Washing Hands: Morning Berakha or Eating Bread Prerequisite?

The Rashba (Shlomo ibn Adret, 13^th century) was asked:

Why do we make the be’rakha, ‘al netilat yadayim, when we get up in the morning?  Isn’t this a requirement before eating bread? 

The Rashba in Teshuva 191 says that netilat yadayim is indeed for eating bread and he suggests that we say this berkha in the morning as well because we are like new creations when we get up from sleep.  As the pasuk says: chadashim la’bekarim, rabbah eh’mu’na’te’kha, meaning: We are like new creations when we awaken after a night of sleep.  Hence, all of the birkot ha’sha’char, morning blessings are recited to help make us aware of the miracle of a new creation-like experience when we are reborn every day.  The Kohen, before he started his avodah every day, would wash at the ki’yor to purify and sanctify himself.  So, we too, in imitation of the Kohen we purify and sanctify ourselves before we start our avodah for the day.  

We are a mam’lekh’et kohanim and an ‘am kadosh, kingdom of priests and a holy nation that has to prepare itself each new day to perform our avodah as defined by the Torah in our life and in the absence of the beit hamikdash our shuls, are our mikdash me’at.

The Rashba concludes:  May we live to see the day of the beit hamikdash rebuilt where the Kohen can once again sanctify himself with washing at the ki’yor, saying al netilat yadayim.

How Bad is Feeling Bad in Yiddish?

Joey was feeling very sick from the flu and was coughing uncontrollably. So much so that he could barely catch his breath and had a severe case of laryngitis.

When he stopped coughing someone asked: “Joey, how are you feeling?”

Joey said, in Yiddish: “Vee a mushumad ven er kumt af yenner velt.”

Translation: Like a meshumad i.e. a Jewish convert to Christianity when he comes into the next world and realizes that he made a mistake.

This is not in the Rambam. Nonetheless, it is a colorful analogy in a Yiddish expression that is worthy of note.

Is It Better to Exonerate a Thousand Guilty Men Than to Kill One Innocent Man?

The Case of Circumstantial Evidence, Risk , Possibility and Probability

We are prohibited from executing punishment on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, even if it be close to absolute certainty.
For example, if one were pursuing another man to kill him, and he ran into a house with the pursuer at his heels, and we came in after them and found the pursued man in the throes of death, with his foe the pursuer, standing over him with knife in hand, and both covered with blood – the Sanhedrin may not execute the pursuer in fulfillment of the penalty, there being no corroboration by witnesses to the murder. As the Torah states: v’naki v’tzadik al taharog ki lo atzdik rasha, A clean one and a righteous on you shall not kill. (Shmos 23:7)
The Midrash says:
If they saw him pursuing another to kill him and they warned him: “He is a Jew, a son of the covenant; if you kill him, you will be killed” – and they averted their eyes and then found him [the pursued] slain, in the death throes, the knife dripping blood in the killer’s hand – I would think that he [the pursuer] were liable [to execution]; it is, therefore, written: “ A clean one and a righteous one you shall not kill.” (Mekhilta)
The Rambam writes in the Sefer ha’Mitzvos (Negative Commandment 290):
… That you should not find this mitzvah difficult or misguided. In the realm of possibility some things are highly probable and some are highly improbable and some are in the area between these two. The realm of the possible is extremely broad. If the Torah allowed execution of punishment on the basis of the highly probable approaching certainty we would come to execute punishment in cases less probable than that and in instances even less probable than that until punishment would be executed and men wrongly killed on the barest surmise of the judge’s imagination. Therefore, God closed the door and commanded that no punishment be executed until eyewitnesses testified that the event had occurred without a doubt and that it cannot be interpreted otherwise. If we do not execute punishment on the basis of strong circumstantial evidence, the worst that can happen is that we exonerate a guilty man. But if we act upon such evidence, it is possible that one day an innocent man will be killed. It is more desirable to exonerate a thousand guilty men than to kill one innocent one.