What’s the Truth about . . . Eating a Sandwich Wrapped in a Napkin?

Misconception: Instead of washing netilat yadayim before eating bread, one could hold a sandwich with a napkin. Fact: There is a requirement to wash before eating bread and only under certain limited circumstances may one cover one’s hands in lieu of washing. Background: The obligation to wash one’s hands from a vessel before eating bread¹ is an early and important rabbinic enactment that was instituted for a variety of reasons (MB 158:1). One reason is “srach terumah”—to accustom ourselves to acting in...