Jerusalem – Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and Shas Party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has spoken out strongly against excessive non-washing and non-showering during the Nine Days in recent lectures.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Rabbi Yosef questioned the minhag of the Ashkenazim Jews not showering or bathing at all from Rosh Chodesh Av onwards, saying that the resulting offensive odor was not “kavod habrios.”
In his remarks, he also asserted that blue-collar laborers who “come home all sweaty” should certainly shower, at least with cold water. He questioned whether the Torah truly desires one to not wash at all for 10 days, and said that as a result, “it’s not good to be machmir.” However, it’s better if one can wash with cold water if tolerable, he added.
Rabbi Yosef also insisted that mikvah observance be fully kept throughout the Nine Days, especially for women, pointing out that the only day on which mikvah is actually forbidden is Tisha B’Av itself. “Anyone who is machmir in this is a chamor,” he added, saying that if women don’t go to mikvah at proper times, it can lead to issurim committed by their husbands.
Shucks! I just spent a fortune on cologne!
Thank the Lord, we still have one leader who says what he thinks and seeks the truth.
I heard the original speach of his, he mentioned a story, he knew personally of a man who refused to allow his wife to be tovel during the 9 days, this ended in a divorce after the Husband was Nichshal, bar minan.
Notice, he was speaking to Sephardic Jews who never had the custom to be Machmir with these things.
His comment that he is a chamor, was quoted from a sefer, I don’t remember which, it’s not his own.
May God Grant him, a long and healthy life! Amen
The Torah permits us many things for Kavot Haberiot, certainly this which is not even a Rabbinic law, only a Minhag.
Rabbi Ovadia is never against being Machmir, he is against people making chumras into a chiyuv, and losing the priorities of our religion. A person can’t force his wife to smell his stinking odor.
Rav Yosef is so right. And this includes Ashkenaz. The halacha is clear that an istenis or sensitive person may wash and wear clean clothes. Bizman azeh we are all considered sensitive since the normal living standard is to adhere to clean and hygienic standards. This wasn’t so hundreds of years ago.
Chaim S.
well said, the Rambam mentions you shouldn’t take hot baths more then once a week, for health reasons. Things are obviously different today
Chazak ubaruch! The famous mishnah in Maseches Berachos Perek 2 Mishnah 6 in which Raban Gamliel bathed on the first night of his wife’s petirah and when his students questioned him he replied “I am not like other men, Istnis ani” The Mevuaros explains what he meant, he was saying I am weak and my body needs to bathe in hot water for if I don’t I am in pain, and an Avel is only forbidden a rechitzah of Taanug! (bathing for pleasure)
Reb Ovadia is right in addressing the Sephardic community, as they don’t know as well do differentiate ….
But for us ASHKANUZIM we know that its important to be machmir on this issue, there is no issur (i think) to use deodorant, so if someone is really having it, they can use it, but to shower. OH NO!
“K’DAIY BAIS ELOIKANUI LIBCHOS ULUV”
ashkenazim should not hold by a sephardic authority to poskin on ashkenazi customs. we follow our own customs and listen to our own authorities. i respect rav Yosef as a great talmid chocham, but he is obviously more acquainted with his communities customs. sephardim eat kitnayos on pesach and there is no problem with this. no ashkenazi authority should tell them they shouldn’t eat it, just as no sephardi authority should tell ashkenazim they should/can eat it. not washing helps us in the mourning process for the beis hamikdosh and there are many halachic authorities who hold by this minhug.
WOULD ANYONE THINK HASHEM , WHO ASKS US TO STRIVE TO EMULATE HIS WAYS , WOULD WANT US NOT TO SHOWER FOR 9 DAYS ?
