by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom | Sep 26, 2015 | Intermediate
15. If he was reading [K’riat Sh’ma] and he encountered someone – or someone encountered him: If he was between Parashiot, he should stop [reading] and initiate and inquire after the Shalom (welfare) of anyone who he is obligated to honor. For...
by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom | Sep 26, 2015 | Intermediate
1. When someone reads K’riat Sh’ma, he washes his hands before he reads. If the time for its reading arrived and he couldn’t find any water before reading, he should not delay its reading and seek out water; rather he cleans his hands with dirt, a...
by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom | Sep 26, 2015 | Intermediate
[*Beit haKissei* refers to a lavatory. However, since all of our Halakhot are the product of a situation where a lavatory was what we call an “outhouse” – where the fecal matter and urine remain there, albeit below ground somewhat – there is...
by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom | Sep 26, 2015 | Intermediate
4. Not only regarding K’riat Sh’ma, but any matter which is *Divrei haKodesh* (lit. “matters of sanctity”) is forbidden to say in a bathhouse or Beit haKissei – even to say it in *Lashon Hol* (lit. “mundane language” –...
by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom | Sep 26, 2015 | Intermediate
[in the previous Halakhah, Rambam stated that matters of sanctity -i.e. words of Torah – may not be said in a bathhouse or Beit haKissei, even in another language…] 5. It is permissible to speak about mundane matters in *Lashon haKodesh* (the Holy Tongue...
