The prohibition of doing laundry in the nine days

The Mishnah (Ta'anit 4:7) records that during the week of Tisha B'av, one does not cut one's hair or do laundry unless Tisha B'av is on Friday, and then one can cut one's hair and do laundry on Thursday. Most likely, the rationale for these prohibitions is that a person should not look festive, with a haircut and clean clothes. This was especially relevant in olden times, when doing laundry was much more infrequent than today, and hence wearing clean clothes was more impressive. (It cannot be that the prohibition of doing laundry is because of the labor involved in doing laundry since for most people not doing laundry is a vacation and this idea leaves the prohibition of not cutting one's hair unexplained.) With this understanding, it would be obvious that one could not wear new clothing, though this is not stated in the Mishnah, see Shulchan Arukh Orah Chayyim 551:6.

In the Talmud there were two developments to this Mishnah with regard to the prohibition of doing laundry. One, there is an argument as to whether a person can do laundry to wear the clothing after Tisha B'av, Rav Nachman says yes, while Rav Sheshet says no (Ta'anit 29b), and the halakhah is like Rav Sheshet, Shulchan Arukh, 551:3. Rashi explains that the basis for Rav Sheshet's opinion is that doing the laundry, which in those days was quite time consuming, would divert one's mind from the mourning for the Bet ha-Mikdash. It is not clear if this reason would be relevant today since washing clothing is much easier today with washing machines, but a different explanation for Rav Sheshet's opinion is that he was making a gezirah. The gezirah could be either that there was a fear that if a person washed clothing for after Tisha B'av, then by accident they might come to wear the clothing before Tisha B'av or that people would claim that they were washing clothing for after Tisha B'av when really they were washing clothing to wear before Tisha B'av.

A second development was that the Talmud (Ta'anit 29b) makes the unexpected claim that gihutz (a type of ironing) in Bavel is comparable to the washing of clothes in Israel. The idea seems to be that in Bavel they were not able to clean the clothes as well as in Israel, and then the prohibition on doing laundry in the week of Tisha Ba’av would only be if a person both washed and ironed (gihutz) the clothing, while there would be no prohibition of just washing clothing in Bavel since the person would not look so sharp because the clothing even if laundered were not that clean. With this logic, the question would be whether other places were like Bavel and washing clothing would be permitted in the week of Tisha B’av or like Israel and laundry would be forbidden. (In the Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud, they quote the Raavad as permitting laundry outside of the land of Israel.)

The Shulchan Arukh (551:3) first writes that our laundry is permitted, which is surprising since when he wrote the Shulchan Arukh he was living in Israel, but it seems that he was following the language of the Tur, who lived outside of Israel. However, afterwards he writes that the practice is not do laundry. Furthermore, he notes that several Rishonim argue that only in Bavel was washing clothing permitted but in other places it was forbidden, which means that washing clothing in the week of Tisha B'av  is forbidden not due to custom but to the rabbinic enactment of the Mishnah. Today with our machines and soap, laundered clothing is much cleaner than in Israel in the time of the Mishnah, and hence today the leniency of the Talmud with regard to Bavel should certainly not be applicable.

In the Middle Ages, there were several developments in the law/ custom. One, Tosafot (Ta'anit 30a, travayehu) quotes that Rashi ruled that one should not do laundry even on non-clothing items. This appears to be based on Rashi's explanation for Rav Sheshet's opinion that doing laundry diverts one from mourning, and then any laundry even one not related to making a person look good would be forbidden. The Shulchan Arukh (551:3) accepts this ruling, and also rules that a person should not change one's linen during the period (see R. Shimon Eider, 1978, p. 10).

One exception to this rule is that the Rama (551:14) rules that one can do laundry for little children's clothing. This latter ruling accords with the idea that the prohibition is to look good, and then this would not apply to little children, but if the problem is doing the laundry itself, as evident with the prohibition of washing linen, than any laundry, even children's laundry should have been forbidden. However, maybe it was considered too much to prohibit washing children's clothing since it is hard (impossible?) for little children to keep their clothing clean and in those days there was very little spare clothing.

