Q. A man who goes to the Mikva for the honor of Shabbat or after having relations, can he take a shower after exiting the Mikva. This is most important in our times when we a very concerned with possible infections?
A. On question 2676 regarding women that have to go to the Mikvah during the coronavirus days, if they should take a shower after they get back home, but not inside the Mikvah place itself, we wrote:
“Remah (Y.D. 201: 75) maintains that women should not take a bath after immersing in a Mikveh. Shach explains that this is based on Talmud (Shabbos 14a), to prevent observes thinking that the bath is the main purifier.
However, Mareh Cohen quotes that Shevet Halevy (5: 125) is lenient for all women when it is done at home, and also quotes RS”Z Auerbach zt’l, that taking a shower is permitted. (See also Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 162 :9 and Taharas Yisrael 161).
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that in your particular case it is also permitted, as it is not considered being in the Mikveh site”.
Most Poskim maintain that men can surely shower after immersing in a Mikva, as a man in our days of not eating Kodshim, Teruma, or entering the Bais Hamikdosh is never truly required to immerse in a Mikva. Indeed, with the possible exclusion of Erev Yom Kippur, all men’s immersion in a Mikva today is essentially a tradition and not an obligation. (Mevasseret Tzion, O.H. 7).
V’aleihu Lo Yibol (2 p. 286), mentions that Horav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt’l was very strict and careful to take a shower before immersing in a Mikva, so to keep the water as clean as possible. He said that doing so is a fulfillment of “You shall love your fellow as yourself.” He adds that he would also shower after using the Mikva, knowing that there are those who do not shower before immersing in the Mikva thereby compromising the cleanliness of the water and the possible infections of others.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is similar.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller and Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu Shlit'a
Important Numbers
