Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

So the only time you're not allowed to be meharher b'divrei Torah is if a person is in a dirty place.

I got a lot of questions as a follow-up to one of these shiurim.

I mentioned that Rabbi Willick quoted from Rav Avad Yosef that a person is allowed to listen to shiurim while in the shower.

Now, in the shower, you're clearly in front of erva.

Assuming a person doesn't wear a bathing suit when they shower, you're clearly in front of erva.

So how could that possibly be that you're allowed to listen to shiurim?

The answer is because it's hirhur b'divrei Torah.

It's not considered a direct dibur b'divrei Torah.

Now, if the bathroom is considered a beis hakisei, then it's aser, right?

Meaning that whole kula is assuming that our bathrooms are so super duper clean that they're probably cleaner than the kitchens in the days of Chazal.

And, you know, and it's not smelly also.

Someone asked me, what about the bathrooms in Moresh HaKolel?

Are you allowed to listen?

So I'm not familiar.

I don't know.

I don't know how filthy the bathrooms are in different places, in different camps.

I can't tell you one way or the other.

But that's the basic halacha.

If you look in Or Chaim Simnayim, hey, that's where all these halachas appear.

Now, for Svardim, the Mechaber Paschins, that you could just close your eyes and that's good enough even to actually learn Torah.