What kind of vessel may be used for Netilat Yadayim? Although the Rambam said that a "revi'it" of water is needed to perform Netilat Yadayim, may one use a vessel that is too small to hold that amount and simply fill it multiple times? Who is allowed to pour water over someone's hands?
What kind of water is "spoiled" enough that it may not be used for Netilat Yadayim? May several people wash their hands at the same time out of a single vessel?
What are the four conditions without which Netilat Yadayim - ritual hand washing before eating - is invalid? Is it acceptable to dunk hands in a mikvah instead of doing Netilat Yadayim?
Is Mayim Acharonim - washing hands before Birkat HaMazon - mandatory? Are we more or less strict regarding Mayim Acharonim than we are for washing before eating? When ritually washing hands, how much of one's hand must a person wash?
For what foods must a person wash before eating? Which ritual washings require a beracha? Does washing before prayer also require a beracha? And does Mayim Acharonim - washing before Birkat HaMazon - require a beracha? (Hint: it's an argument between the Rambam and the Raavad.) And finally: how can the blessing state that G-d commanded us to wash our hands, when there is no such Biblical commandment?
Can a person be exempted from saying Birkat HaMazon by listening to someone else say it? Does this apply in all cases? And what should a person answer if he enters a room in the middle of a zimun?
What is the concept of the zimun "flying away", and how is it applied? Should two separate groups eating at separate tables in a restaurant say Birkat HaMazon together?
Can the third member of a zimun be counted if he joins the meal after the others have already finished eating?
3 min
About The Maimonides Minute
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Make Judaism’s greatest thinker and Halachic scholar part of your life. Rabbi Scott Kahn presents two halachot from the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah every weekday.