Morning Conduct

Compiled by Menachem Zeev Greenglass and Yehudah Leib Groner; Translated by Uri Kaplun

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Note on Divergent Rulings

The Morning Blessings

Cf. Siddur, p. 6ff.

One does not say1 Psalm 51 in Tikkun Chatzos on those days when Tachanun is omitted.2

It is proper to accustom oneself to say מודה אני immediately upon waking.3

When saying מודה אני one should place one hand against the other, and lower the head.4

One should not pronounce any of the Divine Names, study Torah, handle clothes, nor walk four cubits, whilst the unclean spirit [of sleep] is present upon one’s hands, i.e., before the ritual washing of the hands (netilas yadayim) in the morning.

One must ensure that the water used for washing in the morning is as fit as the water used for washing the hands before meals. It should be poured, through human effort and with a vessel, over the entire hand up to the wrist.5

The Rebbe Rashab directed that, other than on fast days, the morning blessings should not be said before one rinses one’s mouth.6

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Note on Divergent Rulings

The Morning Blessings

Footnotes

[Throughout this work, “saying” and “reading” prayers and blessings means that they are to be articulated audibly, though often in a whisper.]

HaYom Yom, entry for 28 Adar I; this differs from the Alter Rebbe’s ruling in his Shulchan Aruch, and from the Note on Tikkun Chatzos in his Siddur. See also Kuntreis HaTefillah, ch. 11: “Other people do not need to do this every night, but only occasionally, and then only privately, and so on”; see there.

[The source for the above sentence and the next two sentences:] The Alter Rebbe’s Siddur; see also his Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 1:6-7; and see Shaarei Teshuvah, loc. cit., sec. 2.

Sefer HaMaamarim 5710, p. 244; see there.

The Alter Rebbe’s Siddur; responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek, Shaar HaMiluim, Orach Chayim 1. Concerning netilas yadayim on the morning of Tishah BeAv and of Yom Kippur, see a letter of the Rebbe Shlita that appears in Kovetz Lubavitch, Issue 14, p. 209; see also the notes and source references to the Siddur im Dach, p. 358a.

HaYom Yom, entry for 22 Menachem Av; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 4:17; the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch (ibid.); Abudraham; Kol-Bo; Levush, loc. cit.; Mateh Mosheh; Kitzur Shelah; Mateh Aharon, Klal 5; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 2:3; Siddur Mahari Koppel, in the section on the morning’s netilas yadayim. Emek HaBerachah has been cited to the effect that one should rinse one’s mouth two or three times; see also Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 567:3. (Sefer HaMaamarim 5711, p. 272.)

Compiled by Menachem Zeev Greenglass and Yehudah Leib Groner; Translated by Uri Kaplun

The Hebrew original of Sefer Haminhagim was compiled by R. Menachem Zeev Greenglass and R. Yehudah Leib Groner, and was first published by Kehot Publication Society in 1966. The original work was researched, restructured and translated by Uri Kaploun.