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-> Judaism
ruby slippers
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Thu, Oct 08 2015, 10:29 am
How do I find out if this is true...
It is said from the Vilna Gaon, that after the Ger Tzedek, Avraham ben Avraham zt"l was martyred in Vilna in 1749, that the spiritual constitution of the world has become altered in such a way that a Jew was no longer bound to wash his hands in te morning within 4 amos of his bed. Rather, the entire house would be considered as 4 amos for this regard. This is why most non-chasidic ashkenazi Jews follow this custom now.
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cbsp
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Thu, Oct 08 2015, 12:45 pm
I looked this up for you in "Laws of Daily Living" vol 1 by R Simcha Bunim Cohen.
The discussion starts on page 9.
Footnote 39 is for this statement:
"Some authorities write that nowadays a person may walk four amos prior to washing his hands"
The footnote is in Hebrew with lots of roshei taivos so I may have missed the point, but here's what I understood:
This is strictly a Zohar expressed din, it's not mentioned in Shas or the poskim Rishonim. The gemara Brachos daf 15 talks about using the facilities and the washing - most people do not have facilities within 4 amos of their bed...
Interestingly, R Shlomo Zalman Auerbach mentions the story with Avraham ben Avraham and how now the tumah no longer rests on the hands. However, he also says that we don't learn halacha from a story.
Regardless, it is still a mistake to go from room to room without washing.
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Hope this helps...
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ruby slippers
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Thu, Oct 08 2015, 4:23 pm
wow! how did you know where to look that up- thanks!
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cbsp
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Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:09 pm
I didn't
I mean, I knew the "Laws of Daily Living" has a section on netilas yodayim but until I looked it up for you I had no idea he quoted the Vilna Gaon story. Also, to clarify, it doesn't seem to be that the 4 amos idea was nullified then, rather that now the tumah no longer rests on the hands. But I could be misunderstanding the Hebrew.
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ruby slippers
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Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:31 pm
thanks- what you are saying makes sense.
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