Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
At the end of our parashah we hear about all the animals that we aren’t allowed to eat. Then there’s a command from God that sounds pretty general:
… וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי…
…Make yourselves holy and be holy because I am Holy…
The Talmud understands this phrase in a very specific way!
״וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם״ - אֵלּוּ מַיִם רִאשׁוֹנִים,
״וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים״ - אֵלּוּ מַיִם אַחֲרוֹנִים.
“Make yourselves holy”—this refers to the first water (handwashing before a meal);
“and be holy”—this refers to the final water (handwashing after a meal).
The “first water” is what we commonly call נְטִילַת יָדַיִם (netilat yadayim), when we wash our hands before eating bread. But what’s the מַיִם אַחֲרוֹנִים (mayim aharonim, final water)?
This is the practice of washing your hands right before בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוֹן (Birkat Ha-Mazon, Grace after Meals).
There are a few explanations for mayim aharonim.
- Since our hands often get dirty when we eat, we make sure to wash them before we thank God for our food.
- The Talmud (Bavli Eruvin 17b) says that people used to eat food with very strong salt, and if you didn’t wash your hands after eating, you might rub your eyes and risk blinding yourself!
These explanations can also help us understand why mayim aharonim isn’t such a popular practice today.
- Already in the middle ages, we hear about communities that had dropped mayim aharonim as a practice, because they no longer ate that strong salt.
- We eat almost all of our food with cutlery, so the concern about dirty hands might not apply much.
Some people still do mayim aharonim, and now you’ll know what it is if you see it. And you can give it a try! Just rinse your hands right before Birkat Ha-Mazon. No additional berakhah necessary.
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