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<p>In Avodah Digest V24#10, R'Micha replied to RES:<br>
>> ... As an aside, tumah is not intrinsically a bad thing.... <<<br>
> I think that's a difference between nigleh and nistar.<br>
> According to the gemara, you have to wash neigl vasser before tefilah. According to the Zohar, and this made it into halakhah pesuqah (outside of Teiman), one is supposed to wash as soon as possible. Tum'ah is transformed from something that contradicts certain mitzvos to something<br>
inherently wrong and to be minimized. <<br>
For RSRH on tum'ah, see his Torah commentary's essay in P'Vayiqra between 5:13 and 5:14 (re tum'as miqdash) and in P'Shmini at the end of 11. I'm reminded of "...uvacharta bachayyim!" and, after all, shouldn't we be constantly "choosing" properly from the moment we wake up? (BTW, the end of that long Chapter-11 essay even refers to n'tilas yadayim, albeit the pre-meal n'tilah rather than the post-waking n'tilah.)<br>
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A guten Shabbes and all the best from<br>
--Michael Poppers via RIM pager<br>
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