21 Mar 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:

שם הויה, אדנות, א-ל, א-לוה, אל-הים, ש-די.,
צב-אות
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.