Boy have things got watered down - from an opinion that we wash and make a berachah on washing every time we pee to not making a berachah when washing even for davening to people not even washing for davening as they would when washing for bread.

Anyway, if someone went to the bathroom in the middle of a meal, it seems to me it wouldn't be wrong to wash with a berachah even if he's not eating more bread since in any event there's an opinion we need to wash with a berachah anyway.

Even if the person only made "#1" and not "#2"?

Yes, there's such an opinion cited by the Tur. Nowadays I doubt anyone holds like that but the opinion is out there.

The only book I ever read on hilchos netilas yadayim was that one that you lent to me about 3 years ago, and I have vague memories of reading that unless one touches his excrement, he doesn't recite a bracha.

Time flies.


I'm asking in theory. Again, I realize nobody paskens like this.

But one practical application may be if we are awake all night - there's a disagreement if we say al netilat yadayim, but I believe there's an opinion that to get around the machloket we go to the bathroom and recite al netilat yadayim and asher yatzar. I would assume, based on this Tur, that even if we just pee that's enough.

Yeah, tell me about it. I wrote your thank you card in July or August, never sent it, and now I want to rewrite it.


I didn't understand which "this" you were referring to, until now.

It's ok, I'm mochel. Let it be a kapparah for me.

(That just leaves one wedding present for an h.com member* for which I never received an acknowledgment...)

* More accurately, one wedding, two members.

If When I do send it out, will I be taking away from your kapparah?

The beauty of calling things a kapparah is that we don't when we don't feel like it. So losing $50 is a kapparah, but not losing $50 is not not a kapparah.