The question recently arose concerning a situation where one wanted to wash Netilat Yadayim for bread, but, oddly enough, the only available utensil was a pot cover. A pot cover can be turned upside-down, filled with water and used as a utensil, and thus, seemingly, as long as it can hold at least a Rebi’it of water, it should be valid as a utensil for Netilat Yadayim.

Maran, in Shulhan Aruch (Orah Haim 159:3), addresses the similar question of using the covers of barrels for Netilat Yadayim. He writes that a barrel cover may be used for Netilat Yadayim as long as it is ordinarily used in this manner. It seems that in those days it was not uncommon to turn barrel covers upside down and use them to store water, and the Shulhan Aruch rules that if a cover is indeed used in this fashion, then it may be regarded as a valid utensil for Netilat Yadayim.

The question thus becomes whether we may compare our pot covers today with the barrel covers spoken of by Maran. On the one hand, our pot covers clearly are not made for the purpose of serving as a receptacle, and thus perhaps they do not fall under the Shulhan Aruch’s ruling. On the other hand, many women indeed use the pot covers on occasion to pour water into the pot. They turn the cover upside-down, fill it with water under the faucet, and then pour the water into the pot. It stands to reason that the barrel covers mentioned by the Shulhan Aruch were also used primarily as covers, and occasionally as utensils, and thus our pot covers should be no different.

Indeed, Hacham Ovadia Yosef (Yalkut, p. 127) rules that a pot cover may, in principle, be used for Netilat Yadayim if it can be assumed that it is occasionally used as a utensil. However, he adds one important condition, stating that the pot cover must be able to stand on its own as a utensil. Most pot covers today have knobs and thus cannot stand on their own upside-down while containing liquid. However, if the knob came off, or if the cover never had a knob and is completely flat, then it may be used for Netilat Yadayim, provided that, as mentioned, it can be assumed to be occasionally used as a utensil. In such a case, the pot cover is perfectly valid and one may use it for Netilat Yadayim and recite the Beracha. (Hacham Ovadia also noted that a pot cover used primarily as a utensil may be used for Netilat Yadayim even if it cannot stand on its own; practically speaking, thought, it is hard to conceive of a pot cover used primarily for anything other than covering pots.)

Summary: A pot cover that can hold a Rebi’it of water may be used as a utensil for Netilat Yadayim if two conditions are met: 1) it can be assumed to occasionally be used as a utensil, such as if one at times uses it to pour water into a pot; 2) it does not have a knob and can thus stand on its own when turned upside-down.