Hilchos Tevilah: Long Nails, Hangnails, and the Laws of Chatzitzah

Transcript

The Rama says, kuf tzadi ches se'if chaf. The question is—just stop it for one second. Okay. The Rama, kuf tzadi ches chaf. What are we discussing today? We're going to discuss a woman goes to make, and she notices that her nails are too long. Comes back, it's a problem. The nails are too long. The question is, what's the halacha? So the Rama, kuf tzadi ches se'if chaf, discusses long, long nails. So who's going to read the Rama? לפני המיעו. What is it? Dafka בשעת שטבלה. Before the miu. What is it? How does it start? So what does the Rama mechaber speak? What's before this? How does it start? That's where the mechaber starts. If יש לה נופח על מקום הציפורן, ואינה יכולה לא לחתוך ולא לקטות. Okay, right, so go ahead. Right. אם נפוחה כל כך שאין הטיט שתחת הציפורן נראה, אינה חוצצת. Right. Now, דווקא בצק שתחת הציפורן חוצץ. Right. Continue. אבל הציפורן עצמה אינה חוצצת. So therefore, ואפילו אם היתה גדולה ועומדת להיחתך, ופורחת ועוברת מכנגד הבשר, אינה חוצצת. In other words, even if it's coming out—it's coming out more than—right? So then what's the halacha? אינה חוצצת. It's not chotzet. What does it mean, parach? What is the translation? It spreads, maybe. Parach jumps over? It means it's growing past it? Beyond, right? What about if it's not beyond, which means it's white, it's long, and it's exactly—now, I could say it's worse. You know why? It's when it's long, so you can get in the water, get in. But if it's exactly there, so it's a little too—it's tight against the flesh. But it's telling you vafilu, it's using lashon vafilu im hayta gedolah. Right, so the chiddush is the afilu, gedolah. The big is the chiddush, which means it's so big, so you would say that part of the nail is not good, but at least the water can go in. But mashenkin when it's against the basar, then there should be a problem. It's a very big issue in Acharonim, how to learn this Rama. Very interesting in the Rama, it's a very big shaila how to learn the Rama. So read the Rama, read the Rama. Now, what is he going back on? You understand? Could be then the question is how to learn the mechaber the other way. Maybe the mechaber is talking about when the nail is too long. When the nail is too long, on this Rama it's asur, that no good to make it go back. But where it's not overly long, it's just against the basar, maybe you don't have to go back. It's a question: what is the starting point that a mechaber can understand what the Ramo is learning? So there's a very famous teshuva that everybody speaks about. The Ramo on the whole thing, even if it's not long, Ramo is asri. The question is, in what case is he asri? So first, we're not even sure what the mechaber means, that the Ramo is asri. Asri, that means he's machmir on it, you see? So the question is, how do we learn a big shaila? It's a big shaila. How would you learn the mechaber, since you teach people halacha? So you tell me what's the right way to learn the mechaber. If they have long nails. What's called long? You mean long past the flesh? He said afilu. It says past the flesh. Wait, wait. Afilu hayu gedolim. That means if it's not afilu, for sure it's good. Right, so let me... You could have long nails which are not past the flesh, but they're still long. You see these white parts of the nail? That's not past the flesh. Mikneged habasar. What does mikneged habasar mean? From parallel. Me'overet, which means it goes... which means as long, but it's parallel to the skin, and then there's mikneged habasar more, longer than the skin. Right.

