Use the Three-Times Method to wash hands from tum'a after…

• Sleeping 30 minutes or more,
• Intercourse,
• Touching a dead person,
• Being in a building with a dead person,
• Being in a funeral procession,
• Visiting a cemetery.

These are the only times we wash the three-times way.
 

To wash hands the Three-Times Method:

• Fill the washing cup with at least 3.3 fl. oz. (99 ml) of water for the first pair of pours.
• Pour enough water (may be as little as 1.3 fl. oz.--39 ml, or 1/6 cup) from the washing cup to completely cover your entire first hand (either hand may be first, but it is proper to wash your right hand first).
• Pour enough water to completely cover the second hand.
• Repeat the pouring twice more, alternating hands, until each hand has been completely covered a total of three times.

After leaving the cemetery, wash hands using the Three-Times Method without a blessing; see How To Wash Hands Using the Three-Times Method. You can take a container of water with you in your car.

If you fell asleep for more than 30 minutes in the middle of a meal:

• Wash again and say ha'motzi again, and then say birkat ha'mazon, OR 
• Eat other items with a fore-blessing and after-blessing (since your previous eating is finished).

• Say birkat ha'mazon if you are:
  • Finished eating, and
  • Not hungry again, after having been satiated at the meal.
• Do not say birkat ha'mazon if you are
  • Finished eating, and
  • Hungry again (after having been satiated at the meal), as the original snack or meal is irrelevant to any after-blessing now.

After waking from sleeping more than 30 minutes, don't touch your eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or other bodily orifices until you have washed your hands using the Three-Times Method.
 

If you fell asleep for more than 30 minutes in the middle of a meal:
Step 1: Wash your hands the Three-Times Method to remove the tum'a of your sleep.
Step 2a: To Continue Eating
To continue eating in this case, since the previous blessings and food are no longer relevant (due to hesech da'at), you may:

• Wash again and say ha'motzi again, and then say birkat ha'mazon, OR 
• Eat other items with a fore-blessing and after-blessing (since your previous eating is finished).

Step 2b: If You Are Finished Eating

• Say birkat ha'mazon if you are:
  • Finished eating, and
  • Not hungry again, after having been satiated at the meal.
• Do not say birkat ha'mazon if you are
  • Finished eating, and
  • Hungry again (after having been satiated at the meal), as the original snack or meal is irrelevant to any after-blessing now.

Here is a typical order of waking/morning prayers for weekdays (many people say these blessings at the synagogue instead of at home):

• Wake
  Wake and wash hands (Three-Times Method).
• Bathroom
  Take care of any toilet needs, wash your hands (One-Time Method).
  Say blessings al netilat yadayim and asher yatzar (until l'fgarim meitim).
• Torah Blessings

• Talit Katan
  Put on talit katan (for men).
  Say blessing if not married or if not putting on talit gadol later.
    Note You may put on the talit katan before washing your hands

• Birchot HaShachar

• Talit/Tefilin

 

• Talit (for married men or other men with that custom).
• Tefilin (for men).

• L'olam Yihei Adam/Korbanot

• L'olam yihei adam,
• Short shema,
• Paragraph ending mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim,
• Readings on sacrifices/korbanot,
• 13 rules.

• Psukei D'Zimra

• Psalm 30/Mizmor Shir Chanukat habayit.
• Baruch she'amar through yishtabach (includes ashrei).

• Bar'chu/Shema/Amida

• Psalms/Alenu

Terms To Know

• Neitz, HaNeitz—Sunrise
• Alot HaShachar—72 minutes before sunrise
• MiSheyakir-- 36 minutes before sunrise in New York in winter and 40 minutes in summer. Nearer to the equator, the maximum time is shorter.

When Things Happen
Before Alot HaShachar (72 minutes before sunrise)
You can put on tzitzit/talit and tefilin without blessings.

Alot HaShachar
You can say:

• Birchot ha'shachar.
• Shema and amida, b'di'avad.

Mi'sheyakir (36-40 minutes before sunrise)
You can say:

• Blessings over tefilin and tzitzit/talit.
• Shema and amida as necessary.

K'Vatikin
You can say shema l'chatchila--and begin saying the amida exactly at sunrise.

By Third Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the third halachic hour of the day to say:

• The blessing mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim if you want to include the word Adonai.
• Morning shema.

By Fourth Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the fourth halachic hour of the day to say any of the prayers from barchu until the end of the amida.

Halachic Mid-Day
You have until halachic mid-day, b'di'avad, to say the shacharit amida.

          

Non-Jews do not have ritual impurity (tum'a) the way Jews do. However:

• If a Jew touches or carries a dead non-Jew, tum'a is passed on to the Jew.
• If a Jew walks through a non-Jewish cemetery, the Jew should wash his hands the Three-Times Method.

When washing your hands using the One-Time Method, in all cases except when washing for bread, here is what to use:

• Best: Cup that holds at least a revi'it of water.
• Next Best: Wash hands from a spigot within 12” of the ground, turning the spigot off and on between hands.
• Third Choice: If the spigot is more than 12” above the ground, simply hold your hands under a regular faucet in the flow of water so that your hands get wet all over.  No need to turn the water on and off.
  Note This is a b'di'avad case. 
• Fourth Choice: If there is no water, say whatever blessings you need to say anyway (for example, asher yatzar) rather than not saying the blessing at all. You will still have the tum'a on your hands (but you should rub your hands on cloth of clothing first).

The Torah commands us to be kedoshim (holy, or set apart), requiring purity in what we eat, how we speak, what we wear, and how we behave. Tum'a is spiritual impurity generally resulting from transitions from life to death (even in a small measure; for instance—sleep or cutting nails). Tum'a inhibits or blocks us from achieving holiness.
Since we do not have a “red heifer” with which to make purifying water solutions, all people are considered to have some level of tum'a today.
Although there are three reasons to ritually wash hands--to add kedusha; to remove tum'a; and to remove dirt--tum'a normally has nothing to do with physical dirt. There are many types and levels of tum'a, with no exact progression. The following guideline is approximately in descending order from most impure to least:

Sources of the Different Levels of Tum'a

• Dead body (touching or being in same building with a dead body);
• Cemetery;
• Carcass of any dead animal not slaughtered by shechita;
• Women during and after menstruation or after childbirth (but before they immerse in a mikva);
• Sleep;
• Possibly a bathroom;
• Your hands' transferring tum'a to wet food;
• Your hands' transferring tum'a to bread;
• Food from under a bed on which someone slept;
• Intercourse or seminal emission;
• Having your beard, hair, or nails cut;
• Leather shoes;
• Touching body parts.

Depending on the level of tum'a, purifying may require:

• Washing your hands by the Three-Times Method.
• Washing your hands by the One-Time Method.
• Immersion in a mikva. OR
• Sprinkling with water that had been treated with ashes from a red heifer (which we do not have now).