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# Removing the plaque and dirt from the teeth and thereby smoothing them out (av melacha of memachaik). | # Removing the plaque and dirt from the teeth and thereby smoothing them out (av melacha of memachaik). | ||
## Rav Soloveitchik | ## Rav Soloveitchik thinks this is not a concern. | ||
### Removing dirt or plaque is certainly not mimachek, just like washing dirt off of dishes is permissible (see Gemara [[Shabbat]] 50a). Mimachek is only when you’re removing a substance that is part of the essence of the object itself.<ref>Nefesh Harav p. 168. In a funny anecdote, Rav Schachter recalls how one of the talmidim asked Rav Soloveitchik that perhaps brushing teeth on shabbat should be prohibited because enamel is removed via the brushing, and he responded that if that were true, then eventually you would have no tooth left from brushing, so obviously that is not the case (to any degree which the halacha would deem significant).</ref> | |||
# Spreading out the toothpaste over the surface of your teeth (toldah of mimareach). | # Spreading out the toothpaste over the surface of your teeth (toldah of mimareach). | ||
## Rav Moshe Feinstein | ## Rav Moshe Feinstein prohibits using toothpaste due to "mimachaik", but permits brushing without toothpaste, as this is just like washing the rest of your body.<ref> Sh"t Iggerot Moshe Orach Chaim, 1:112. Seemingly, Rav Moshe meant mimareach, the toladah of mimachek, and this is why he only prohibited brushing with toothpaste but permitted brushing without toothpase. </ref> | ||
##Rav Ovadia Yosef permits even brushing with toothpaste.<ref> Sh"t Yabia Omer 4:30. This is based on the Magen Avraham (316:24), that one is allowed to smear spit on the ground since it gets totally absorbed in the ground and so is not considered to be smoothed out in any significant way. Similarly, toothpaste doesn’t stay on the teeth for a long time, but rather gets absorbed. His second proof is that the Rama (Orach Chaim 326:10) prohibits washing one's hands with hard soap due to [[molid]], but does not mention anything about mimareach, presumably because the soap only remains on one's hands temporarily. </ref> | |||
##Rav Ovadia Yosef | ##The Tzitz Eliezer rules stringently like Rav Moshe.<ref> Sh"t Tzitz Eliezer(7:30:8). Brushing teeth is not subject to the same leniency as the case of the Magen Avraham. There, the whole purpose of rubbing the spit on the ground is to get it absorbed into the ground, and so that's why the smoothing is deemed insignificant. But with toothpaste, there is a purpose in the smearing itself on the teeth, even if just for a minute, and so the smearing itself is significant. | ||
The 39 Melachos (vol 2, pg 373) also paskens this way.</ref> | |||
##The Tzitz Eliezer rules like Rav Moshe.<ref> Sh"t Tzitz Eliezer(7:30:8). | ##Rav Soloveitchik rules leniently like Rav Ovadia.<ref> Nefesh Harav 168. Even though the toothpaste companies claim that the paste coats the tooth for 24 hours, Rav Soloveitchik wasn’t convinced that this was true. And even if it is true, an invisible coating isn’t halachically significant (see Aruch HaShulchan Yoreh Deah 83:15).</ref> | ||
##Rav Soloveitchik | |||
===Molid=== | ===Molid=== | ||
The toothpaste becoming | The toothpaste becoming more foamy and fluid may be a problem of [[molid]]. Molid is the rabbinic prohibition of creating a new substance (or more precisely, changing the form of a substance), which is based on the gemara (Shabbat 51a) that prohibits crushing ice into water on shabbat.<ref>This is based on Rashi's interpretation of the gemara there that turning the ice into water is "דמי למלאכה, שבורא המים האלו" - it is similar to creative labor since you are creating the water. Other rishonim understand this gemara as being a narrow decree limited to not squeezing ice into water, lest one come to [[Squeezing|squeeze]] fruit for their juice and thereby violate [[sechita]]. See Rambam Mishneh Torah Hilchot [https://halachipedia.com/Shabbat Shabbat] 21:13. According to these rishonim, there would thus be no source for a rabbinic prohibition of molid. | ||
The Shulchan Aruch (OC 318:16) paskens leniently, that one is allowed to place fully cooked solid food close to a fire, even though the congealed fats will melt into liquid. However, the Rema ibid. rules stringently, that one should not place the solid food near the fire in a way that will cause it to liquify, except in cases of need. | |||
