Wed, July 21, 2021  ‫ תשפ“א‬,‫י“ב אב‬ ‘‫סימן פ“ד סעיף א‬

Halacha Highlight Overview

Reciting berachos in a dressing room Siman 84 Seif 1:
Shulchan Aruch Siman 84 Seif 1 It is permitted to read shema in a new bathhouse that was never used.
'‫ובא;מצעי שקצת העומדין שם לבושים וקצת ערומים וכו‬ Regarding an old bathhouse – in the outer room where people are
And in the middle room where some people are dressed and some clothed it is permitted to read shema, in the middle room where some
are not etc. people are dressed and some people are not one may greet others
Shulchan Aruch ('‫ )סע' א‬mentions that there are three different areas of but he may not read shema or daven and it is permitted to contem-
a bathhouse and each one has a separate set of halachos. In the out- plate Torah matters there. In the inner room where people are not
er room where people generally are clothed it is permitted to even covered even greeting others is prohibited. (It is prohibited to answer
read shema. In the inner room where people are not clothed, not only ‫ אמן‬in a bathhouse.)
is prohibited to read shema there, but one may not even greet people  Shulchan Aruch refers to where it was not used for bathing even
with the term ‫שלום‬. In the middle room, where some people are once. (M.B. 1)
clothed and others are not, one may not read shema or recite she-  There is a disagreement whether one could read shema in the
mone esrei but it is permitted to greet people with the term ‫שלום‬.There middle room if everyone is dressed but in the inner room all
is a disagreement whether one is permitted to recite devarim she- agree that one may not read shema even if no one is undressed.
b’kedusha in the middle room if at the moment everyone is clothed. (M.B. 3)
According to Bach, since the area is designated for people who are  If one physically changes a bathhouse or even a bathroom with
clothed and unclothed it remains the middle room of a bathhouse and the intention that it will no longer serve its previous function one
one may not recite devarim she-b’kedusha. According to Elya Rabba may affix a mezuzah to the doorway and daven there. (M.B. 3)
and Pri Megadim, as long as at the moment everyone is dressed it is  Taz implies that if one did read shema or daven in the middle
permitted since the place itself is not filthy (‫)ע' חיי משה‬. room he is not required to repeat his tefila if there was no one
Sefer Piskei Teshuvos ('‫ )אות ב‬writes that the dressing room of a mikvah undressed nearby at the time. Concerning an immersion room
or locker room is comparable to the middle room of a bathhouse as- Taz maintains that it has the same status as the middle room of a
suming the following conditions are met. The first condition is that the bathhouse and one should not recite any beracha there other than
dressing room must be set apart from the showers or mikvah. It is not the beracha on immersion. If a mikvah is located in a bathhouse it
necessary for a door to separate the two rooms. A second condition is is prohibited to recite the beracha on immersion there. (M.B. 4)
that the dressing room cannot fill with steam. If, for example, there are  The reason it is permitted to contemplate Torah matters is that
numerous people using the showers and steam fills the dressing room there is no prohibition against contemplating Torah matters in
it is considered for that period of time similar to the inner room in front of an ervah. (M.B. 5)
which one may not even greet a friend with the term ‫שלום‬.  One may also not wish “Shalom” to a friend in a dirty street since
it is treated like the inner room of a bathhouse. (M.B. 6)
 There is a disagreement whether one could refer to a person
Stories to Share named Shalom in a bathhouse. Halacha follows the lenient
opinion but one who is G-d fearing will be stringent. Similarly,
one should avoid writing the word Shalom on a letter that will be
The Names of Hashem thrown away. (M.B. 6)
"...‫ "אפילו שאילת שלום אסור‬:'‫ א‬,‫ש"ע ס' ע"ד‬  The restriction against answering ‫ אמן‬is limited to the inner room
A certain man did his utmost to carefully fulfill every detail of but it is permitted in the middle room. (M.B. 7)
halachah with joy. When he was in the bathroom or mikveh he was  If one is asked a halachic question while in the inner room one
careful never to greet his friend with the word “shalom,” since this is may only respond, “This is a bathhouse.” In the middle room
forbidden by the Mishnah Berurah, as we find on today’s amud. there is a dispute whether one could say, “One cannot answer
One Shabbos when this man was in the mikveh, someone halachic questions in the bathhouse” and in an effort to promote
wished him a good Shabbos. Naturally, he replied in kind. But then peace one may be lenient. (M.B. 7)
he realized that this may not be permitted for him. After all, those  One should not drink in a bathhouse since it is prohibited to
who prohibit saying shalom explain that Shalom is the Name of Ha- recite a beracha there. If necessary one should recite the beracha
shem—doesn’t the Zohar state that Shabbos is also the Name of Ha- in the outer room. (M.B. 7)
shem? If he was stringent in one aspect, shouldn’t he be careful in  Later authorities indicate that a bath in one’s home must be
another? On the other hand, perhaps it would be improper for him treated the same as the inner room of a bathhouse. (M.B. 7)
to fail to reply to his friend’s greeting. Maybe for that reason alone,
he had acted correctly by replying with a warm, “Good Shabbos.” machlokes in Meseches Derech Eretz and we hold that one should
When this question reached the Kaf Hachaim he explained that it not respond in kind. Yet you need not be rude. Instead of wishing
was actually two separate questions. “Your first question is whether him a good Shabbos, why not say something like, ‘You should have
Shabbos is the same as Shalom in this regard? The answer is a re- all the blessings and good?’”
sounding yes. As you correctly reasoned, saying Shabbos in the bath- The Kaf Hachaim, added one point to this. “If you see someone
room or mikveh is the same as saying Shalom. violating Shabbos in the mikveh, however, you can call out Shabbos
“The second question is a bit more complex. If one is greeted so that he will realize and cease. Yet it is better to swallow the tav and
with Shalom in the bathhouse, should he respond in kind? This is a say ‘Shavah,’ since this will probably be enough to give him pause.”
'‫ ס"ק ז' וח‬,‫ ס' פ"ד‬,‫כף החיים‬