Q. Is it correct to just flush the cut nails on the sink or toilet, or do they have to be buried or burned in the back yard?
A. Talmud (Nidah 17a) mentions that in regard to removing one’s nails, our Sages taught: Three cases were stated. One who burns them is a “Chosid” pious, as he eradicates them entirely; one who buries them is on the slightly lower level of a “Tzadik” or a righteous individual, as they might be dug up; and one who simply throws them where a person might step upon them is a “Rosho” or wicked.
However, the common tradition we usually keep is that they are washed away down the sink and flow away and don’t stay in the ground so people will not step on them.
Why is this permitted? Mishna Berura (260: 6) mentions that since the reason for the above prohibition is to avoid that a woman would step on them and loose her pregnancy, if the location where one is cutting his nails is not a place where women enter, such as a men’s bathroom or mikva, it is permitted. The same obviously applies to nails discarded on a sink or similar area connected to the flow of discarded water.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a.
Important Numbers
