#6001 - A Shower of a Shailah!

Shulchan Aruch (O.H. 551:16) mentions a custom practiced by Ashkenazim of not bathing or showering from Rosh Chodesh Av until after Tisha B’Av.

HoRav Moshe Soloveichik explained the reason as follows: When one of someone’s relatives dies, there are three periods of mourning he may have to observe: First, “Shivah,” the week of intensive mourning right after burial; Then the “Shloshim,” a thirty-day period (including the week of Shivah) in which one observes various mourning restrictions; and in the case mourning for a mother or father, the mourning is “Yud Bet Chodesh,” a year (including the week and month of Shivah and Shloshim) of additional limited mourning restrictions.

Tisha B’Av (this year, 2026, is July 23, is a day of such intense mourning that we observe all of the restrictions of Shivah, in addition to fasting. The Ashkenazi custom is to adopt many restrictions of Shloshim during the Nine Days – from Rosh Chodesh Av until after the Tisha B’Av mourning – and restrictions of Yud Bet Chodesh during the earlier part of the Three Weeks (beginning this year on June 29th).

Rav Moshe Soloveichik explained that the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 381:1) records the original Ashkenazic custom not to shower or bathe for the entire Shloshim period. Therefore, the custom was to similarly refrain from showering or bathing during the Nine Days.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Y. Hirshman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu, Horav Kalman Ochs, and Horav Dovid Bartfeld consulting, Horav Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Berkowitz Shlit’a