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Why is flatulence forbidden in Tefillin and during prayer?

Is it because partials of the feces get stuck to the body so now you do not have a clean body?

or what?

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    What about simply: "It's impolite and inappropriate conduct while wearing an object as holy as Tefillin?" Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 16:30
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    As an aside, it likely isn't due to physical particals stuck to the body, for if that was the reason, you'd then need to wipe before continuing praying. Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 16:31
  • @Salmononius2 how do you know you do not need to? and why is it called a clean body (guf noki)?
    – hazoriz
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 16:32
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    AFAIK, no one mentions the requirement of needing to clean oneself before continuing prayer, while they do mention waiting for the smell to pass. I'm assuming that if cleaning was required, that would be mentioned too. You're right about the terminology 'Guf Naki', which seems to imply some sort of physical uncleanliness. Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 16:44
  • @Salmononius2 (first comment) So why isn't urination a problem?
    – Double AA
    Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 16:56

1 Answer 1

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The Ben Ish Chai(Od Yosef Chai Chaye Sarah 4) says the problem is the bad smell. He therefore says one is allowed to pass gas if he knows it will not smell.

http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=41237&st=&pgnum=19

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    It's an Od Yosef,but howe can one determine if it will produce a smell or not?
    – sam
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 0:25
  • @Sam beautiful, thanks! I guess by his own words at the end there, everybody knows their personal nature.
    – user6591
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 0:35
  • From my understanding it seems he is saying that it's more of a b'deieved ,but I see where your coming from
    – sam
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 0:37
  • I did have a question on his premise though. I'm quite certain there is a Gemara that refers to the passing of gas with a smell as an itush. I'll have to try to find that.
    – user6591
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 0:42

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