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Berachos 23

1) DAVENING WHILE URINE DRIPS FROM THE PERSON

OPINIONS: Rav Chisda and Rav Hamnuna (at the end of 22b) argue concerning a case where a person who was saying Shemoneh Esreh started to urinate and paused in his Shemoneh Esreh until the urine had finished flowing forth from him. One Amora maintains that he must start Shemoneh Esreh again from the beginning. The other Amora maintains that he may commence from where he left off. The Gemara (23a) says that it depends on whether the person was considered "fit" or "unfit" to Daven in the first place when he needed to urinate. Why should he be considered fit to Daven in such a situation?

(a) RASHI explains that a person is considered fit to Daven even though he has the urge to urinate. (Of course, l'Chatchilah he should not Daven. However, this is not because he was "unfit" as a person, but because it is disrespectful to do so.)

(b) The ROSH explains that even when urine is dripping from him, he is also considered fit to Daven. He does not have to repeat even the parts that he may have recited when urine was actually dripping from him. Only when it is spewing forth in a steady flow is he considered unfit to Daven.

OPINIONS: The Gemara says that if a person is wearing Tefilin and must take them off to go to the bathroom, during the day he should wrap them in their straps and hold them against his heart. At night, he should put them in a container.

Rebbi Zeira qualifies this statement (see Girsa section) by saying that during the day, a person is permitted to wrap the Tefilin in their straps and hold them only when there is time to put the Tefilin on again before sundown. If there is no time to put them on again, he must place them in a container.

There are three ways to understand this Gemara:

(a) According to RABEINU YONAH's version of RASHI's explanation, the Gemara is saying that if one takes off the Tefilin during the day for any reason (e.g. to eat a meal), and he will soon put them on again, he may place them on the ground even *without* a container. (Rabeinu Yonah did not have the words "b'Yado k'Neged Libo" ["hold them in his hands against his heart"] in his Gemara.)

(b) Our text of RASHI (DH ba'Yom) says that if a person removes his Tefilin during the day in order to go to the *bathroom*, the Rabanan did not require him to go to the trouble to put them in a container. If he removes his Tefilin because it is night, though, he must put them in their container. Rebbi Zeira adds that if it is already dark, even if he is just going to the *bathroom*, he must put the Tefilin in their container and not wait until later to do so.

(c) RAV HAI GA'ON, as quoted by Rabeinu Yonah and the Ritva, says that both "day" and "night" refer to someone who has to go to the bathroom. During the day, the Rabanan did not require him to go to the trouble to put his Tefilin in a container. During the night, however, they did require him to do so. Furthermore, during the day, too, holding the Tefilin is conditional upon whether he sees that there will be time to don his Tefilin before sundown after he leaves the bathroom. If he sees that when he leaves the bathroom he will have time to wear the Tefilin again, then he does not have to put them in their container. If he sees that he will not have time to wear them again, then he must put them in a container and set them aside, even though it is still daytime.

(Rashi presumably rejected this explanation because a person has no way of knowing whether there will be time left to wear his Tefilin when he leaves the bathroom. Also, the words "Ein Shehus ba'Yom" ["there is no time left in the day"] appear to be referring to the point at which he *removes* his Tefilin, and not the point at which he plans to wear them again. [M. Kornfeld])

23b