Netilas Yadayim - Beracha Recitation

QUESTION: When washing before hamotzi, the beracha of “al netilas yadayim” is only recited if one plans to eat a k’beitza of bread (egg-sized piece, approximately the size of one average slice of white bread). Must the bread be eaten within a certain timeframe?

ANSWER: There is a short answer and long answer to this question. The short answer is that a beracha is only recited if one intends to eat a k’beitza (approximately the amount of an average slice of bread) in 13 minutes.

The long answer will explain how we arrived at this conclusion: The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 158:2) writes that if a person eats less than a k’beitza of bread, one washes netilas yadayim without a beracha. (If one eats less than a k’zayis the Shulchan Aruch states that some poskim do not require netilas yadayim altogether. This last point is a matter of dispute, and the Mishna Berura recommends washing netilas yadayim lechatchila without a beracha even when eating less than a k’zayis.) In addition to the requirement of intending to eat a k’beitza, Shulchan Aruch Harav (Piskei Hasidur – Netilas Yadayim 18) adds a second caveat for reciting the beracha of al netilas yadayim: The beracha of netilas yadayim is only recited if a person intends to eat each of the two k’zaysim (olive-sized pieces) of bread that comprise a k’beitza (a beitza is 2 zaysim) in the time span of k’dei achilas pras. How long is the time span of k’dei achilas pras? The Chasam Sofer is uncertain and writes that it is between 2 and 9 minutes. Shevet HaLevi (6:60:3) writes that one should only recite al netilas yadayim when eating the first k’zayis of bread in the shorter time frame, which we assume is approximately 4 minutes and the second k’zayis in the longer time frame of 9 minutes. Thus, the beracha of al netilas yadayim should only be recited if one intends to eat an average slice of bread in 13 minutes.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.