14 votes

Cleaning blood from the temple

It is logical to think that the priests were careful, so that the blood only landed on the floor, and not on the actual curtains. Regarding Beit HaMikdash, the whole place was covered with aqueducts ...
Cauthon's user avatar
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12 votes
Accepted

Cleaning blood from the temple

To supplement, not supplant, Cauthon's good answer, I'll note that the mishna (Midos chapter 3) says that the altar and its ramp would be cleaned every Friday with a cloth, because of the blood. (This ...
msh210's user avatar
  • 73.7k
11 votes
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Germaphobes washing on Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur

Regarding washing on Yom Kippur, the Tur (OH 613) writes: ביה"כ...ואם היו ידיו מלוכלכות בטיט וצואה מותר לרוחצן שלא אסרו אלא רחיצה של תענוג ...וכן בכל היום אחר שעשה צרכיו וקנח או הטיל מים ושפשף ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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9 votes
Accepted

Moving the fridge for Pesach cleaning

The Radvaz (Teshuvos, chelek aleph: 135) and the Chayey Adam (119:6) explain that the reason we clean cracks and crevices from chametz is because maybe we may come to eat it on Pesach (because it ...
David Kenner's user avatar
  • 10.7k
9 votes

Cleaning Tallis Godol and Tallis Koton

The Rema OC 21:3 mentions, that some have a custom of not giving a Tallis to a non-Jewish launderer. The Beis Yosef (ibid.) notes that he never heard of such a custom. Rabbi Zalman of Liadi in his ...
IsraelReader's user avatar
  • 4,892
8 votes

Washing Tallit Katan

The best way to wash a wool tallit katan is by hand washing it. Washing machines and dryers can severely mess up a wool tallit katan if you're not careful. I would suggest hand washing the tallit ...
ezra's user avatar
  • 18.5k
8 votes

Cleaning blood from the temple

In addition to the other answers, we have some evidence that blood did land on the veil in the Holy of Holies when the Kohein Gadol (High Priest) sprinkled it there on Yom Kippur, and that they weren'...
Scimonster's user avatar
6 votes

How should a tallit gadol be washed?

Buy something what is called WOOLITE. This is special detergent for wool, you can find it in every supermarket. Put your talis in the bucket, fill with warm, not hot water, add cup of Woolite and ...
Eliyahu Yosef P's user avatar
6 votes
Accepted

Cleaning a Torah Scroll

I relayed your question to the sofer who maintains our scrolls. Here's what he said (my notes from a verbal conversation): The "dust" that came off of the scroll is white mold, not the parchment ...
Monica Cellio's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Crumbs of chametz that will not be eaten on Pesach but are easily accessed

The OP mentions "less than a kazayis" as well as "crumbs". It is proper to note that the two terms are not automatically the same in Halachah. A question can be asked as to when does a small piece of ...
David Kenner's user avatar
  • 10.7k
5 votes
Accepted

Are there any issues with blowing on your glasses to clean them on Shabbat?

R. Moshe Stern (Be'er Moshe 6:62) explicitly permits one to clean glasses on Shabbos, by both blowing on and wiping the glasses. He does not cite the Rema's ruling (OC 319:17) in which he finds ...
Oliver's user avatar
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5 votes

Drying a cup on Shabbos with a paper napkin

There are two melachoth that could be violated during an act of squeezing - dosh/mefarek (extracting) or melabein (cleaning). With regard to the former, your point is to absorb the moisture into the ...
Loewian's user avatar
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4 votes
Accepted

How do you wash a Kittel?

I always bring my kittel to the dry cleaner. It always comes back nice and clean (and freshly ironed).
Daniel's user avatar
  • 24.7k
4 votes
Accepted

Pesach: Birds and Backyards

Your friend's explanation has its source in the Gemara Pesachim 8a. "Rava says: A courtyard does not need to be checked for chametz since crows are to be found there." This is the accepted Halachah. ...
David Kenner's user avatar
  • 10.7k
4 votes

Moving the fridge for Pesach cleaning

As long as there's no reasonable chance of encountering it on Pesach, then no. (This comes up more often as people try to find any chametz behind their fridge, but the same idea -- try sweeping ...
Shalom's user avatar
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4 votes
Accepted

Justifying housework / keeping one’s home clean and tidy

I don't know about the rest of the week, but as a starting point, we are enjoined to make an effort before the onset of Shabbat. It writes in Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 262:1): לקדש השבת בשלחן ערוך ...
Dov's user avatar
  • 30.3k
3 votes

Washing Tallit Katan

Wool needs to be washed warm, hot water will shrink it, usually. Safest is to hand-wash them. If you want to machine wash them, it's best to put the fringes in plastic bags (and poke a few holes) ...
Danny Schoemann's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Sponja on Shabbos - May one do it?

I once told off the shames in Zichron Moshe stiebelach for doing sponja on Shabbos. He responded that Dayan Fisher had told him it was permissible so I should direct any further enquiries to the dayan....
pcoz's user avatar
  • 2,010
3 votes

What's the deal with showering on yom tov?

Most of his rulings are according to his Rebbe Rabbi Schacther
MosheRabbi's user avatar
3 votes

How do you get oil residue off of a menora?

People have told me soaking it in ammonia also works. I soaked my oil glasses in ammonia for a couple of days and it worked pretty well. I did keep it outside while I was soaking it because of the ...
Eliyahu's user avatar
  • 5,365
3 votes

Not to sweep floor on day of traveling (source)

This appears to be a general superstition: See here: Bulgaria: Skip sweeping after someone departs No matter how untidy your abode gets after you leave for a trip, make sure no one sweeps ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 49.1k
3 votes

Justifying housework / keeping one’s home clean and tidy

I found an interesting source about this which warns not to be too uptight about getting one's children to clean the house: יש לתמוה מה שכתוב בתורה והנה טוב מאד כמה פעמים במעשה בראשית. ובמשנה תורה ...
Mordechai's user avatar
  • 3,463
3 votes

How important is hygiene beyond required washing and mikvah immersion to Jews?

The Gemara (Shabbos 50b) says that one should wash his face, hands and feet every day, to honor his creator, and Rashi explains because man was created in His image Also, Rashi (Devarim 14:1) explains ...
שלום's user avatar
  • 3,197
3 votes
Accepted

How important is hygiene beyond required washing and mikvah immersion to Jews?

As Yaacov Deane wrote in his answer, the Rambam puts great emphasis on a hygienical life and says that we must life healthy in order to serve our Creator. We must, according tot the Rambam, "...
Shmuel's user avatar
  • 8,852
2 votes

Freshly laundered clothes in the nine days

Regarding throwing clothes on the floor, I'll just add the source במנחת יצחק י, מד Harav Shlomo Zalman Orbach zt"l didn't like this suggestion, because it doesn't really do anything to the clothes to ...
Avi Hirsch's user avatar
2 votes

Freshly laundered clothes in the nine days

If you cannot put on the clothes on the days prior to 1 Av, (or 2 Av is 1 Av is on Shabbat,) then just drop your clothes on the floor and move them around like you're sweeping for a minute, then put ...
Jesse Corey's user avatar
2 votes

How do we determine whether a dish is clean?

There are two places in halacha where this question is commonly addressed: the laws of insects/forbidden organisms in food and the laws of cleaning for Pessah. In both cases the key criteria is visual ...
mbloch's user avatar
  • 48k

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