And he's telling you even that is good. How do you know he's telling you that? I get it. So let's read it one more time. I'll read to you the other way. Okay. No, you read it the other way. Right. So it's over mikneged habasar, right? So it's over mikneged habasar, right? And how big is that? And how far does it have to go to be called that? Again, which part of the basar? What are you referring—you're referring to lafukei the small nail or lafukei the complete basar? It's not clear what he means. There's many ways to translate what he's saying. That part is self-understood. Melachateh means it will be cut, which means it's big to such an extent that you would cut nails. Again, a lot of people cut their nails short, even when you have the white. There's a question: are we referring to white or are we referring to the long nails that the witches wear? What are we referring to? It's not clear in the Mechaber. And on this the Rema is machmir. So there's a very interesting Shevet HaLevi that wants to say that even according to the Rambam, the Rambam didn't aser only—aser or whatever, be machmir only on what's longer mamash longer, but what's mamash keneged habasar like that white, even though it's considered too long. It's not l'chatchila, they cut it off, but that's not what the Rambam meant that you have to go back to. I don't get why it's longer. It's like it's intruding it from going into the—it's not interfering with the water getting through. Okay, it can be this long, but still the water gets through. Right, but that itself is not needed. That nail is not supposed to be there. But what is the chatzitza too? Chatzitza on this part. So are you saying the chatzitza for this piece of the nail, for this beginning? Maybe. On top of it, maybe. The top is a chatzitza for the last part of it, for the part that's part of you. So you're talking about chatzitza to the basar. You're saying chatzitza to the actual nail. It's not clear. Again, I'm telling you, that's what it's talking about. He's talking about a case where the nail is a tefach. What's the chatzitza? Either just the nail itself, or... it's not clear. It's not a clear halacha. Oh, the problem. So the shach says this is the teshuva of the Shevet Levi. It's a famous teshuva. The only time Sherry Levi says what? That it means it's longer than the flesh. It's longer than the flesh. That's where the Ramo was machmir. According to the Ramo, if it's not longer, it doesn't protrude from the flesh, then it's not this sugya. Now, there's an interesting chiddush that wants to say, in the Shach and the Taz, that the Ramo's chumra is only when she went to the mikvah and she came back. But once she had tashmish, once she was nolad ba'alah, forget about the Ramo. Leave the Ramo alone. It's a chumra. Leave the Ramo alone. Now let's go read it. The Taz is seif katan chaf aleph, and the Shach is seif katan chaf hei. Tzarich tevilah acheres, says the Shach. Be'emes, chumra zu lo nimtzeis b'shum posek, v'ada רבה. Where did he get it from? If it's mutar, it's mutar. Chav is right. What's the chumras here? V'ada רבה, from the Mishnah, many poskim, v'da... vadai eina chotzetz, ela ha'godel she'aridurah. Who is this? Sha'ar HaDurah. Famous sefer on nidah, Sha'ar HaDurah. Ketav, v'tov lachmir... You have to know the name. Sha'ar HaDurah is like a big sefer. The Shach quotes him all the time, Sha'ar HaDurah, yeah. Ketav, v'tov lachmir... משום דאי אפשר שלא יהיה בתוכו טיט, ועל כן כתב הרבי... And then he says, so that's the Shach and the Taz. But אחר תשמיש, go ahead, yeah. Look at Rambam, Lublin. Lublin, right? The Rambam Lublin, it's a famous... So that's the big thing. The Rav is going to ask, calling after or before. There's also another shaila. What happens if she's right after the mikvah, before her husband, but the mikvah's closed? So מסתמא it's the same halacha. That's the question, what to say. What does the Shach say? I didn't get it clear. I can't go slowly the way you'd like to go. You have to get your coffee going. I'm sorry. Nothing. What does the Shach say? You know what the Shach says? The Shach says that if it's lanin ba'ayla—I know, sorry, I can't, that's not my problem that you want to write—the Shach says that if it's lanin ba'ayla, that since it was lanin ba'ayla, so therefore you're not going to be machmir. Too late. Don't make her go back to the mikvah for the Ramo's chumra. That's the Rambam.

Lemaaseh, what happens? She's not lonin ba'ila, but it's a different bedi'eved. What's that bedi'eved? The door's closed. Even if it's open, if she's at home and she doesn't want to go back to the— she doesn't want to be there. No, I think that she would be chayav. That's not— No, no, why? If she already— why? Because we by nightfall, she's gonna think, I live with my husband, I have to go back. Maybe you're gonna say the children are neidah because of that. So we tell her it's not true. But if we could close, different problem. That's what I'm saying. Don't sleep this night. Wait for tomorrow. Right, and that's the question. That's what we're asking. Do we have to do that or not? That's the question. The question is maybe it's not the same case. The Acharonim want to say this. Why? Because it's the same sevara. Since it's only a chumra, you can be machmir to go back to the mikveh. You can be machmir to aser