[Avodah] Where Bread Comes From

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 11:32:31AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> : Who says that's to inspire anyone?  The gemara says explicitly that
> : it's because only this sequence will induce the Ruach Ra'ah to go away.

> I recall an article in Gesher (a YU journal), from the mid-80s, in which
> the author contrasts neigl vasr al pi halakhah with al pi nistar. 
> The gemara requires washing bekoach gavra before eating or doing mitzvos.
> It is qabbalah, not halakhah (except the halakhos that require respecting
> minhag, at this point) that requires a specific pattern.

We're not talking about washing for bread, or for davening, but about
negel vasser, which is in the morning.  Washing for bread does *not*
require a particular pattern - we wash each hand some number of times
and we do all the washings for each hand together simply because that
makes sense, but there's nothing wrong with varying it if one likes.

The only washing that requires a pattern is negel vasser, and that
pattern is required by halacha.  It's right in the gemara, so how can
you say that it's qabalah?


> Following the qabbalah-derived version that is extrahalachic is about
> being inspired by ideas of aggadita. No?

No, it's a practical matter of getting rid of the Ruach Ra'ah.  If
you wash in the prescribed pattern it will leave, and if not then
it won't.  It doesn't matter what kavanot you have, just that you
do the ritual correctly.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher