Hi. Is it necessary to use a shabbat toothbrush on shabbat?
As a baal teshuva, it is difficult for me to see how the melachot of smoothing, squeezing out water etc were meant to be applied to personal hygiene activities. Any input would be appreciated.
The Rav has an extensive teshuva on oral hygiene. The short answer - continue as regular, No change of any sort necessary.
In regards to the melacha of smoothing, there is a popular misconception of what it entails. Put simply, view the prohibition as plastering a hole in a wall. A layer of plaster is applied, and then the laborer “smooths” it so that the end result is a nice patched plaster wall. (same concept as spackling sheetrock) My point is, there is no way that applying toothpaste or brushing teeth can ever be similar to smoothing in the above scenario we described. Additionally applying a thick cream on a baby’s bottom for diaper rash (assuming that there is a permissible medicine angle) can also be done in a prohibited manner by smoothing a nice even layer, or totally permissible by just applying in a haphazard way that no smoothing is done. Hope that helps.
Is regular toothpaste fine, or are those 2 in 1 looser ones preferred?
All toothpaste is fine.
Hi what about sechita ?
Inevitably one is squeezing the tooth paste that will be absorbed in the tooth brush in the course of brushing
Tooth brushes are synthetic and do not absorb, but rather water and toothpaste get trapped in between the bristles. Therefore there isnt a problem of Sechitah
Wouldn’t that be a rabbinic problem of sechitah? Similar to what people refer to the problem of squeezing hair on Shabbos?