Before anyone gets all excited and says anything which should not be said anytime, certainly not during the nine days, just remember that the Ashkenazim have a different minhag in this matter as brought in the Shulchan Ohruch (see orach chayim 551:16). It is worth remembering what Chazal tell us “Kol Hamisabel Al Yerushalayim Zoche V’roeh Bisimchasa. May we merit this speedily in our days.
anyone that thinks they could pasken based on what they think “hashem would want” has obviously no legitemacy whatsoever!
to all the people who are so concerned with being misabeil on yerushlayim perhaps you should do a maaseh which will bring intrespection and deep thought abouth the low position we are in through this long and bitter galus
smelling like a pig and having more oil in your hair ,peyos and beard than saudi arabia im afraid wont do it
in todays day and age where normal people take a shower at least once a day we should apply rav ovadia’s wise words to all of us
in the olden days and even in euorope
taking a bath was a whole ordeal which happened at best once a week todays times are different
Everybody I know showers for Shabbos, so it’s never actually 9 days, this year longer interval than usual, 1 week.
If a person is sweaty and stinky and smelly, 9 days or no 9 days, common sense says take care of your health, and take a shower, so that you don’t get sick (v’nishmartem me’od l’nafshosiechem!!!) But if you don’t really need to shower but are using Reb Ovadia Yosef’s P’sak as an excuse to be maikel, then that’s wrong
In the days when this minhag was taken on people did not bathe on a regular basis nor did they use soap regularly. When they did bathe in hot water with soap there was simcha involved. Today there is no simcha in showering or using soap, in fact for some groups using soap is tzaar. There is one Rebbe who tells his chassidim (on a yearly basis) that he demands that they use soap and shampoo.
In Eretz Yisroel not washing and taking care of bodily hygiene is much different than not washing ones body in Russia Poland Hungary Germany etc.
It is interesting that many Ashkenazim in Eretz Yisroel have adopted Minhag Eretz Yisroel in many areas and believe it or not, Minhag Eretz Yisroel is the minhag of our brothers of Eidut Hamizrach AKA Sefardim, and those with understanding will understand.
He added, saying that “if women don’t go to mikvah at proper times, it can lead to issurim committed by their husbands”. Now this is a very serious issue – when women play Mikvah games! Our community likes to sweep this problem under the carpet!
Sephardim go swimming in the nine days as long as it is not the week that Tisha B’Av falls in, so I guess they can also bathe. We are supposed to be like mourners during the 9 days and we therefore should not wash for pleasure and not in hot water. We can wash for hygienic reasons. Those who do not mourn properly for the Churban, will not be zocheh to see the Bais Hamikdosh rebuilt.
To Chizik:
Your right! Dov Hikind should bring up this issue on his show!
To all shower lovers in the 9 days
The same way you dont like the smell of underarm sweat etc. I hate the odor of Men’s Perfume Which is ossur (all year round)to daven next those who smell of it, it has a din like TZOAH,
Be Normal. consult your local Rabbi in private to discuss this issue.
How about we stop judging each other and speak to our Rebbeim with shailos.
Choizik you are right!! If your wife ever went to the mikva on a motzei shabbos or motzei y’t (after a 3 day y’t), ever wonder why it takes her hrs to get home? Because many women won’t go to the mikva on a friday or y’t night. a rov told me that theis is a huge problem in kehillos all over the world!
To those who hold that Rav Ovadia Yosef is incorrect in telling Ashkenazim how to follow minhagim are shoitem and should stop being a bunch of hockers. This time last year, Rav Zelig Epstein told campers that it is not kavod HaTorah to not shower bzman hazeh. It was mentioned because they had just gotten up to camp and it was particularly hot. But in the speech, he said bzman hazeh we need to take care of ourselves, just diminish the pleasure of the shower. Take it cold. Shorten the length.
I can’t believe what I hear from so called Frum people saying Rav Ovadia Yosef is not right in speaking to Ashkenazim. Idiots
Nice to see a gadol with common sense…
Critic Says:
To all shower lovers in the 9 days
The same way you dont like the smell of underarm sweat etc. I hate the odor of Men’s Perfume Which is ossur (all year round)to daven next those who smell of it, it has a din like TZOAH,
Be Normal. consult your local Rabbi in private to discuss this issue.
