Question of the Week:
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I have always wondered why is it that we do the special hand washing before eating bread? And why we are not allowed to speak from when we wash our hands until we eat bread? It can't just be about hygiene so what's it really about?
Answer:
When somebody offers a far-fetched explanation for their behaviour, they're obviously hiding something. The reason for washing hands given in the Talmud is a clear example of this.
We are told that in the times of the Temple, the Cohen tribe of priests would live off donations of produce from all the farmers, called to Terumah. This food could only be eaten by a Cohen and his family, and had to be eaten in a state of ritual purity. So the priests would always wash their hands ritually before eating to ensure that they were pure. It then became customary for even non-priests to wash their hands before eating, in deference to the Cohanim who were obligated to do so. And even though today we no longer have those foods that need to be eaten in purity, we continue to wash our hands before bread.
Really....? We wash our hands because two millennia ago people washed their hands because another tribe washed their hands?
There must be more to it...
The bread we eat is the end product of a long process. Think about the myriad steps that it takes to get bread on the table. We work and toil, create and invent, cook and bake, and finally we eat the work of our hands.
So our hands represent human ingenuity, the work we do. Bread represents human achievement, the food we eat. We work hard to make dough.
But we need to remember that the work of our hands alone does not give us bread. It is G-d's blessing that feeds us. We should not think "it is my own strength and the power of my hands that has made me this wealth" (Deut. 8:17). Our work is a vessel, a receptacle, a container, but an empty container until G-d fills it with His blessing. "The smartest people don't necessarily have bread" (Eccl. 9:11). Our success or otherwise is not dependent on our own talents but rather on G-d's blessing.
That's why we wash our hands before eating bread. We are cleansing ourselves of any sense of entitlement, arrogance, or complacency. We have bread on the table, but our hands alone did not make it. It is G-d's blessing that brought it to us. We should be humbled and grateful for the dough He gives us.
For this reason we don't interrupt between washing of hands and eating the bread. We create a direct line between recognizing the true source of the bread and enjoying it. As soon as we have cleansed our hands of arrogance, we can eat. Nothing should distract us in between.
This is why our sages said that we should wash our hands the same way the priests did. The Cohanim did not work in the fields. They worked in the Temple, and relied on the tithes people donated to them for their upkeep. A priest couldn't fool himself and think that he had worked for his bread. It was clear that he was being fed by the kindness of others. We should all feel that way. It is not our own work and effort. It is all a gift from G-d.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Moss