Hand Washing: Pikuach Nefesh

Before we wash our hands, we reflect on pikuach nefesh, the commandment to save life (which washing our hands may do!).

The news today can be especially spiritually unsettling and alarming in nature. When [we have] been struck with a plague that prevents so many of us from gathering in physical contact, how ought we react?

Upholding the cautionary measures decreed by health officials and authorities must be seen then as fulfilling the highest religious commandment: pikuach nefesh, saving human life. If you have symptoms of illness, including fever, coughing, stomach bug or any other sickness, it is a mitzvah to stay in quarantine.

It was Yom Kippur 1846 — the cholera epidemic was at its height — when Rabbi Yisrael Salanter allegedly rose to the pulpit, washed his hands publicly and made a blessing as he ate bread on our calendar’s most sacred day. The Jewish community feared trespassing communal and religious norms then, but Rabbi Salanter reminded the Jewish community: In light of life-threatening illness, eating food on Yom Kippur wasn’t breaking the Torah law, it was upholding it.

When confronted with life or death, Jews must always emphatically choose life. This has been the Jewish way since the beginning of time.

What rules should (and what rules are) we suspending and modifying during this time?

Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, asher kidshanu bemitvotav vetzivanu al netilat yadayim.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִּם.

Blessed are You ETERNAL our God, Master of time and space, who has sanctified us with commandments and instructed us regarding lifting up our hands.

WE WASH OUR HANDS (FOR THE SECOND TIME)


haggadah Section: Rachtzah
Source: Rabbi Avram Mlotek