Question:
Hello,
I woke up very early and accidentally rubbed my nose and then I used the bathroom, hoping (but not confident) that I would go back to sleep. Therefore, I did not do the morning wash at that time. I ended up not falling asleep so my wash was quite delayed as I stayed in bed for extra time before getting up for the day. Is this very bad? I am often able to fall asleep again so I thought it was worth trying. Is there anything to do to make up for it?
Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for your question.
The obligation to wash hands upon awakening is only when you are ready to wake up. If you want to fall back asleep, there is no need to wash your hands, even if it takes a while to fall back asleep.
It is worth noting that sometimes a person does not want to fall back asleep but wants to stay in bed a little longer. In that case they should first wash their hands and only afterwards lie back down in bed (although it kind of defeats the purpose!)
However, in this case you got out of bed and went to the bathroom. Assuming that the bathroom is more than 2 meters away from the bed, ideally (if not too hard) you should wash your hands three times in the bathroom before returning to bed (ideally a person should not walk more than 2 meters without washing their hands in the morning).
Have a great day!
Sources:
Mishna Berura 1:2
