Little kids have no clothes left

amother

Rose

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 8:19 am

Oh no! Just realized my 2 youngest aged almost 2 and 3.5 don't have any shirts left, and very few tshirts. Does anyone know the halacha if I can wash?

zaq

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 8:22 am

Yes you can wash clothes of young children because they get dirty all the time. Check out the OU website for recent Halacha Yomit articles on this topic.

amother

Seagreen

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 8:35 am

Chol hamoed is more stringent... I wash all kids cloths every nite. It's smelly and I live in a small apt and cant leave dirty laundry. I asked a very respected rav with a "reputation" for saying no... Its a good idea to ask a rav since we often overdo ourselves when unnecessary. But yes- young children? Ive never heard it a problem

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 3:02 pm

If anyone doesnt have clean clothing, I would assume you could wash. We dont each have 9 shirts to wear the whole 9 days. I already did a load last thursday. It was unavoidable.
You do what you have to do. Sometimes it cant be helped.

amother

Gray

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 3:17 pm

I'm trying to understand where the op is coming from.....On one hand your machmir enough that you are considering not doing a wash because it's the 9 days. On the other hand your halachic authority that you are seeking guidance from is rabbi imamother. So your machmir enough to ask but you will accept an answer from anonymous strangers. Sorry if this is harsh. I just don't get it.

WastingTime

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 3:30 pm

Yes you can wash, not sure though what the differentiation btw "shirts" and "t-shirts" is and why they can't just wear aforementioned t-shirts.
I am wondering if you mean undershirts? Unless you live in the southern hemisphere ( don't they call undershirts" vests" anyway?) , that wouldn't make sense

allthingsblue

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 3:36 pm

WastingTime wrote:

Shirts = button downs
T shirts= no buttons

amother

Aqua

Sun, Jul 30 2017, 7:35 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

I'm not sure that halacha works that way.

(For kids yes, of course you can if you need it.)

WastingTime

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 5:44 am

allthingsblue wrote:

Shirts = button downs
T shirts= no buttons

Well I can work that out but it sounds like OP is making a differentiation that would make a difference to the washing. Like there are no shirts left, only tshirts,so I must wash. Why would it make a difference what type of shirts. As they say in Israel "מה הקשר"

rydys

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:32 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Actually, no, you cannot wash the clothes. It is not permissible to do laundry or wear freshly washed clothes during the nine day, except for small children. One should pre-wear their freshly washed clothes before the 9 days (for a short period is fine, some just throw it on the floor or step on it before wearing). If you don't have enough clothing for 9 days (which many people don't), then you rewear the same clothes several times.

mommyla

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:36 am

rydys wrote:

Not everyone pre-wears their clothes. I never saw anyone do that until I went to sleepaway camp.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:38 am

rydys wrote:

The clothing that were washed had been made too filthy to wear them again (and already had been worn a few times) so I literally had no choice but to wash a few shirts.
And not me personally, but I can think of a few different scenarios where one would not be able to wear shirts multiple times. If one goes to work every day, they can not wear shirts that stink or are soiled.
And my child's clothing were so dirty from a day of camp, it could not be worn again.

rydys

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:47 am

When I was working with non-Jews I purchased enough clothes to wear clean ones for the work days of the 9 days. This can be done slowly throughout the year.

The reason for not wearing fresh clothes is because we are in a minor mourning period. A person in the 7 days of Shiva wears the same clothes each day. Wearing freshly washed clothes and eating meat and wine bring pleasure to a person and we do not do so to show that we are foregoing our pleasures as a sign of mourning.

Children do not have these obligations as they cannot understand the mouring period. It is permissible for children to wear clean clothing although it is better to limit the actual number of loads that are washed as the general prohibition includes washing.

rydys

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:49 am

mommyla wrote:

Not everyone pre-wears their clothes. I never saw anyone do that until I went to sleepaway camp.

As I mentioned, there are different minhagim what to do with the clothes, but something should be done so that they are not straight from the dryer, like throwing them on the floor.

amother

Ruby

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 10:50 am

rydys wrote:

When I was working with non-Jews I purchased enough clothes to wear clean ones for the work days of the 9 days. This can be done slowly throughout the year.

rydys, not everyone has the money for that. Yes, really. I have maybe 4 shirts that I alternate. Thats it. Dont just assume that everyone can afford that.

mommyla

Mon, Jul 31 2017, 11:02 am

rydys wrote:

As I mentioned, there are different minhagim what to do with the clothes, but something should be done so that they are not straight from the dryer, like throwing them on the floor.

Nope, not everybody does that either. I wear fresh clothes as long as they haven't been washed during the 9 days.