meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Halakhah/Shulchan Aruch HaRav/English/Chabad.txt"}
text: Shulchan Aruch HaRav
  שולחן ערוך הרב
  Chabad
  
  
  Shulchan Aruch HaRav
  
  
  
  Book 1
  
  
  
  Book 2
  
  
  
  Book 3
  
  
  
  Book 4
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In the Talmud, as well, [the Sages] cautioned about this spirit of impurity that rests on a person’s hands [upon awakening], saying that it is not removed entirely until he washes them three times, alternately. They also warned that before washing one should not touch his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, anal opening, any place where he has let blood, or his organ — i.e., from the corona and below, or for the purpose of relations. Nor should he touch water that was prepared in a tank to enable all the members of his household to wash, so that his hands will not make it impure. Similarly, when washing his own hands from a container, he should be very careful not to touch the water in the container and make it impure, for water will render hands pure only when it is poured over them.
  One should be especially careful not to touch any food or drink before washing, so that they will not be rendered impure. Women in particular should be alerted about this, because food is mostly prepared by them.
  However, one need not be concerned about non-Jews touching [food without having performed Netilas Yadayim], for this spirit of impurity seeks to rest only in a sacred medium in place of the holiness which has departed from it — i.e., the bodies of the Jewish people. When they sleep and their holy soul departs from their bodies, the spirit of impurity rests on their bodies; when the soul returns to the body, the spirit of impurity departs from the entire body and remains only on the hands.
  For this reason, it has become customary to be lenient with regard to the touch of younger children who have not reached an educable age [with regard to the Torah and its mitzvos] — because the major entry of the holy soul into a man is completed when he reaches thirteen years and one day, and into a woman, when she reaches twelve. This is why at that time they are obligated by Scriptural Law to observe mitzvos, and are considered to be of punishable age.
  The entry of this holy soul begins at the age at which the child begins his training in the observance of the Torah and its mitzvos, as is obligated by the Sages. ([An earlier phase of this entry begins] with the mitzvah of circumcision. Therefore a person who is careful with regard to the touch of an infant from the day of circumcision onward may rightfully be called “holy.”)