Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Clean Room

December 12, 2024

Q I made a bracha and then discovered that a soiled diaper was present. Should I repeat the bracha?

A If one recites Krias Shma or tfilah (Shmoneh Esrei) within four amos (approx. 6.5-7.5 ft.) of tzoah (solid human waste), he is not yotzei (S.A. O.C. 76:8), whether or not there is an odor. The Shulchan Aruch (185:5) cites the uncertainty of Tosfos about whether brachos are treated with the stringency of Shma and tfilah in this regard. The Mishnah Brurah (ibid. 7) rules that they are.

If the distance is greater than four amos, even if the person making the bracha can see it, the bracha need not be repeated (Mishnah Brurah 81:13). Likewise if it was in a different room, even within four amos (O.C. 79:3).

A soiled diaper currently worn by a child is treated more leniently, because it is tzoah mechusah (covered waste), and the bracha doesn’t need to be repeated (Ishei Yisrael 52 fn. 72-star).

In all cases, if there was a foul odor where the bracha was recited, there is a machlokess (see Biur Halacha 79:1 s.v. Arba). In practice, Ishei Yisrael (52:28) says to repeat the bracha.

These halachos apply where the presence of tzoah could reasonably be expected (e.g., an active young household during “business hours”). Otherwise, the bracha is valid even though the tzoah was in close proximity (O.C. 76:8).

These guidelines apply bedi’eved (ex post facto, where the question is whether a bracha must be repeated); the laws of making a bracha ab initio where tzoah is known to be present are more stringent.