{"id":6075,"date":"2010-01-05T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=6075"},"modified":"2018-05-24T11:18:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T08:18:02","slug":"02-05-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-05-10\/","title":{"rendered":"10 – One Who Needs to Relieve Himself in the Middle of Praying"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ruling regarding a person who does not need to relieve himself when he starts to pray, but in the middle of his prayer feels a rising need, is based on how much he needs to relieve himself, and what stage of the prayer he is in. There are three levels of need concerning this law:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. One who can wait 72 minutes is permitted to finish praying.<\/li>\n
  2. One who estimates that he will not be able to wait 72 minutes, but does not yet have to contain the urge, and would have to exert himself slightly to relieve himself at the moment \u2013 since when he started to pray he was permitted, and his immediate need is not so great, he may finish the section that he is saying. If the need arises in the middle of Pesukei d\u2019Zimrah<\/i>, he should wait until reciting Yishtabach<\/i>, thereby finishing Pesukei d\u2019Zimrah<\/i>, and then go relieve himself. If the need arises while he is reciting Birkot Keriat<\/i> Shema<\/i>, he may, in principle, finish the berachot<\/i>. However, because he will need to relieve himself before Shemoneh Esrei<\/i>, it is better not to pause between birkat<\/i> Ga\u2019al Yisrael<\/i> and the Amidah<\/i>. Therefore, he should relieve himself immediately upon finishing the specific berachah<\/i> or paragraph that he is reciting (Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 92:9; Bei\u2019ur Halachah<\/i> s.v. \u201cYa\u2019amid<\/i>\u201d).[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n
  3. One who has to actively suppress the need to relieve himself while praying is in the most serious stage, because at this point he is transgressing the prohibition, \u201cDo not abominate oneself\u201d (Rama<\/i> 92:2, according to Shulchan Aruch HaRav<\/i> 3:11). If he is saying Pesukei d\u2019Zimrah<\/i> or Birkot Keriat Shema<\/i>, he must immediately go relieve himself since interruption at that point is not so serious. However, if he is in the middle of the Amidah<\/i>, where a pause at that point is serious, and if, when he began reciting the Amidah<\/i>, he did not feel the need to relieve himself, he should finish praying. Only in a situation in which he is incapable of waiting at all, should he go relieve himself.[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n
    \n
    [10]<\/a>.\u00a0However, <\/span>Shulchan Aruch HaRav<\/i> 92:2 clarifies that since he was permitted to pray when he started, he may finish until the end. That is what is implied in <\/span>Aruch HaShulchan<\/i> 92:6-7 as well. Still, the <\/span>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 92:9 and <\/span>Bei\u2019ur Halachah<\/i> s.v. \u201c<\/span>Ya\u2019amid<\/i>\u201d explain that he may continue only until the end of the particular part he is reciting, whether it is <\/span>Pesukei d\u2019Zimrah<\/i>, <\/span>Birkot Keriat<\/i>Shema<\/i>, the <\/span>Amidah<\/i>, or the like. If he goes on to pray when he cannot wait 72 minutes, his prayer is considered an abomination. In order to avoid uncertainty, one should conduct himself according to the <\/span>Mishnah Berurah<\/i>. All the more so when he is violating the prohibition, \u201cDo not abominate oneself,\u201d for then according to the <\/span>Rama<\/i>, even in the middle of <\/span>Pesukei d\u2019Zimrah<\/i> or <\/span>Birkot Keriat<\/i>Shema<\/i>, he must stop immediately. If at the time he reaches <\/span>Birkot Keriat<\/i>Shema<\/i> he feels a need to relieve himself and he knows that he can wait 72 minutes, he may continue to pray the <\/span>Amidah<\/i>, as I have written above in level 1. The reasons for this are as follows: according to all opinions, if he prays in this manner, he fulfills his obligation. Similarly, the <\/span>Rif<\/i> and <\/span>Rashi<\/i> rule that one is even permitted to pray this way<\/span> l\u2019chatchilah<\/i>. The <\/span>Chida<\/i> writes that one may rely on these sources so that he may pray in a <\/span>minyan<\/i>. Finally, the <\/span>Shulchan Aruch HaRav<\/i> writes that if he was permitted to pray when he started, he may finish saying all the prayers.<\/span>
