Ntilas Yodoyim Shacharis

1. The Chazal instituted washing one's hands in the morning before davening and with a brocha.
2. The Rishonim present two reasons for this:
a. During the sleeping hours one's hands become dirty
b. One awakens each morning as a new creation and it is similar to the other birchos hashachar
3. If one did not say the brocha before the davening, it may not be recited afterwards.
4. In addition to the two basic reasons, there is an element of "ruach ra" upon the hands and must be removed.
5. This last problem must be removed by pouring water three times on the hands, switching each time.
6. Because of this also, one should not touch sensitive parts of the body before washing, i.e. eyes, ears.
7. One should be careful also not to touch food before washing. This applies to women and children but not to non-Jews. If one did touch food, it may be eaten. If possible, one should rinse the food three times.
8. If one does not have a vessel from which to pour water, he may use anything to pour water on the hands even to remove the "ruach ra".
9. If a person pours water onto another persons hands, the first person should already have washed his hands.
10. In an emergency, one may dip one's hands in three different vessels of water, or three times in a river, mikva or snow to remove the "ruach ra" and even one time to enable him to daven.
11. If one is awake all night but tends to his needs in the morning, a brocha may be recited upon washing the hands.
12. If one washes before daybreak, he should wash again after daybreak.
13. If one sleeps during the day, even for five minutes, he should wash but without a brocha.
14. For the purpose of davening, if one has no water, he can wipe his hands on anything to clean them and make a brocha "al nikiyus yodayim".