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What needs to go in a geniza

Question:

What needs to go in a geniza?

  1. Only complete psukkim? Even partial psukkim?
  2. Any divrei torah?
  3. Anything with shem H (i.e. even if it’s not a passuk).

Thank you

Answer:

  1. Whole pesukim need to go into geneiza (shaimos). Even partial pesukim[1], if they were meant to be written in the context of writing a posuk needs geniza. This is generally from three words or more, however if two words are a commandment in of itself, such as “Lo tirtzach”, they would also need geniza. If the words were written as a Jewish saying, when the person writing it didn’t mean to write a posuk. For example a person selling Father’s day cards and wrote “כבד את אביך”, then it wasn’t meant for learning purposes, but for advertising. (Aside from the fact that it is degrading the posuk by using it for advertising purposes).
  2. The same would apply to any divrei torah[2], if it was meant to be written to be referring to torah.
  3. If Hashem’s name was written on a piece of paper it needs genieza. There are seven “names” of Hashem that if they are written on a piece of paper need geniza. They[3] are י-ה-ו-ה including י- ה, א-דנ-י, א-ל, א-לוה , אלו-הים, ש-די, צב-אות ,א-היה. According to some authorities[4] the following don’t need geneiza, when written, ד’,  השם,הקב”ה, בקאדט בעזה”ש בעזרת השם “”איה”ש” (אם ירצה השם), “בה”ש” (ברוך השם), “”השי”ת” (השם יתברך), however they should not be discarding in a degrading way.

Sources:

[1] Ginzei Hakodesh 9-3,4.

[2] O:CH 344-12, M:B 31

[3] Y:D 276-9,10,

[4] Ginzei Hakodesh 7-5,6 in the name of R’ Eliyashiv zt”l.  The Aruch Hashulchan Y:D 276-28 says that ד’, בעזרת ד’, אי”ה, don’t have kedusha, however they should not be discarded in a degrading way.

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