Jewish hand washing rituals

In Jewish custom, hand washing is more than a good hygienic practice. Required before eating a meal where bread is served, hand washing is a pillar in the Jewish religious world beyond the dining room table.

Meaning of Jewish hand wash
In Hebrew, hand washing is called netilyat yadayim (nun-tea-lot yuh-die-eem). In Yiddish-speaking communities, the ritual is known as negel vasser (nay-gull vase-ur), which means "water for nails". Washing after a meal is known as mayim achronim (my-eem ach-ro-neem), which means "after the waters".

There are several times when Jewish law requires hand washing, including:

after sleeping or taking a nap
after going to the bathroom
after leaving a cemetery
before a meal, if bread is involved
after a meal, if Sodom salt was used
origins
The basis for hand washing in Judaism was originally linked to temple service and sacrifices, and comes from the Torah in Exodus 17-21.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “You will also make a bronze basin, and also his bronze pedestal, to wash you; and put it between the tent of the meeting and the altar, and put water in it. it for Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet there. when they enter the meeting tent, they wash themselves with water, which do not die, or when they approach the altar to do the service, to burn an offer made by the fire to the Lord. So they will wash their hands and feet so that they do not die; and it will be a statute forever for them, for him and for his seed during their generations ".

The indications for the creation of a basin for the ritual washing of the hands and feet of priests are the first mention of the practice. In these verses, the failure of hand washing is related to the possibility of death, which is why some believe that Aaron's children died in Leviticus 10.

After the destruction of the Temple, however, there was a change in the focus of hand washing. Without the ritual objects and the processes of sacrifices and without sacrifices, the priests could no longer wash their hands.

The rabbis, not wanting the importance of the hand-washing ritual to be forgotten at the time of the reconstruction of the (Third) Temple, moved the sanctity of the sacrifice of the Temple to the dining room table, which became the modern mezzana or altar.

With this change, the rabbis engaged an infinite number of pages - an entire treatise - of the Talmud in the hand-washing halachot (read). Called Yadayim (hands), this treatise discusses the ritual of hand washing, how it is practiced, which water is considered clean and so on.

Netilyat yadayim (washing hands) is found 345 times in the Talmud, included in Eruvin 21b, where a rabbi refuses to eat while in prison before he has had a chance to wash his hands.

Our rabbis taught: R. Akiba was once locked up in a prison [by the Romans] and R. Joshua, the sand maker, frequented him. Every day, a certain amount of water was brought to him. On one occasion he was greeted by the prison warden who said to him: “Your water is quite large today; maybe you request it to undermine the prison? " He poured half of it and handed him the other half. When he came to R. Akiba, the latter said to him: "Joshua, don't you know that I am an old man and my life depends on yours?" When the latter told him everything that had happened [R. Akiba] said to him, "Give me some water to wash my hands." "It won't be enough to drink," complained the other, "will it be enough to wash your hands?" "What can I do," replied the first: "when to [neglect] the words of the Rabbis does he deserve death? It is better that I myself die of what I should transgress against the opinion of my colleagues ”he had not tasted anything until the other had brought him water to wash his hands.

Hand wash after a meal
In addition to washing hands before a meal with bread, many religious Jews also wash after a meal, called achronim mayim, or after the waters. The origins of this come from the salt and history of Sodom and Gomorrah.

According to Midrash, Lot's wife turned into a pillar after sinning with salt. According to the story, the angels were invited home by Lot, who wanted to make the mitzvah of having guests. He asked his wife to give them some salt and she replied: "Also this evil habit (of kindly treating guests by giving them salt) that you want to do here, in Sodom?" Because of this sin, it is written in the Talmud,

R. Judah, son of R. Hiyya, said: Why did [the rabbis] say it was a limited duty to wash their hands after the meal? Due to a certain salt of Sodom which makes the eyes blind. (Babylonian Talmud, Hullin 105b).
This Sodom salt was also used in the spice service of the Temple, so priests had to wash after handling it for fear of going blind.

Although many do not observe the practice today because most Jews in the world do not cook or season with salt from Israel, not to mention Sodom, there are those who claim that it is halacha (law) and that all Jews should practice in the ritual of mayim achronim.

How to wash your hands properly (Mayim Achronim)
Mayim achronim has its "how to do" which is less involved than normal hand washing. For most hand washes, even before a meal where you will eat bread, you should follow the following steps.

Make sure you have clean hands. It seems counterproductive, but remember that netilyat yadayim (hand washing) is not about cleaning but about ritual.
Fill a cup with enough water for both hands. If you are left-handed, start with your left hand. If you are right-handed, start with your right hand.
Pour the water twice on your dominant hand and then twice on the other hand. Some pour three times, including Chabad Lubavitchers. Make sure that the water covers the entire hand up to the wrist with each jet and separate your fingers so that the water touches the whole hand.
After washing, take a towel and while you dry your hands say the bracha (blessing): Baruch atah Adonai, Elohenu Melech Ha'Olam, asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav, vetzivanu al netilat yadayim. This blessing means, in English, blessed you, Lord, our God, king of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us about hand washing.
There are many who say the blessing before drying their hands too. After washing your hands, before the blessing is said on the bread, try not to speak. Although this is a custom and not a halacha (law), it is fairly standard in the Jewish religious community.