S/o why people lenient with showers versus laundry in 9 days

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Forum -> Judaism -> Halachic Questions and Discussions

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amother

Plum

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 9:09 pm

Why are people not lenient with laundry during the 9 days while we are with showers? Obviously you need to shower otherwise you sweat or smell, but laundry? Why can't you wash your clothes if you need it? Is it because nowadays you can just buy more clothing?

amother

Jade

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 9:46 pm

You can't run away from a smelly body LOL

amother

Ginger

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 9:54 pm

Most people have enough clothing to get through even if they pre-wear it before. For children you are allowed to wash.

I, for instance, have enough unmentionables to get me through the Nine Days or Pesach or Succos, all of which need lots of clean items.

SuperWify

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 10:47 pm

Because you have more then one set of clothes but not more then one body....

notshanarishona

Mon, Jul 16 2018, 11:44 pm

You can't bath for pleasure. It doesn't say you can't shower for cleanliness.
Two different things.

amother

Slategray

Tue, Jul 17 2018, 12:52 am

Also, men shower but are less likely to deal with the post Tisha b'Av laundry pile. Wink

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Jul 17 2018, 3:53 am

I know people who are lenient about laundry during the 9 days.

And no, not everyone has enough clothing to go through 9 days without washing.

chocolate moose

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 3:59 pm

I believe I learned that it's better to purchase new items of clothing rather than washing, but I'm not sure most ppl go by that these days.

OBnursemom

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 7:34 pm

I have tops 4-5 shirts to wear at the moment (I mean besides scrubs) and I have spit up stains on my shoulders daily. I have 2 or 3 skirts that need to be washed when one of the littles hugs me after eating peanut butter or chocolate or fillintheblankhere. I wash them with my little kid clothes. Because I have a newbie who needs blow out poop clothes washed the same day, and I’m in the throes of toilet training as well. I’m lucky if I don’t have to do laundry every single day. If it makes a difference, my clothes aren’t fresh from breakfast time. I’m not luxuriating in my freshly laundered silken garments or anything. Just trying to be socially acceptable.

OBnursemom

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 7:36 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

I believe I learned that it's better to purchase new items of clothing rather than washing, but I'm not sure most ppl go by that these days.

Lol. If only I were rich enough to buy myself new clothes every time I got dirty.

Seas

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 8:18 pm

Because the issur of showering is at the core an issur of rechitza shel taanug - bathing for pleasure. This includes a soak in the hot tub and a refreshing swim, but not really washing for hygienic purposes when necessary.

That is not to say any and all showering is permitted, but basically absolutely necessary showering wasn't part of the prohibition.

Laundry, OTOH, doesn't have these leniencies, as it's the actual act of doing laundry that is prohibited.

amother

Black

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 8:26 pm

A little off topic but does anyone know if I can start sorting the laundry and filling machine if I do not start it til after the zman?

fraimal

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 8:49 pm

I was told that I can do that

amother

Plum

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 11:39 pm

Seas wrote:

Doing laundry is not pleasure- in fact its annoying, but its a necessity so that you have clean clothes. So I still don't understand the difference between the two.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 11:49 pm

amother wrote:

Doing laundry is not pleasure- in fact its annoying, but its a necessity so that you have clean clothes. So I still don't understand the difference between the two.

Chazal thought that the act of doing laundry was so monumental (as it was) that it was a sort of hesech hadaas and distracted people from remembering the churban. While that is obviously no longer the case, we've kept the prohibition.

shluchamom

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 12:44 am

Because in the Olden days bathing/showering wasn't a daily or every other day event. It was once a week most of the time and halacha actually differentiates that am 'istinis' which means someone who is very careful about his cleanliness amd gets bothered is allowed to take a shower for cleanliness not as a pleasurable bath. Today majority of us fall into that category even if we aren't ocd about our cleanliness because it's socially expected to take showers daily or every other day usually. Whereas laundry the halacha doesn't differentiate it only says for small children one is allowed so under certain situations one can do for adults as well but can't overall be lenient. I hope this clarifies it for you

amother

Mint

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 5:49 am

amother wrote:

It's not just underwear. I spend a lot of time cooking, (I find 9 days cooking is also more complicated and messy, I can't just cook some hot dogs or burgers) with messy kids and my clothes just don't last, even if I wear an apron. Sure, I could wear my skirt that is too short since I put on 10 pounds but I figured tznius trumps 9 days. I am anyway doing laundry for my toddler who still has accidents so I washed some of my stuff too.

amother

Plum

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 10:13 am

shluchamom wrote:

If you have enough clothes to last and a place to put the dirty laundry for the 10 days, then it makes sense to wait. But if you don't, not sure why someone who is an istinis- and can't stand dirty clothing, can't wash it? Again doing laundry is not a pleasure. To me it seems the same.

amother

Salmon

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 2:10 pm

Your lucky if people in past generations bathed weekly.
My grandmother's mother ran the mikva for a few villages in Europe. My grandmother says for most people bathing before the mikva (at the mikva) was the only bath they would take all month. (My grandmother describes preparing the mikva and bath in the winter very difficult - they had to be told the night before that someone was coming and start heating the water early in the day - the bath water was not changed between women either...)

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