Awakening with Purpose: Discovering the Spirituality of Morning Rituals in Jewish Tradition

Any good coach has the first couple plays of the game perfectly scripted A run play here, a pass play there, a deep shot, a close shot, something that will have the team often running on the right foot, well prepared, give them a little quick start out of the gate. Similarly, our days when we wake up are very tightly scripted. We are to begin with a modaani. Don't rub your eyes yet. Find that shlufkappel, find the yamaka, find some tzitzis or however you do. But definitely turn over and grab the natilas yodayim washing cup and pour it on your hands, fulfilling your obligation. And there's a three way machlokas amongst the commentators. It's brought by the holy mission of bruer as to why it is that Jewish people wash their hands, natilas yodayim. In the morning For today's talk, we're going to subscribe to the thinking of the Rajba, the holy ripshlo mo benadarit, the great medieval commentator, and in chelak alaf of chuvos, in letter 191, the Rajba tells us that the opinion is that the reason is why we do not tlas yodayim, for we are compared and akin to the kohanim that washed their hands from that huge copper basin, that laver, that kior, and they wash their hands and feet mitzvah n'ar parasha, to get ready for their heavenly and divine service in the mishka. So, too, every Jewish person should mirror that meticulous washing of the kohanim and when you think about it, it should remind us, remind you, of just how important and significant our avodah every day is, that we are like a kohanim preparing to do service in the mikdash. You know, we were told after we got the Torah not to stick around and act like a hermit away from society, keeping Torah just at the foot of Harsenei. But no, go back to the tents, continue to travel, keep the laws as you go about your day, keep the laws in the office and keep the laws at home. Torah is to penetrate all of the corners of your life. So it makes so much sense that when we wake up that we should wash our hands like the kohanim, because we are about to embark on a journey, on a mission of heavenly, divine service. There are imban mentioned something similar in his pyrrhus halatairah in chapter 30 of shamos. But let it land on us when we wash our hands in the morning and wake us up and say look at what you can do today, fulfill your obligations with Simcha, see how significant it is and let that inspire you to have Torah penetrate all of the corners of your life.