This same machloket applies to the permissibility of using a bar of soap. Shulchan Aruch (326:10) permits it, but the Rama there forbids it because of [https://halachipedia.com/Molid molid], since the solid bar of soap will liquify through use.</ref> | |||
#Rav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss<ref> Minchat Yitzchak (3:50) </ref> prohibits brushing teeth with toothpaste for this reason, among others. | |||
#Rav Ovadia<ref>Yabia Omer OC 4:29</ref> paskens like the Shulchan Aruch that Sephardim don't have to worry about [[molid]]. | |||
##He adds that Ashkenazim should hold like the Rema, so using toothpaste is forbidden for them.<ref> Yabia Omer Orach Chaim 4:28 </ref> | |||
#Rabbi Herschel Schachter<ref> Rav Schachter is quoted by Rabbi Aryeh Leibowitz between 2:30 and 3:30 http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/752802/Rabbi_Aryeh_Lebowitz/Ten_Minute_Halacha_-_Brushing_Teeth_on_Shabbos </ref> holds that even for Ashkenazim it should not be a problem of molid. | |||
##The whole concern of [[molid]] is only from solid to liquid, not from paste to liquid. | |||
===Refuah=== | ===Refuah=== | ||
Brushing one's teeth may be a problem of preventative medicine on shabbat, thereby violating the rabbinic decree against [[refuah]] on [[Shabbat]]. | |||
# Rav Moshe Yonah Halevi Zweig raises this possibility. | |||
## Perhaps since toothpaste contains flouride, which strengthens one's teeth and can be viewed as preventative medicine, it should be prohibited. | |||
# Rav Ovadia rejects this. | |||
## Even if the toothpaste has flouride, it is not a problem of refuah because even healthy people brush their teeth daily, and the gezeira of [[refuah]] doesn't apply to preventative medicine.<ref> Rabbi Zweig in Ohel Moshe (2:98) is quoted by yabia omer (Yabia Omer Orach Chaim 4:29) as comparing it to the Rambam in Hilchot [[Shabbat]] 21:24 which discusses the issue of [[refuah]]. There the Rambam writes "אֵין לוֹעֲסִין אֶת הַמַּסְטְכִי וְאֵין שָׁפִין אֶת הַשִּׁנַּיִם בְּסַם בְּשַׁבָּת בִּזְמַן שֶׁנִּתְכַּוֵּן לִרְפוּאָה. וְאִם נִתְכַּוֵּן לְרֵיחַ הַפֶּה מֻתָּר" - one may not chew gum or brush his teeth with herbs on shabbat if his intention is for healing, but if his intention is to freshen his breath then it's muttar. This is based on the tosefta shabbat 13:7, which is cited by the Rif shabbat (41a in the dapei harif). One who brushes one's teeth doesn't simply have intention to freshen his breath, but also has intention to strengthen his teeth. </ref> | |||
===Sechita=== | ===Sechita=== | ||
Gemara ([[Shabbat]] 128b) says there’s no [[sechita]] in hair since it doesn’t absorb. Rambam ([[Shabbat]] 9:11) paskins like this. However, the [[Maggid]] mishnah there says he still holds its asur derabbanan.<ref> Hilchot [[Shabbat]] 9:11 and [[Maggid]] Mishnah there, (Kesef Mishnah on Rambam 2:11, and Mishnah Brurah 330) </ref> | Brushing one's teeth may be a problem of sechita (lit: squeezing), since in the process of brushing one squeezes absorbed water out of the bristles. Gemara ([[Shabbat]] 128b) says there’s no [[sechita]] in hair since it doesn’t absorb. Rambam ([[Shabbat]] 9:11) paskins like this. However, the [[Maggid]] mishnah there says he still holds its asur derabbanan.<ref> Hilchot [[Shabbat]] 9:11 and [[Maggid]] Mishnah there, (Kesef Mishnah on Rambam 2:11, and Mishnah Brurah 330) </ref> | ||
*Rav Moshe and Rav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss say same with a toothbrush because the bristles are tightly packed and therefore you can’t use even liquid toothpaste and can’t wet it before.<ref> Iggeros Moshe (1:112) and Minchat Yitzchak 3:48. 39 Melachos (vol 2, pg 373) agrees. </ref> | *Rav Moshe and Rav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss say same with a toothbrush because the bristles are tightly packed and therefore you can’t use even liquid toothpaste and can’t wet it before.<ref> Iggeros Moshe (1:112) and Minchat Yitzchak 3:48. 39 Melachos (vol 2, pg 373) agrees. </ref> | ||
*The Sridei Esh <ref> Sridei Esh 1:30 (in 1999 Jerusalem version, and 1:28 in the older version) </ref> culls a few reasons that we can be lenient with [[sechita]] with a toothbrush. | *The Sridei Esh <ref> Sridei Esh 1:30 (in 1999 Jerusalem version, and 1:28 in the older version) </ref> culls a few reasons that we can be lenient with [[sechita]] with a toothbrush. |