Q. I do occasionally home repair work. Can I work in a bathroom fixing tiles, which may take a few hours, while listening to a Torah tape? I have not yet completed my conversion to Judaism. Thanks.
A. Poiskim write that if the bathroom is already in use, as it seems from your question, you cannot listen to a Torah tape while working inside, as you would be thinking Torah thoughts in an undesirable location. (Be'er Moishe 6, 108, 4 – Be'er Sorim 36).
It is noteworthy to mention that Horav Ovadia Yosef Shlit"a (Yavia Omer 5,11 – Halichos Oilom 1, p.119) permits listening to tapes or liturgical music while taking a bath on a private bathroom that has no toilet present. According to his view you would be permitted to listen to Torah tapes while working in such a location.
However, Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is to be always particularly respectful on the holiness of the Torah, regardless whether one has completed his conversion or not.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Rav Chayim Pinchas Scheinberg zt"l told a handyman in my neighborhood in Yerushalayim that one is forbidden to think Torah thoughts when his head is above the toilet (even if the top is down) but everywhere else in the bathroom he is permitted to do so. And because it is permitted to do so, he added, one is obligated to do so, otherwise it is bitul Torah.
Posted: 4/15/2012 3:00:39 AM by:
Mordechai Perlman
Important Numbers
