a) Water must be poured on each hand 3 times in a pattern (i.e. wash the right hand once, the left hand once, the right hand a second time, the left hand a second time etc.)

 

(The Gaon of Vilna required a fourth washing for each hand, as to wash away the impure water from the hands. The Mishna Berura seems to agree with this stringency).

 

A left handed person still must wash the right hand first.

 

b) The water must not be hot (we will not get into the various other details of the Kashrus/quality of the water at this time, as they arenʼt very practical today that we all Baruch Hashem have clean sink water)

 

c) Negel Vasser must be washed with the strength of a person, and not simply by allowing running water to pass over the hands. (If you find yourself in a situation where you have no utensil, you can open the sink and wash the right hand. Close the sink. Re-open the sink and wash the left hand etc. and do this procedure for each of the hands 3 (or 4) times)

 

d) A utensil must be used. It must be a complete, unbroken utensil and must be large enough to hold a Revi'is of water (3.3. fl. oz)

 

e) The utensil must be filled with at least a Revi'is of water .

 

f) The hands must not have any Chatzitza (something that obstructs the water from reaching the skin) on them. Rings and band aids etc. should be removed before washing. If one has a cast on one hand, he should wash the other hand with all the Halachos, and can then make the Bracha of Al Netilas Yadayim.

 

g) The hands must be washed all the way until the wrist, each of the six (or 8) times. It is important to make sure that both the outside of the hand as well as the inside (palm) get fully washed each time.

 

2) If one wasn't able to wash with some (or all) of the aforementioned conditions, he should still was with as many of them as possible, and make a Bracha, according to the Mishna Berura. (The Gaon of Vilna and The Shulchan Aruch Harav argue and maintain that no Bracha is made if not all the conditions were fulfilled.

 

 

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