Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Are you allowed to talk on the phone in the bathroom?

R' OY (in Shas's newspaper) stated that a person should not talk on the phone in the bathroom unless it is very urgent (loss of money or sickness). He said that the reason is only for tznius. He quotes the ספר חרדים: "אין משיחין בבית הכסא מפני סכנת שדים המצויים שם, וצריך צניעות ושתיקה להינצל מהם". He points out that the nowadays in our bathrooms since we have running water and they are clean there is no סכנת שדים and it is only a din in tznius.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Mishna Brurah clearly states that one may not talk in a toilet except if in great need, and also definately not Besha'as the mayim is flowing

Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) said...

i remember reading years ago in the Jerusalem Report that when cellphones started becoming ubiquitous in Israel, rabbis had to remind people of this rule against talking in the bathroom.

Unknown said...

So why are kosher hotels allowed to have phones (or at least phone jacks) in the bathrooms?