08-04-2008 – 2:01 PM
==============================================
Im trying to understand you.
First you pasken that mens perfume is ossur and then you write that we should consult our own rav regarding this issue. Which is it? make up your mind MR. Rabbi or whoever u are
You can find a credible Rav to tell you it is Tzoah and I can find a credible Rav that says its fine to wear cologne. Your halachic opinion must have been picked up in the coffee room in yeshiva and not the beis medrash, because a ben Torah doesn’t share such halachic opinions like this.
did we all forget about What Rav Moshe paskened look Rabbi Eiders Safer on the 3 weeks .
For all of you that are so happy if you are taking Rabbi Ovadia Yosef psak on this you should know that he also has a psak that married woman are user to wear a wig. So all of you before you take a shower make sure you keep the psak of the wig too
He is not giving psak
Not showering/bathing is to bring us more Tzaar that the churbin is around the corner. There is no mitzvah, chumrah etc to bring Tzaar to other people with the smell of someone who doesn;t shower.
Yes, I shower, wear deodorant, and cologne.
He knows what he is talking about when it comes to Halacha, now if he just stay out of politics….
What’s the big deal about showering and getting clean during the 9 days. This was a chumra taken upon themselves by g’dolei yisroel. This doesn’t apply to us. If we are thinkers, how does not showering affect our relationship with Hashem?
Who cares what Ovadia Yosef says? He is not our posek. he have many others!
Let’s get real here.
The Shulchan Aruch was written in a time when
1. People washed Once a MONTH and once a week if they lived where there was a hot mikva (certainly in Germany/France where Cologne comes from that’s why they created it) many places considered bathing unhealthy
2. People rarely ate meat and chicken was at best for Shabbat – fish (herring and carp) was a staple protein
3. People rarely got new clothing (even rich people bought mostly for yom tov)
4. People laundered their clothing in the river – so doing the laundry then was a machayeh in the heat work or not.
These Days;
1. The stinkiest person showers weekly – most people shower daily or manual workers maybe twice a day
2. People eat meat or chicken daily and fresh fish or dairy has become the expensive delicacy
3. People buy new clothes any time; just put on a sale and a shirt/blouse can sell for 1.99 or 199.00 and there will be an available market
4. People launder all the time in the machine and getting wet from the dirty water or ever fresh water is not a mechayeh – it is work only
Sephardim are right – these are chumras that were in tune then and are outdated since post industrial revolution in America.
Alan,
Watch your mouth! Where is your Derech Eretz?!
no matter what you say, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a daas torah in our days. Even if he is a Rabbi for the sfardim, his point rings true, even for ashkenazim. Cleanliness is next to g-dliness. We are all tzelem Elokim! How can we daven and learn trying to bring the shchinah into our midst if we are dirty? unless that is your point? Let’s show Hashem that we are distanced from Him because we are to lazy to shower! And deoderant only helps if you are clean! Imagine spraying deoderant on a dirty diaper. It will smell even worse than before! Come on, cut the garbage – he is right. If you want to be machmir – use cold water!
Even if one holds by this chumrah, is it permissible to use a baby wipe (on an adult)?
There is nothing sweeter than coming to shul on Tisha B’Av and smelling the smell of body odor and men’s cologne while saying kinos,
Chassidim anyway don’t wear fresh clothing except for Shabbos,so this doesn’t affect them.Most men find it a waste of time to shower and bathe.
Some ashkenazim have taken this Chumra on themselves for the whole 3 weeks and the days of (7 weeks)Sfira.
VEHAMAChMIR Tavo OLOV BROCHO
Where is our rabunim?
Why dont they understand todays dor?
Do you know there are yungerleit who pasken their own shailos because they do not trust our rabunim!!!
Why do we need dov or nuchem rosenberg to speak about our issues WHERE R OUR RABUNIM?
Nobody speaks to them about their problems because nobody trusts them, b”h we have rav ovadya a real godol and gaon to rely on.
