Brushing Teeth on Shabbat: Difference between revisions

[[Hachana- Preparing for after Shabbat|Hachana]] is the prohibition of preparing from one [[Shabbat]] or [[Yom Tov]] to a weekday, or to another [[Shabbat]] or [[Yom Tov]]. Based on this consideration, perhaps washing the toothbrush (after brushing) in order to clean it for the next day should be prohibited.

 

# Rav Ovadia, Rav Moshe, and Chacham Benzion Abba Shaul all agree that this would violate hachana.<ref> Iggerot Moshe 1:112, Yabia Omer 4:30, Or Litzion 2:253. See also 39 Melachos (vol 2, pg 373).  </ref>

# Rav Shlomo Zalman thinks there is no hachana issue here.<ref> Shmirat [[Shabbat]] Kihilchitah 28:81 cites from Rav Shlomo Zalmen that if you normally do something as part of normal usage of an object, and that thing involves no tircha (difficulty), then you can do it on [[Shabbat]] even if there's a benefit for the next day, as long as you don’t specifically say that you are doing it for the next day. For example: you can bring your tallit home after shul; you can put a sefer back in its place after learning from it; you can put a bottle of water back in the fridge if you are done drinking. This can also be applied to a toothbrush in order to be lenient (this point is raised by Yalkut Yosef 326: 27, although he disagrees). </ref>

## Rav Schachter also allows cleaning the toothbrush after use.<ref> Quoted by [http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/735717/Rabbi_Aryeh_Lebowitz/Brushing_Teeth_On_Shabbos Rabbi Aryeh Leibowitz in an article on yutorah.org]. He reasons that people don’t rinse their toothbrush in order to have it clean for when they next use it after [[Shabbat|Shabbat,]] but rather  because they don’t want dirty toothbrushes lying around. This is based on a psak by Mishna Brurah 302:19, which allows one to make one's bed on [[Shabbat]] for the same reason. </ref>