Question:
- If someone davens and discovers that while he was davening his under garments had a small amount of fecal matter, does he need to daven over?
- Furthermore, if one has lost some muscle control and therefore has frequent but small amounts of leakage, what guidelines should he live with lechatchilla? TY
Answer:
H-shem shold send you a refuah sh’leima
- If the fecal matter is only on the persons garment and that garment is covered with another garment then the person is allowed to daven, and he does not have to daven again.
- A person that has leakage or urine then he has to stop davening while it is actually leaking, but after it stops, he is allowed to continue davening. This is since the leaked urine is covered with the persons clothing. (If the person’s outer cloths also got wet, he should either change before continuing, or cover that area with another article of clothing.
If the leakage is of fecal matter then it is a more serious issue since we may not daven or say kriyas shema when there is any fecal matter in that area. What should be done is, that you should make sure that you are clean right before davening and then daven right away, without thinking about if there are discharges. However if you do smell something, you would have to stop davening then. Regarding tefillin, they should be taken off right after davening shmona esrei.
Sources:
- M:B 76-12.
- O:CH 78-1, M:B-3, Shevet Hakehosi 5-27(1), Piskei Teshuvos 76-8.
