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Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/3

From Wikisource
Translation:Shulchan Aruch
by Yosef Karo, translated from Hebrew by Wikisource
Orach Chaim 3: Behavior in the bathroom
42078Translation:Shulchan AruchOrach Chaim 3: Behavior in the bathroomWikisourceYosef Karo

3: Conduct in the bathroom.

1 When one is about to enter the bathroom he should say: Be honored, you honored, etc. And it is not the custom to say this nowadays.

2 One should be modest in the bathroom, and not expose himself until he sits.

Gloss: And two people should not go together, also, one should not speak there, and he should close the door upon himself, because of modesty (Or Zarua).

3 If one wishes to work about the anus with a pebble or a chip of wood in order to open up his rectum, he should work about it before he sits but should not work about it after he sits, because this exposes him to the danger of witchcraft.

4 One should only expose himself one tefach at his rear, and two tefachim in front, and a woman - one tefach at her rear, and no amount at her front.

5 If one defecates in an open place without any partitions, he should try to face south with his rear facing north, or vice versa. However, east to west is forbidden. (And with regards to urinating, any manner is allowed) (Beit Yosef in the name of Maimonides).

6 Likewise, it is forbidden to sleep from east to west, if one's wife is with him. And it is proper to take care even when one's wife is not with him.

7 One who passes water "from Scopus inwards" (this refers to a place where the Temple Mount can be seen, and further away it can not be seen - Rashi) should (not) sit facing the Holy, (rather he should face north or south), or should keep the Holy to his side.

8 When one defecates in a field, if he is behind a fence he may defecate immediately. And in an open valley, he should distance himself to the point where his friend can not see his disorderly state.

9 One should not sit in a rushed or forceful manner. And one should not force himself exceedingly, so that he might not rupture the anal sphincter.

10 One should not wipe with the right hand.
11 One should not wipe with earthenware due to a concern of witchcraft. Nor with dry grass, for one who wipes with something that is flammable can dislocate the anal sphincter. Nor with a stone that another wiped with, because this can bring a person to hemorrhoids. Gloss: And now, that our bathrooms are not in the field, people are accustomed to wipe (earthenware and likewise they are accustomed to wipe) with something flammable, and this is not harmful. And go out observe what people do (Chidushei Agudah, Chapter Hamotzi)

12 One should relieve himself modestly at night, just as in the day.

13 One should not urinate from a standing position lest it sprinkle down upon his legs, if he is not on a high place, or relieving himself upon loose earth (meaning, soil that is not virgin, but rather like plowed earth).

14 Unless he is married, one should take care not to grasp the organ from the corona downwards and urinate, lest he bring forth seed in vain. However, it is a pious practice to take such care even if one is married.

15 It is permitted to aid from the testicles, even for one who is not married.
16 One who is married is not permitted to grasp the organ except to urinate. However, he is not to brush against it.

17 One who delays his cavities, transgresses the commandment, "You shall not make yourselves loathsome."