tevilas ezra using 9 kabin – due to the coronavirus

Many men are makpid on tevilas ezra and purify themselves by immersing in a mikveh.

In these trying times when mikvaos are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, it is important to know that when it is impossible to use a mikveh one can keep tevilas ezra (which is not a requirement according to most poskim) by using tishah kabin which means that one pours water on himself in the amount of nine kav and this is sufficient to attain the purity usually attained by immersing in the mikveh. (Tishah kabin does not replace tevila in a mikvah when tevila is required according to halacha.)

By following the guidelines outlined below one can fulfill the requirements of tishah kabin by using the shower.

tevilas ezra using 9 kabin – due to the coronavirus

Tishah Kabin with a shower:

1. According to most poskim one may use a shower to fulfill the requirement of tishah kabin.
2. The majority opinion is that a person does not need to inspect himself before showering to remove any chatziza that may block the shower water from reaching that specific spot.
3. Additionally the showerhead does not need to be removed.
4. There is a minority of poskim that are of the opinion that the shower head should be removed in order to fulfill the requirements of tishah kabin and that one should wash himself before pouring the tishah kabin. Therefore, if one wants to be stringent, he may.

How to properly use the tishah kabin method with a shower.

1. Stand under the shower and let the water (hot or cold) run on your head and from there to the entire body. You should not hold your arms tightly against your body as not to stop the water from reaching your arms.
2. Stand under the shower until a minimum of 2.65 gallons runs over your entire body. There are those of opinion that the minimum amount of water required for tishah kabin is 5.71 gallons.
3. The above-mentioned amount of water must be poured uninterrupted, therefore if you stepped out of the shower before the required amount of water came over, you must start over.
4. Since the amount of water that comes out of the shower depends on many variables such as local water pressure, type of shower head etc. it is impossible to give an exact amount of time how long one must stand in the shower to fulfill the requirement of tishah kabin. However, this can be determined by taking a basin that holds the amount of tishah kabin as mentioned above (If you do not have such a size basin, you may use a smaller one and calculate accordingly) and filling it up from the shower and according to how long it takes to fill up, that is the time required to stand under the shower.
5. On Shabbos one must be careful not to use the hot water while showering and those showers with single handled faucets should not be used on Shabbos.

May HaKadosh Boruch Hu remove all sickness from his children and may we be zoche to the Geula Shelaima.

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