- Q. Dear Rav, regarding the upcoming Yomim Tovim. can a person who usually showers every day take a shower on Yom Yov, (especially this year where two days of Yom Tov follows Shabbos)?
If one is feeling generally uncomfortable about not showering for so many days in a row? And even to the extent of feeling dirty? Is it any different for a woman?
A. On question 1240 we wrote:
“Q. Is there basis for being able to use hot water for showering on Yom Tov because in today’s times when people have the luxury of having hot showers in their homes it seems to have become much more “shave lakol nefesh”?
A. Although the Shulchan Aruch(O.H,- 511:2) permits to wash on water heated before Yom Tov, Rema (ibid.) prohibits.
Mishna Berura (551: 9 -18) rules like the Rema, that one may not take a full body shower with hot water on Yom Tov even if it was heated before Yom Tov. However, one may wash one’s whole body part by part with water heated before Yom Tov and one may heat up water on Yom Tov to wash one’s hands, feet, and face.
Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchoso (14: 7) discusses the topic at length and although he maintains that there is some grounds to be lenient, nonetheless he remains stringent. So is Tzitz Eliezer (6: 20, 11: 64), Avnei Yoshfe (3: 55) quoting Horav Elyashiv zt”l, Horav Yisroel Belsky zt”l (quoted in Halachically Speaking), Rivevos Ephraim (16: 265, 8: 248: 1) and others.
Halacha Yomit mentions that Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef Shlita maintains (for Sephardim) that if the water was heated well before the onset of Yom Tov and the boilers operation on Yom Tov serves only to retain the waters heat but not to reheat it, one may use this water to wash his entire body on Yom Tov.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is to be stringent following the Poskim mentioned above. If one usually uses the shower as tisha kavim (instead of immersing in a mikva) the Rov’s opinion is that he may use a lukewarm shower for tisha kavim.
Same would apply to one suffering significantly from excessive heat and perspiration on a hot Yom Tov day. A hand shower is also recommended.”
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
