilat yadayim; we do it every morning like robots. So by learning about it again, he excites you again. He tells you: listen, this is especially the netilat yadayim they were talking about, the three times, nothing else. This is a special one. The dalet amot—you can put it next to your bed. The water in the cup is not regular water. The kavanah is that the water comes from a higher place, and therefore it’s not stam. Netilah means you’re removing the tum'ah from your hands. You should do it immediately. So you’re putting your hands up, too. It gives you a little more motivation, and after you do netilat yadayim you feel good: “Okay, now my hands—I got rid of that bad thing.”
So, not to the extent of what he’s saying. Whereas for other netilot, you can make the berachah first. Here you cannot make the berachah first; your hands are so pagum. So you have to make the berachah afterward, but it’s still considered over la'asiyatan because you have no choice. And I haven’t dried my hands yet anyway, so that could be over la'asiyatan.
And he doesn’t say what we already know: when you hand over the netilat yadayim cup, you can hand it from the right to the left, but you shouldn’t hand it from the left to the right. We learned that the right can give to the left, but then the left should put it down, and the right should pick it up and pour. The left doesn’t tell the right what to do, so to speak. But the left—When you wash the first—When you wash the right hand? When you wash the right hand, you pick up the cup with the right, fill it up, give it to the left, and the left pours on the right. Then put it down, and the right takes it from the table. For the alternate hands, also, you have to put it down that way three times. Right. And we also say that we alternate, whereas he held—Aha.
Okay, but it’s good to know these opinions that are out there, because sometimes you’ll hear somebody say that. Seder HaYom is—Mishnah Berurah obviously holds of the Seder HaYom. But the biggest chidush today is that he’s the source of Modeh Ani. If that’s the only thing we ever learn from his book, that’s Dayenu. That’s trivia.
Baruch Hashem le'olam amen ve'amen. Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya omer, ratzah Hakadosh Baruch Hu lezakot et Yisrael, lefikach hirbah lahem Torah umitzvot (Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to make Israel meritorious; therefore He gave them abundant Torah and commandments).