DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 780 KB)
Preparing Clothes Before the Week of Tisha B'Av

Halacha imposes several restrictions during the week of Tisha B'Av to remind us of the destruction of the Bet Ha'mikdash. These restrictions apply from the Motza'ei Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av through Tisha B'Av itself.

One of these restrictions is a prohibition against doing laundry during this week, which includes sending clothes to the cleaners (Shulchan Aruch 551:3). Additionally, it is forbidden to wear freshly-laundered garments during this week. Therefore, one must prepare ahead of time, before the week of Tisha B'Av, to ensure that he has enough changes of clothing that are not freshly washed. One does this by wearing all the garments he will need during that week for a couple of minutes (the time he takes to sweat) before the Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av. A person must therefore ensure to begin wearing ahead of time all the clothes he will need during the week of Tisha B'Av. This Halacha applies as well to tablecloths, towels, bed sheets, handkerchiefs and suits. It does not, however, apply to shoes, and thus one may wear a new pair of shoes during the week of Tisha B'Av.

As for shining shoes on Tisha B'Av, Chacham Bentzion Abba Shaul (Jerusalem, 1924-1998) writes in his work Or Le'Tziyon (vol. 3, chapter 27) that the prohibition against washing clothing was not intended to include shoes, and thus one may shine his shoes during the week of Tisha B'Av.

Summary: From the Motza'ei Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av through Tisha B'Av, it is forbidden to wash clothing, send clothing to the cleaners, or wear freshly laundered clothes. Therefore, one must ensure to wear whatever garments he will need for a couple of minutes (after he sweats if it is hot, otherwise 20 minutes) at some point before the week of Tisha B'Av. One may wear new shoes or polish shoes during the week of Tisha B'Av.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Torah Reading – If the Reader Shows the Oleh the Wrong Place; Leaning on the Teba
Monday and Thursday as Days of Compassion
Protocol When Entering a Synagogue; Standing at a Berit Mila and Pidyon Ha’ben
Placing the Rimonim on the Torah Scrolls; Removing the Torah From the Ark
Are Magic Shows Permissible?
Can a Torah Scholar be Exempt From the Misva of Procreation?
The Special Importance of Sedaka
Amira L'Akum- Instructing a Non-Jew to Perform Less Than the Minimum Measure of a Melacha
Amira L'Akum: Instructing a Non-Jew to Perform a Forbidden Labor Not Intended for Its Own Sake
Cards and Stickers With the Words “En Od Milebado”
How Many Children Must One Have to Fulfill the Misva of Peru U’rbu?
Beautifying Misvot
Consulting One’s Spouse Before Liquidating Assets
The Misva to Eradicate Amalek, and the Controversy Surrounding Accepting Reparations from Germany
The Status of the Unborn Kohen
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found