When we wake up in the morning, we are overly connected to our physical selves and have had contact with the klipos, which are negative forces that make us forget about Hashem, while we were sleeping. The first level of separating ourselves from the klipos is by washing our hands. In our minds, we all know that Hashem watches over us and directs our lives, but we often feel in our hearts that it is all up to us. We know that if we don’t work, we won’t have what to eat – and it is here that the biggest klipa lies, where there is the potential for the biggest darkness. This is the power of “kochi v’otzem yadi asa li es hachail hazeh” – the sense that it is the power of my own hands that brings me my success. So when we wake up in the morning and shake off the sleep from our bodies, there still remains impurity (tumah) on our fingertips because this is where we feel our own power, in our own hands, and so the klipos rest on our fingertips as that is where they draw their power from.
As a result, the Shulchan Aruch tells us to be careful not to touch any of our body parts or to learn Torah before we wash our hands. This is also why it’s ideal to keep water near us when we sleep, so we can wash our hands before we even take our first step in the morning, and begin our day with holiness. Being that “everything goes after the beginning”, we want to make sure our first steps of the day are taken in purity with the klipos already washed off. This klipa tries very hard to hold on to the person and jumps from hand to hand as we attempt to wash it away! It only loses its ability to avoid the purifying waters after we alternate washing each hand 3 times, which is why this is the precise method we use to wash our hands in the morning.
In order to remove the klipos and harsh judgments that arise from the darkness of forgetting Hashem that rest on our fingertips in the morning, we pour the waters of purity with the mindset that “I am now pouring a revelation of the Light of Hashem on my hands and removing the darkness and concealment from my mind and my actions.”
This is also why, when we say the blessing of “Al Netilas Yadaim,” we raise our hands, which represent our actions, to the level of our heads, which represents our awareness of Hashem (mochin). This raises this message into the consciousness in our minds; that all of our actions are battel (nullified) to Hashem’s higher providence and without Hashem, a person would not be able to even raise their hands or to even take one step.
Moment of Mindfulness: Before washing your hands, have in mind that you are about to remove the darkness of forgetting Hashem from your actions, represented by your hands, and you are filling your mind with the consciousness that Hashem runs the world and your life.
Hashem, I want to feel Your presence alongside me today! Please allow me to see You in everything that happens, and help me remember that even though it looks like I’m acting and accomplishing, it is You that guides every step of my day with love and compassion.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 7.