Siman 79: One who comes across excrement when reading the Shema (continued)

79:5. (25) Donkey excrement which is soft, when the donkey completes a trip [apparently its excrement is different when penned] and that of a cat, a marten [a kind of weasel –SP] and a rotting carcass are all treated for the purposes of the law as human excrement [and one may not read the Shema within 4 cubits of them, even if there is no smell emanating from the excrement –SP]. One who is walking along a road, even if he sees animal excrement in front of him [and he does not know whether it is from a donkey or some other animal –SP], if no smell reaches him then he does not have to worry about the minority, meaning to assume that it might come from a donkey. But near a city some say that one should worry [that it might be donkey excrement] since the majority of animals commonly found there are donkeys {Rema: [but this only applies] in a place where donkeys are common}.

MB 25: Donkey excrement – [The excrement of] all of these [animals] usually has a bad smell, and therefore even if one came across one that did not smell, it is still forbidden [to read the Shema within 4 cubits] because it is considered like human excrement – so wrote the Magen Avrohom, and see in the Biur Halacha [where the author of the Mishnah Berurah discusses whether this law applies only where the excrement is still soft and has not yet had a chance to harden. He leaves the matter (as far as the practical law is concerned) as requiring further investigation. –SP]

79:6. In the Jerusalem Talmud it prohibits reading [the Shema] in the presence of the urine of a donkey which has completed a trip, and [also] in the presence of excrement of chickens which is (26) red.

MB 26: red – From his [the Shulchan Aruch’s] language it implies that what he means to say is that [red refers to the excrement,] and because it is red it has a great stench [ie. the word “red”, which is in the singular in the Shulchan Aruch, refers to the excrement rather than the chickens –SP]. But the later Rabbis wrote that red chickens are what we call the “English Hen” [according to the new Blum printing, this is a Turkey – YM] whose exrement stinks a lot; it is preferable not to keep them in any house where one learns [Torah] or makes Blessings, especially a scholar’s house, because it is impossible for him not to have Torah thoughts (from the book Minchas Shemu’el in Halacha Berurah).

79:7. The excrement of chickens (27) which go into the house has the same law as the excrement of an animal, but (28) their coop has a rotten stench and has the same law as human excrement.

MB 27: which go into the house – And even if the majority of their sustenance is from the five kinds [of grain – wheat, oats, barley, spelt and rye], one may still be lenient so long we know that their excrement does not stink. But birds currently sitting on their eggs are known to have excrement that stinks a lot, and therefore it is clear that the law in their case is like that for human excrement, as mentioned above.

MB 28: their coop – This is a small building [specially] constructed for geese and chickens, and since there is a lot of excrement in it, it does have a disgusting stench, and therefore its law is like that for human excrement. And the Chayei Odom writes that the same law applies to a barn for animals [eg. a cow shed], meaning that it is also forbidden [to read the Shema in it] for this reason [that it smells very nasty], but see in the Biur Halacha what we have written about this (*).

Stephen Phillips [email protected] sha-89.01

THE LAWS OF PRAYER

[We are now commencing, with Hashem’s help, a long section of the Shulchan Aruch devoted to the Laws of the Amidah, which is called in the Shulchan Aruch “Tefillah” [Prayer]. Another commonly used name for the Amidah is “Sh’moneh Esrei” [Eighteen], thus called because the weekday Amidah used to consist of 18 Blessings, although one has since been added to make the total 19.