05 Apr THE HALACHOS OF SHAIMOS
Many people are not familiar with the halachos of shaimos. The problem with the volume of shaimos, only developed fairly recently with the advent of cheap, commonly utilized printing methods. After reviewing these halachos one will have a clear understanding of what is indeed shaimos and how to properly dispose of them.
The posuk tells us that there is a requirement upon all of klal yisroel to destroy and break any idol, and to remove their names from our midst, and one is forbidden to do this to Hashem’s name. The issur to destroy or break a name of Hashem is called Lo Sason Kein L’Shem Elokaycheim.” The Gemorah says that included in this issur is the prohibition to erase the name of Hashem. The Rambam says that whoever destroys any of Hashem’s names receives malkos. The Chinuch says the reason for this mitzvah is in order to come to fear Hashem. Whoever is not careful with the kedusha of seforim will have to give a din and chesbon over it after 120 years.
If one gives the right respect to something which deserves to be buried then Hashem will have compassion on us and He will make sure that klal yisroel does not get destroyed. The Mishnah says if one honors the Torah then he will be honored and liked by the world.
There is a big discussion in the poskim if something is not hand written but rather printed if it has kedusha. The consensus of the poskim is that it is equal to being hand written.
The Names of Hashem
As previously mentioned one is forbidden to erase the name of Hashem. Those names are:
תוא≠בצ†¨יד≠ש†¨םיה≠לא†¨הול≠א†¨ל≠א†¨תונדא†¨היוה†םש.
These names are required to be put into shaimos. Rachum, Chanun, Hagodel Hagibbur are not required to be placed in shaimos. There is a dispute if the name of Hashem in English (G-d) may be erased. The following does not need geniza and one may throw items containing these names in the garbage. Writing a Daled, Hashem (in English or Hebrew), Hakodesh Boruch Hu, B’ezras Hashem and writting BS’D (bais samach daled). Some are careful and did not write a BS’D on top of a letter. Some question if writing a kuf instead of a heh does not require shaimos, but the minhag is to be lenient. There is a dispute in the poskim if one writes the letters Bais and Heh if they require to be put into shaimos. Some were careful about writing these letters on top of a letter if they will be thrown away. The overwhelming custom is to permit the writing of bais and hey on top of a letter even if the letter will be thrown away (but not in a disgraceful place). This is how the Brisker Rav was noheg as well. Writing the name Eibishtar is permitted and does not need to be put into shaimos. Many say even if one breaks up the letters of a name of Hashem by placing a hyphen between the letters, it still requires geniza, while others are lenient. According to the lenient opinion, if one is concerned that the writing may end up in a disgusting location he should hyphenate the name of Hashem (for example G-d). Horav Moshe Feinstein zt”l was stringent with hyphenated Hashem’s name. When writing the numbers in Hebrew of 16 and 17 the minhag is to write tes vov and tes zayin instead of yud heh, and yud vov. (One should not say Hashem’s name even in English for no reason. When one says “thank G-d” it is not considered saying Hashem’s name for no reason since it is the derech for people to say it and he does not have intention of Hashem’s name to be mentioned per ‘se).
Sending out Papers with Hashem’s Name
One should not send out advertisements with the name of Hashem written on it because most people just throw it in the garbage without knowing they are not allowed to and it comes to a disgrace. Many organizations do this and it is not correct. One may do so if one is not writing the complete name.
Tapes/Discs/Computer
Many times one has tapes with Hashems name recorded on it and after a while he wants to copy over the tape (or a C.D) in order to copy something else on to it. If one wants to copy over it he should let a goy do it for him or a young child. Some say he can do it himself and it is not considered erasing Hashems name since there is no real substance to the words on the tape. Horav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l said other Torah should be copied over a Torah tape. If there is no posuk or name of Hashem many poskim are lenient to erase it. These tapes when finished with them may be thrown in the garbage. Others say one should wrap the tape in a bag prior to throwing it out. One should initially try not to record any of Hashem’s names on a tape. One is permitted to erase the name of Hashem or a posuk that is written on a computer screen since it is not considered erasing. Divrei Torah written in microscopic letters or on microfilm should be treated with the same kedusha as a regular sefer. If one cannot put it in shaimos he should wrap it in a bag before discarding it.
Seforim
The Magen Avraham says just as a sefer Torah which is unusable needs to be put into a earthenware utensil and buried, so too regarding seforim. The minhag is not like this Magen Avraham. A T’nach, Gemorah, Mishnayos, Siddur, Halacha, or Mussar sefer that is unusable has to be put into shaimos.
Horav Moshe Feinstien zt”l said an old sefer of Torah Sh’bal Peh may be thrown out if it becomes unusable (if it does not contain the name of Hashem). The reason is because Torah Sh’bal Peh only has kedusha if one is learning from it. Once the initial use is gone one may throw it out. This is a big chiddush and he says it is only true if the gedolim in Eretz Yisroel would agree with him. The gedolim in Eretz Yisroel hold one may not rely on this, and chas v’sholom to throw an old Gemorah etc in the garbage. Horav Moshe zt”l himself never paskined to throw out an unusable Gemorah etc. as a matter of halacha l’maseh.
Some say if a new, corrected version of a sefer is published, the old one may be put into shaimos. One should not place a sefer which one does not want to bind into shaimos, rather he should see to it that it is bound. A bookmark that was used for a sefer may be thrown in the garbage. A sefer that was never used may be placed in shaimos because it does not have kedusha. If a page of a Gemorah ripped out and one would not use the rest of the Gemorah one may put the sefer into shaimos. When the binding of a sefer falls off it should be put into shaimos. Many times the string that a sefer was bound with comes off. These strings require to be put into shaimos since they were in the sefer for a long period of time it is considered as part of the sefer.
One who writes mareh mekomos on a paper which only he can read does not have to be placed into shaimos. Some say this refers to a sheet which has mareh mekomos for a shiur without any halacha or gemorah on them.
Children who come home with Torah sheets from Yeshiva should place them in shaimos. Others say one can be lenient and place them in a plastic bag in the garbage.
Newspapers
There are some poskim who wish to suggest that just as many hold that the printer’s drafts do not need to be placed in shaimos, so would be true regarding our journals and newspapers. They reason that since they are normally thrown out after a short period of time one would be able to discard them. Others say to wrap it in a bag first. Nonetheless, most poskim maintain that one may not discard a newspaper containing Torah. The publishers have intent for one to learn from the Torah in the newspaper. Therefore, they are sanctified and a condition prior to the printing would not help to rid the newspaper of kedusha.
Therefore, one should rip out the divrei Torah in the newspaper and place it in shaimos. Although this may seem difficult with some papers whose Torah is spread throughout the newspaper one will get the hang of it eventually.
Many poskim took strong issue with the fact that newspapers contain divrei Torah and they say a newspaper is not a place for Torah since many treat the Torah in a newspaper with disrespect by throwing it out etc.
In conclusion, on this issue of newspapers, you see many people are not careful with this and throw out the newspapers with the divrei Torah in them. If one is going to throw out a newspaper containing divrei Torah (without the name of Hashem or a posuk) he should wrap it in a bag and then put it outside together with the rest of the garbage and let the goyim take it away.
Nonetheless, we are dealing with the honor of the Torah, and many poskim maintain that one should not throw out the divrei Torah, but rather one should place it in shaimos. This being the case one should try to do whatever he can in order to place the divrei Torah in shaimos. When putting the divrei Torah in shaimos you should cut it out of the paper. It is disrespectful to the shaimos if the whole paper is placed in shaimos. One should be careful that the divrei Torah part of the newspaper is not on the floor.