    \nThe Bei\u2019ur Halachah<\/i> 92:1, s.v. \u201cHayah<\/i>\u201d is uncertain regarding the law of a chazan<\/i> who feels a need to relieve himself before Chazarat HaShatz<\/i> and cannot wait 72 minutes. However, concerning a communal Torah reader, he is lenient and rules that he may read, for human dignity (kevod habriyot<\/i>) is so great that it takes precedence over a rabbinic prohibition. Nonetheless, regarding prayer, which is considered an abomination, he is doubtful. Thus, even if the chazan<\/i> will be slightly embarrassed, it is preferable that he goes to relieve himself and has someone replace him. Only if the matter will humiliate him greatly may he continue to pray.<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    [11]<\/a>.\u00a0The <\/span>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 92:11 states that according to the <\/span>Rama<\/i>, when he reaches the point where he will violate the prohibition, \u201cDo not abominate oneself,\u201d he stops even in the middle of the <\/span>Amidah<\/i>. According to the <\/span>Magen Avraham<\/i> he is permitted to continue so as not to be humiliated in front of the congregation. The <\/span>Chayei Adam<\/i> and <\/span>Kaf HaChaim<\/i> 8, maintain that he is prohibited from stopping in the middle of the <\/span>Amidah<\/i>. That is also the opinion of most <\/span>poskim<\/i>. If a person is in a situation where he cannot control his need to defecate, everyone agrees that he must go relieve himself. However, regarding urination, according to the <\/span>Shulchan Aruch HaRav<\/i>, he should not stop in the middle, even if the urine trickles down his knees. <\/span>Kaf HaChaim<\/i> 8, writes that if this concerns a lot of urine and he is praying in a congregation, he may stop so that he will not embarrass himself. According to the <\/span>Chayei Adam<\/i> and <\/span>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> 92:11, when he cannot wait, he may relieve himself even just to urinate. That is what I have written, as well.<\/span>
    \nIf he must stop to defecate in the middle of the Amidah<\/i>, it is reasonable to assume that he was probably prohibited from praying when he originally started and it was clear that he would not be able to wait for more than 72 minutes. Therefore, he does not fulfill the obligation for the parts of the Amidah<\/i> that he already recited and he must go back to the beginning. However, if he truly thought that he would be able to wait 72 minutes, and was surprisingly attacked by such a strong urge to the point where he needed to relieve himself immediately, then if the interruption lasted the time needed to pray all of the Amidah<\/i> prayer, from beginning to end, he must start the Amidah<\/i> again, as explained in Shulchan Aruch<\/i> 104:5 and Rama<\/i> 65:1. But if the break lasted less time, he continues from the berachah<\/i> at which he stopped. It seems that a person who was unsure of whether he could, at the outset, estimate his ability to wait 72 minutes, and in the end could not control his need to defecate, must repeat the Amidah<\/i> because it stands to reason that he was prohibited from praying when he began to recite the Amidah.<\/i> Furthermore, it is possible that concerning prayer he is considered a repulsive person, based on the logic brought by the Bei\u2019ur Halachah<\/i> 92:2, s.v. \u201cYoter.<\/i>\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The ruling regarding a person who does not need to relieve himself when he starts to pray, but in the middle of his prayer feels a rising need, is based on how much he needs to relieve himself, and what stage of the prayer he is in. There are three levels of need concerning this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-preparations-for-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n10 - One Who Needs to Relieve Himself in the Middle of Praying - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/02-05-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 - One Who Needs to Relieve Himself in the Middle of Praying - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ruling regarding a person who does not need to relieve himself when he starts to pray, but in the middle of his prayer feels a rising need, is based on how much he needs to relieve himself, and what stage of the prayer he is in. 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