What You Need to Know About Washing Hands (Not for Bread)

Throughout the day, there are many situations that require different methods of ritual handwashing (not just for bread!).

To make it simple, here are the main situations, what to do, and when a blessing is (or isn’t) recited.

(If you prefer a quick reference, see the chart at the end of the article.)

Washing Your Hands Upon Waking

As soon as you wake up in the morning, after reciting Modeh Ani, you should wash your hands netilat yadayim, also known as negel vasser (literally “nail water”1 in yiddish).2

The Zohar teaches that you should not walk more than four cubits before washing your hands.3 Before this washing, you should avoid touching your mouth, eyes, nose, ears, or any bodily opening, as well as food, drink, or clothing.4

Since most people don’t have a sink within four cubits of their bed, one should prepare a cup of water and a basin near their bed before going to sleep in order to follow the injunction of the Zohar.5

After washing netilat yedayim in the morning, you don’t say the blessing right away. First, rinse your mouth6 and take care of any bodily needs. After using the bathroom, you wash again, and only then say the blessing.7

If you were up all night, you should still wash netilat yadayim after daybreak, even if you were careful and wore gloves all night.8

If you woke up before dawn, you should wash upon waking.9

How to Do It

Ideally, use a cup or vessel. If there’s no cup available, in extenuating circumstances, you can wash without a vessel. However, there is a disagreement over whether a blessing can still be recited. While some Ashkenazic communities still recite a blessing,10 many authorities,11 including Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in his final ruling in the siddur,12 hold that the blessing is omitted.13 This is the Sephardic custom as well.

Lift the cup with your right hand, then pass it to the left before pouring.14 Wash the right hand first, then the left, alternating hands for a total of three washings each.15 If you’re left-handed, lift the cup with your right hand, and wash your left hand first. The water must reach between the fingers.16

Ideally, wash up to the wrists. If water is limited, washing up to the end of the fingers is enough.17

The Blessing

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה אֱלֹקינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְווֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם

Transliteration:

Bah-rookh ah-tah h eh-lohk-ynoo meh-lekh hah-oh-lahm ah-shehr keed-shah-noo bi-meetz-voh-tahv vi-tzi-vah-noo ahl ni-tee-laht yah-dah-yeem.

Blessed are you, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.

What if No Water is Available?

If no water is available when you wake up, you should not delay learning Torah or reciting blessings. Instead, you should clean your hands with whatever is available (such as a cloth, a rock, or a similar object), and you may then learn Torah and say blessings. However, you must avoid directly touching bodily orifices and must certainly avoid directly touching food or drink until proper washing is possible.18

If a small amount of water is available, you should wash your hands as best as you can. If you have a revi’it (approximately 3 oz.), you recite a blessing after this washing. After this minimal washing, you may learn Torah and say blessings and may also walk or touch clothing, but you should still avoid directly touching bodily orifices and avoid directly touching food until you are able to wash each hand properly three times.19

Washing Before Prayer

Before davening, you’re obligated to wash your hands at least up to the end of the fingers. Strictly speaking, washing once directly from a sink is enough.20

Still, some people have the custom to wash each hand three times with a vessel, like in the morning. Either way, no blessing is said.21

Birkas Kohanim

Before the Kohanim bless the congregation through Birkat Kohanim, their hands must be washed,22 similar to the washing done for bread.23 No blessing is recited.24

The hands of the Kohanim are washed by the Leviyim. In many communities, the Leviyim will wash their own hands first.

Washing for Bread

Before eating bread, you need to wash your entire hands using a washing cup or similar utensil. Each hand is washed three times (or two times, depending on custom—see Why Wash (Two or) Three Times For Bread?) consecutively. Recite the blessing Al Netilat Yadayim.

For more on this, see: What You Need to Know About Washing for Bread

Washing After the Bathroom

After using the bathroom, strictly speaking, you don’t need to wash with the full amount25 or procedure used for netilat yadayim.26

However, many are careful to wash three times.27

Cutting Hair or Nails

After cutting your hair or nails, you should wash your hands. A cup isn’t required, but many people are strict about washing three times with a cup.

Additionally, the washing has to cover the entire hand—just pouring a few drops on your hands and rubbing them together isn’t sufficient.28

This applies both to the person getting the hair or nails cut and the person doing the cutting. That said, the custom is that at an upsherenish, those who only cut a small snip do not wash afterward.29

Touching Shoes

If you touched your shoes, you need to wash your hands, but it does not need to be three times or with a cup.30

Touching Normally Covered Parts of the Body

Same idea: you need to wash your hands, but it does not need to be three times or with a cup.31

Before and After Intimacy

Before and after intimacy, you should wash your hands. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t need to be through a cup, and once is enough.

However, many have the custom to wash three times with a cup, similar to the morning washing, both before32 and after intimacy.33 No blessing is recited.

Cemetery and Funeral

After leaving a cemetery or a funeral, you need to wash your hands. Although strictly speaking, washing once from the tap would be enough, common practice is to wash three times, alternating hands, like in the morning.34

When returning from a funeral, the custom is not to enter your home before washing your hands. Another custom is not to pass the washing cup to the next person. Instead, after you wash, you place the cup upside down, and the next person takes it, refills it, and washes. The custom is also to refrain from drying the hands with a towel and instead allow them to air-dry on their own.35

No blessing is recited.

Sleep

If you sleep more than a half-hour during the day, you should wash each hand three times, similar to the morning washing. No blessing is required.36

The stringency of not walking before washing doesn’t apply to daytime sleep.37

Ritual Handwashing Summary Chart