Netilas Yadayim - After a Nap

QUESTION: If one woke from a nap and wants to eat bread. How should they wash netilas yadayim?

ANSWER: When one wakes up from a nap that was more than 30 minutes, one should wash his hands three times alternatingly (right, left, right, left, right, left). This is the proper way to remove ru’ach ra’ah. However, when one washes for bread, one washes the right hand twice and then the left hand twice. We wash each hand a second time to wash away the initial washing water which becomes tamei (impure) from our hands. If one needs to wash for bread and from sleeping, which way should one wash? Sefer Yalkut Yosef (OC 165:1) writes that one should wash three times alternatingly and that is sufficient for bread as well. Even though normally for bread we wash each hand twice in a row, this does not matter. If we wash the right and left and then again right and left, this too removes the tamei water. By washing three times alternatingly we accomplish both.

___________________________________________________

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.