Ch. 7, Halacha 15 – One’s Body Should Be Covered When Saying Tehillim

Sources and Explanations

Regarding the laws of tefillah, there is complete strictness to pray in respectable clothing, as the Rambam writes (Hilchot Tefillah 5:5), and so it is in the Shulchan Aruch (siman 91). However, all that has been said until now is regarding tefillah, but regarding saying chapters (mizmorim) of Tehillim it is more lenient. As the Shulchan Aruch writes (74:6): “If his tallit was girded around his waist to cover him from his waist down, even though from his waist up he is bare, it is permitted to recite the Shema; but to pray is forbidden until he covers his heart.” The Mishnah Berurah writes there (se’if katan 24): “The reason tefillah is more stringent is that in tefillah one must view himself as standing before the King and speaking with Him, so that he must stand in awe; but in the recitation of Shema he is not speaking before the King.”

Nevertheless, a person should make an effort to be dressed while saying Tehillim, as the Mishnah Berurah writes (ibid., se’if katan 22) that this applies only in a pressing situation, for otherwise it is not proper lechatchilah (ideally) to do so even for any berachah, and all the more so for the Shema. It appears that saying Tehillim is no less than reciting a berachah, in which one stands before his Creator. In general, it is a good trait for a person not to remove his outer cloak all day, even when he is sitting in his home, and all the more so in the beit midrash, as Rabbi Yosef Chaim writes in Torah Lishmah (question 369). Similarly, we find regarding Torah study that although it is permitted to learn in any garment, there is a virtue in wearing a respectable garment.

So too, Rabbi Eliezer Papo writes in his book Pele Yoetz (entry “Levishah”): “It is known what they explained on the pasuk (verse) ‘Prepare to meet your God,’ that one must be dignified in his dress when he stands in tefillah or when he is engaged in Torah, for the Shechinah is opposite him. Even if he sits alone in his home, he should stand as one who stands before the officials of the city, all according to the custom of the country.” His intention, apparently, is to what Chazal explained in the Gemara, Shabbat (10a): “Rava bar Rav Huna would put on fine socks and pray, saying, ‘Prepare to meet etc.’ Rava would cast off his cloak, clasp his hands, and pray, saying, ‘Like a servant before his master.’ Rav Ashi said: I saw Rav Kahana — when there was suffering in the world, he would cast off his cloak, clasp his hands, and pray, saying, ‘Like a servant before his master’; when there was peace, he would dress, cover himself, wrap himself, and pray, saying, ‘Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.’” This can also be learned from what is explained in the Gemara, Chagigah (14b): “Our Rabbis taught: It once happened that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was riding on a donkey and traveling on the road, and Rabbi Elazar ben Arach was driving the donkey behind him. He said to him: Rabbi, teach me one chapter of Ma’aseh Merkavah. He said to him: Did I not teach you thus — not [to expound] the Merkavah to an individual unless he is a sage who understands on his own? He said to him: Rabbi, permit me to say before you one thing that you taught me. He said to him: Speak. Immediately Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai descended from the donkey, wrapped himself, and sat on a stone under the olive tree” etc. So too it is in Teshuvot VeHanhagot (vol. 1, siman 545) regarding learning: “In the Gemara (Berachot 22a) it states: ‘“And you shall make them known to your children and your children’s children,” and it is written after it, “The day that you stood before Hashem your God at Chorev” — just as there it was with awe, fear, trembling, and quaking, so too here it must be with awe, fear, trembling, and quaking.’ Because of this, many God-fearing people have the custom to learn specifically in an outer garment, in order to feel within themselves that they are engaged in holy words and must learn with fear and honor. So too writes the book Pele Yoetz, entry ‘Levishah’; see there. It appears that although it is an honor to the King when one engages in His words while dressed respectfully, everything depends on the custom of the country; and in places that are very hot in the summer, such as in Eretz Yisrael or in America, even in the king’s palace they do not wear an outer garment all day. So too said the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Finkel zt”l after he came to the Land, that outside the Land he was particular to learn specifically in an outer garment, but not here, since because of the heat it is very difficult and can disturb one’s concentration in learning. See the book Zikaron Yehudah (by Rabbi Yehudah son of the Rosh z”l), siman 26, who writes: ‘It is good not to sit without a hat during learning, for one who can bear it, because he will learn with more awe; and sometimes, because of the intensity of the heat, he cannot bear it.’ See the book Vehagita Bo, which brought a proof from this to our discussion, that when it is hot one need not wear the outer coat, but there is always a measure of piety for one who is able. There are pious people and men of good deeds who are meticulous to learn in an outer garment; and we have written the essential law regarding Torah, but in tefillah it is proper to pray in an outer garment. Now, there are some among the general public who are accustomed to be lenient in this today in Eretz Yisrael, since even for distinguished officials people are not particular to wear an outer garment, and therefore today this is not part of the obligation of ‘prepare’ for tefillah. However, it is proper for one who has a scent of Torah to be stringent at least for tefillah and to wear an outer garment in honor of the Creator, may His Name be blessed, even if according to the letter of the law there is no obligation in his place, since even before kings people do not always go dressed this way, as we have written.” End of his words.