l'ba'ila. Right, so what's the difference if she took a 30-minute drive to get to the mikveh, now she got home, it's like, Oh my goodness, now I have to go back there? Right, to be chayav. Why can't we say, Ah, being that it's only a chumra, she could stay home? So there's a certain thing called chumra. Chumra doesn't mean when it's easy to go back to— eating ice creams aren't chumras. It's when it's hard, it's chumra. I'm saying, why should it be any different? Because the mikveh is closed. Every time a woman says, You know what, I'm not feeling— what are you gonna do? I mean, but if there's a real— legitimate, it's a real chumra, that's a real chumra. It's not an excuse. It's not an excuse that the thing is closed or it's lonin ba'ila, so we let it go. Notice that the Mechaber and the Rama talk about one nail. What about all the nails? What about if she didn't cut any of her nails? This is not nice. Yeah, I would have said the opposite. That's one left is not nice. Oh, so the Acharonim say, I'm ready to convert. We'll just soon see this. So the darkei teshuva brings down— you have the darkei teshuva? The darkei teshuva brings down from Acharonim who adin all the nails. Ayde mechabes says one, eh, it's lav davka. He doesn't mean one, he meant them all. You don't have—it's a separate seif, the dakah chu. You have the piskei teshuvos quotes all the acharonim. He's melaket all the acharonim. L'choira, even though he says, tziporen, but hu hadin kol tziporen. Poskim ta'ina, ... it's a famous psak. If it's kol tziporen, it's better. Since the whole thing is about makpid, see, it's not about that the water doesn't go in; it's about makpid. So with all of them it's yafeh, but if all of them are cut and one of them is not cut, that makes it worse. It comes out of a ... chiddush. So ken zayin, we can clarify with the Ramazdin, of making them go back, won't be in a case—it's only one nail. We can have a kula. So is adding to Shulchan Aruch, is that? That's always adding. Teshuva says what's mutar is even kol tziporen. The shaylah now is, so what's now the Rama? Could be the Rama is not talking about a case where it's kol tziporen. Since it's more lenient, since it's less of a problem, so maybe it'll be mutar. We won't make her go back to the mikveh. Because I'm telling you, it doesn't say that. Oh, pshat is you would say only one, lefuki four, but all of them—right? In other words, if it's only one, ah, let it go. It's a small little nail, let it go. No. But if it's four, maybe it's a problem. But all of them, maybe b'chalal it's not a problem. It's a very interesting way of how to learn the sugya. Okay. Let's take a look now at a different shailah. Let's say it's not that it's on, but it's hanging. What happens if you have a hangnail? Is that included in this halacha? So look at the Shulchan Aruch, siman kuf tzadi ches, se'if chaf aleph. Right? If it's little, that's already no good. If it's רובה, eino chotzetz. Right? If it's most of it, it's not chotzetz. Right? Eino chotzetz. Right? Here it comes. So now we discussed till now, we discussed if you have a nail which is meduldal, hangnail. Hangnail, right? So the Mechaber says by a hangnail, what's the halacha? Halacha is that it's a problem if it's roif, right? Chaf aleph. No, mi'ut is roif, it's a problem; if roif is not a problem.

The opposite. Mi'ut is a problem and rov is not a problem. Tipah ha-medudalet shepirshah me'uta. I tried to focus. Don't worry about those silly things. I mean, it's by moments, you know, it's a day of moments. If I miss one moment, the whole, whole... here, it closes for a second. You want to hear what... The question is, the nail is meduldal. Okay, even if... Okay, so now the question is, what happens if the nail is meduldal? Okay, so mi'ut asur, ruba mutar. Comes along the shach and says, No, I want to be machmir. I decided that whether it's medul, whether it's hanging mi'ut, or whether it's hanging ruba, no good. Asur. Now we have a big problem. I mean, the Shach is very chumra. You saw the Shach over there, chumra, right? Even ruba, you see the Shach. What do we do? So many poskim are very courageous. They say, Shach here, Shach here. Who cares? You're wrong. So have a nice day. Even though it's... What's the reason? No, if it's mi'ut, it's asur, and rov it's mutar. It's gone. If it's rov, it's mi'ut, it's gone. But she's makpedet? No, how can you? It's not there anymore. You can be... I don't need it. But it is there. How can you use it over here? Let me tell you, if you look on the side, the Chasam Sofer and the Goyes Shulchan Aruch, he wants to say that the Shach is not the pshat he's talking about. The Shach is mamash, you know, he's meyashev the Shach. Look on the side over there. But the, but the, is he, is he the ...? ... you have it on the side? Maybe you don't have it. You don't have a ... from the side of Shulchan Aruch? No, no. It's strange. Some have, some don't. All right, well, the ones that have, have a ... that he writes clearly, Shach is this and that, there's raayos to him and ... So l'maaseh, you know, it's a shvera thing to ... Okay. So it comes an interesting chiddush. We could venture and say, if the poskim tell me I have the right not to pasken the Shach, so be it, you know. Kareles, you know, all the sefarim, all the Acharonim gedolim, where's ... no