Since when does a person who has money to buy a house & build a shul called a RAV? Az och in vey for us, look at our rabunim & you will realy beg hashem for mashiach PLEASE HASHEM HAVE MERCY ON US!!
the rabunim paskin daily all these shailos and you just have to ask and have sechel if you dont nothing will help by the way you could see shevet helevi speaks about this shaila about showiring the nine days there is heterim bmkomos hachamimim aver aver on body peice at a time and even in luck warm water and i think we all live in mkomos hachamim orr if you work and sweat there main part is it should not be taanug and this is up alittbit with sechel and everone should stop bbeing upset on the tohrah. note if aruv tells you not to shower even in cold water then you should stand near him every day till he thwors up.
What’s the chiddush? My Bais Yaakov teacher here in Israel taught us that in Israel’s hot climate, we are obligated to take luke warm showers during the 9 days. As far as I know, that’s what everyone here does.
How about a Porto Rican shower is that mutter??
Anyone who has a BO (body odor)problem may and please should shower
Some go even further than what Yodea Sefer says: they are machmir the whole year!!!
Although I say this in jest there are many who will not use deoderants. I have seen in a sefer (I’d rather not give the title) that in accordance with the Rambam in dealing with the issur of interchanging men’s and women’s clothing that the wearing of deoderants is an issur d’Orraissa (excuse spelling).
As I pointed out, if this same person had learnt through the Rambam properly, he would have been aware that in Hilchos Birchus Henehenin (I’ll leave you to find where) the Rambam states that even for a talmid chochom it is mutur l’chatchilla to wear “perfumes” to minimixe body odours – even if perfumes are worn just to make a nice smell, the Rambam does not say it is an issur (this would certainly be the case for those perfumes meant specifically for men). No where does the Rambam state that this is an issur.
Without going into any deapths, I would point out that minhag is dependent on what people do – not what is in a sefer. Shulchan Oruch, in one sense, is a snapshot of practices applicable in a particular period of time and particular places.
Those who may object to this view should think of how many practises mentioned in gemorra we are informed are no longer followed – whilst in the same breath we will be told that we do such and such because it states . . .
Effectively, minhag (and even halachic proctises) change either due to people, circumstances or the fear of fire and brimstone threatened by rabbonim or others.
I would also respectively point out that many sources are da’as yochid (sometimes blown out of all proportion) and not a beis din or posek (who would have discussed issues with others).
The bottom line is that keeping clean in the nine days (a minhag) is not a p’sak (as some have voiced) but a sensible suggestion. Having been put forward by someone of such standing, those who wish to be machmir have no right to impose their views (and certainly their stinking body odours) on others.
i love the picture, from what yishva is this?
It’s one thing for a bunch of Jewish guys sitting around in a yeshiva learning with other Jewish guys — if they want to be machmir on this, everyone understands why.
But if Jewish people have to use public transportation to go to work and then work in a place with non-Jews (and unless you work in a Yeshiva or on 47th Street, that’s most of us) and you show up for work dirty, stinking and unwashed on say, Day 6 of the Nine Days, and wearing dirty unwashed clothes, smelling and looking like a bum, that will hold our customs up to ridicule and create a Chillul Hashem, or as they say in Yiddish, make a shande fur de goyim. Pass the soap, please.
Non-Jews are absolutely disgusted by the smell. The memory of the foul odor is then associated with Jews in general, with Judaism, with Torah. This impression of “disgusting Jews” lasts a lifetime. This is no small issue.
It’s not a Mitzvah to stink.
How does this apply to a mourner? How does it apply to a Yom Tov, especially one that follows Shabbos?
What’s all the speculation? Every “yeshivishe” speaker I’ve heard about halachos regarding the 9 days say that sweaty areas of the body can be washed in lukewarm water … sometimes in the summer that means a quick shower because the entire body has gotten sweaty. No big deal.
But not soap and definitely no deoderant!!