See the words of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Yoreh De’ah vol. 3, siman 68, ot 4), who writes: “Now, the matter of modesty for men, to go about with the entire body clothed, is not among the prohibitions, but rather a virtue and a carefulness to be clothed even in private, because of ‘I have set Hashem before me always’; and even in the lavatory one should not uncover himself until he sits. For this reason, when their custom was to sleep naked and they would cover themselves with a sheet, one needed, because of this virtue, to remove his shirt under the sheet, as stated in Orach Chaim (siman 239, se’if 2), and to put on the shirt while lying under the sheet, as stated in (siman 2); and so should one who is able be careful. The measure of dress is according to the custom of the place: for example, if the custom is to cover the arms and legs, one must dress so even when no people are present; and if the custom is to go with uncovered arms even before people, one need not cover them, even as a measure of piety. By this it is not meant that one must dress according to the standard in which he goes before kings and before people who do not know him; although even in his room he is before the King of kings, nevertheless this standard applies only at the time of tefillah (as stated in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 91:5, and see there the Magen Avraham, se’if katan 5), and there it is even an obligation lechatchilah, although it does not invalidate the tefillah, as stated in the Rambam (beginning of chapter 5 of Hilchot Tefillah). Here, the measure is like one sitting in his room before people whom he is not required to honor, but before whom he does not want to be disgraced. If he suffers because he is very hot, or for another reason, he may go [thus], and there is not even a matter of a measure of piety in this, for in such a case, where there is suffering, the way is to sit thus even before people who know of his suffering, and Hashem, after all, knows his suffering. But with exposure of nakedness it is forbidden, for even when one goes to bathe in a river it is good to swim or to cover himself in a manner that he does not touch with his hands when he is facing the public (as stated in Shabbat 41), and in his room, even when no people are present, he must cover himself, as by wearing a garment that covers; and there is also a prohibition because he cannot think about words of Torah; and if it is for medical purposes, this too is permitted. And even barefoot — that as a measure of piety one should not go barefoot at all, as stated in the Rema (end of siman 2) — it is stated in siman 92 that in a place where people stand before great persons barefoot, it is permitted even in tefillah. In conclusion, that of siman 2 is only a measure of piety and not a matter of prohibition, and in a place of suffering there is not even a measure of piety, and the measure is in a manner that is a disgrace before people, each place according to its custom; and in siman 91 it is an obligation at the time of tefillah, and the measure is as before great persons, and in pressing circumstances it is permitted to pray, since it does not invalidate. And this requires further study regarding the pochei’ach (one in tattered clothing) who may lead Pores al Shema but may not pass before the ark, which Rashi explains in Megillah 24 is because there is exposure of nakedness in this — but this is forbidden even if he has no clothes, and why is only reading the Torah and passing before the ark forbidden, when he is forbidden even to utter a mention of the Divine Name and words of Torah from his mouth? Perhaps his intention is that he may come to exposure of nakedness; this requires further study.” End of his words.

From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 7: What Is Forbidden and Permitted When Saying Tehillim, Halacha 15 (p. 127 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.