Shach. Okay. Question now is going to be interesting: is it hand or foot? Let's take a look at the lashon of the Mechaber. Which nails is he referring to? ... It doesn't say. It just says things. Look at the Pischei Teshuva, sif katan ... Now once he mechadesh it's only on the hands and not on the feet. He wants to ... Yud beis, no? Yud beis, I have written yud. Maybe I'm wrong. Go ahead. Okay, so he says, ... siman kuf tzadi kei, odot kalos shetovlot v'saroten arukot, v'hatidin l'kotz achar b'yad mitzvah. So maybe kuf yud beis, whatever you think. Look at the nails. He talks about the foot and the hands. Maybe it's the next one. So he says ... he doesn't talk about it over here. Then it's yud beis. We'll find it over there. It's one of them. No, yud beis is not talking about ... It's yud beis, the one on the Mechaber over here. No, I knew it. I have written yud. It's yud. I remember yud. It's yud, it's yud. Okay, fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's yud, yud. So ... Right, the chemdas Daniel, that's where it comes from. Why? What's the... Who cares? Nobody sees it. Now, it would be interesting, it would come out that in places where they walk around. You know, it's interesting, today you don't have where the front is cut out. But when I grew up, women wore, like, it's like shoes with the front. You were able to see the front of the feet. With socks or without? They used to wear the socks. They used to wear their... See-through. Yeah, but is that mutar? I don't know. I always see... They did it. I don't know. When I was young, it was done. I mean, I haven't seen it. I know Rav Asner always screams about it, about... What do you call... They say, no, that you can't see their feet. But that's not what we wear today. What do you want? Litvishe women don't do that. Today they don't do that. They don't wear that. I see, but they wear socks and you can see. They wear the stockings. From the old days, you used to have... You don't see them. That's what it was. And in Israel, they don't walk around... All the women, they used to wear sandals. What are you talking... You're lucky if they wore shoes. They could walk around barefoot also over there. Huh? Don't get... There's so many shitas. Whatever it is, this is yad veregel, okay? So the question is, maybe if it's...

Uncovered, that she's makpid. Well, maybe he means even if it's uncovered, they're not makpid. They don't care so much. It's not the same amount. It's going to bother her also. Huh? It's going to bother her. What? Yafriah, like the snail, it's going to bother her. I'm not talking about the meduldal. We're talking about now, stam, if the whole halacha applies to yad v'regel. So it's a very nice question. Many say that it only applies to the hand, not to the feet. Okay, now, what about meduldal on the feet? It's another question, right? In other words, like this: the Mechaber says more. On that, we have a shailah, feet or hand, right? What about meduldal? Does that apply to the hand and feet as well? Like you said, maybe it'll bother, so it doesn't really make a difference. By meduldal it's a different shailah maybe. Maybe it's more shailah that it's not comfortable, people don't want to do it. Now let's go to the next shailah. Do we have to be machmir on the feet, which many do? So I know that many—I've written it in the Shu... I mean the... many Acharonim. I know Reb Chatzkel in his shiurim, I've heard from him many times, feet, hands, what's the difference? It could be has to do with the nails. He's very makpid, the nails, the feet nails, the hand nails. It's a big thing by them. Very, very into cutting nails every Shabbos. My friend, that's what it is. They're very clean women that cut their nails. I don't know, they're very into that stuff, you know? I heard from Reb Chatzkel, he didn't see the difference between—I mean, he's not following this whole business, but many follow him, and the questions of what could be used. Could we apply it to meduldel? And then the next question is, could we apply it with miut and ruba of the shach? In other words, could we say like this: the shach that asks is afilu ruba. Could we come and say that regel is aser, like the shach, even meduldel, right? Even meduldel. Or do we say that since we're talking about two chumros, right, we're going to be machmir b'regel, which the Mechaber doesn't say, so we're not going to go so far. Two chumros is the shach, okay? That's the nidon. Then there becomes a nidon also, and I'm going to have to leave it, if you don't mind. What happens if she has fake nails? She paints on her finger those fake nails before a wedding. A lot of people put on these fake plastic nails. So you have to clarify: if you're talking about a makpid and not makpid, you mean klape chutz makpid, so this is a chumrah. I mean, they put it on to make it look nice. But if the sugya is not so much about what it looks klape chutz, but rather she doesn't look at it as part of her body. It depends if she takes it off at night. Depending on when she takes it off, it's there forever. That's where the shach... I know a lot of chareidim give a blanket thing, ah, it's all mutar. Not so pashut. You have to know the sugya a little bit better. I'm going to run now. What does Rebbe pasken? No, I just thought that's exactly what I have to leave, right?