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 ...
- 3,835
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 ...
- 73.7k
11
votes
Accepted
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 ...
- 35.4k
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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'...
- 23k
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 ...
- 169
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 ...
- 56.4k
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 11.9k
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 ...
- 17.7k
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).
- 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.
...
- 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 ...
- 131k
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 ...
- 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) ...
- 42.8k
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....
- 2,010
3
votes
What's the deal with showering on yom tov?
Most of his rulings are according to his Rebbe Rabbi Schacther
- 576
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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, "...
- 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 ...
- 95
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 ...
- 21
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 ...
- 48k
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