One new stringency in the Middle Ages is that Ashkenazim began to keep this prohibition of not washing clothing from the beginning of the month of Av, as opposed to just the week of Tisha B'av, Rama 551:4. No reason is provided for this extension and it contradicts the principle of the Mishnah that Shabbat takes precedence over the mourning for the Bet ha-Mikdash and hence the prohibition in the Mishnah only began after Shabbat, see our discussion "The law/ custom of not cutting one's hair in the nine days and three weeks." This new stringency began after the 11th century since Tosafot (Ta'anit 30a, travayehu) rules that if Tisha B'av is on Thursday, then one can cut one's hair and wash clothes for Shabbat on Tisha B'av itself in the afternoon. Certainly, if one can wash clothings on Tisha B'av for Shabbat, then one can wash clothes for the Shabbat before Tisha B'av. Also in the 12th century, the Ravyah (Germany, 1140-1225, siman 881) writes that the custom was not to do laundry during the week of Tisha B'av, though he writes that one should not mend clothes from the beginning of the month. (With regard to Sefardim, R. Chayyim David haLevi in his Kitzsor Shulchan Arukh, 1975, p. 239 writes that Sefardim only keep the prohibition from the week of Tisha B'av, but in his longer work Mekor Chayyim, vol. 4 p. 184 he writes that Sefardim follow the Ashkenazim and stop doing laundry from the beginning of the month.)

This question which takes precedence, the mourning for the Bet ha-Mikdash or Shabbat, also arises as to whether one is to wear Shabbat clothing on the Shabbat preceding Tisha B'av, Shabbat Chazon. The Rama (551:1) writes that one is not to switch to Shabbat clothing on Shabbat Chazon, which shows that he gives precedence to the mourning over Shabbat, and this ruling accords with his comment that the prohibition of doing laundry begins from Rosh Chodesh. The Mishnah Berurah (1907, 551:6) notes that in Vilna the practice was to follow the Gra (1720-1797) who ruled that one wears Shabbat clothing on Shabbat Chazon and this was also the ruling of the Rav Yaakov Emden (1697-1776). The Arukh Hashulchan (1829-1908, Russia, 551:11) notes that in his time people wear Shabbat clothing on Shabbat Chazon, and he is upset that people are not following the "old" custom to wear regular clothes on Shabbat. However, what he calls the old custom was really the newer custom that only began in the late Middle Ages, and really the initial custom prior to the Middle Ages was to wear Shabbat clothing on Shabbat Chazon.

My impression is that today everybody wears Shabbat clothing on Shabbat Chazon, which means that they give Shabbat more priority than the mourning for Tisha B'av. Similarly, people eat meat on Shabbat during the nine days. However, if a person does not shave or bath on Friday for Shabbat, then the person is giving precedence to the mourning of Tisha B’av over Shabbat, which is a contradiction.

One recent development with regard to the prohibition of not wearing freshly laundered clothing is that people prepare for the nine days, by wearing freshly laundered clothing a few minutes prior to Rosh Chodesh, and then they wear these clothing, which are almost completely freshly laundered, during the nine days. (I am not sure when this idea developed but it must be relatively recently since only in the 19th/ 20th century did people have more than a few items of clothing that they were able to wear clean clothing every day.)

With regard to this trick, there has developed a difference between Sefardim and Ashkenazim. R. Ovadiah Yosef (Yalkut Yosef, vol. 5, p. 563, also see R. Chayyim David HaLevi, 1975, p.239) writes that one prepares the clothing by wearing them for a half hour, and one needs to do this even for socks and undershirts. However, R. Shimon Eider (1978, p. 9) writes that one only needs to do this trick for outer garments, but for inner garments, such as socks and undergarments, he quotes that R. Moshe Feinstein stated that one could wear them freshly laundered. This ruling accords with the original idea of the Mishnah, that the prohibition of not doing laundry was in order that a person will not look good, and nobody sees the undergarments. Furthermore, R. Shimon Eider also quotes R. Moshe Feinstein that if a person prepared a garment to wear, and inexplicably it got dirty, then if a person must wear a clean garment (for work) then one can wear a freshly laundered garment. Rabbi Ari Enkin (2009, p. 64) quotes from the Minchat Yitzhak (10:44) another trick, that if a person did not prepare clothing beforehand, then one can put the freshly laundered clothing on the floor for some time, and then wear the clothing. 

We see that the law of not doing laundry the week of Tisha B'av from the Mishnah had several stages of development. In the Talmudic period, there was both a leniency that the law was not applicable to Bavel, and a stringency that it was even forbidden to do laundry to wear the clothing after Tisha B'av. In the Middle Ages, the tendency was to be stringent as the prohibition was extended even to laundering non-clothing items, and for Ashkenazim the prohibition was extended to the beginning of the month of Av. Finally, recently the propensity is to be lenient both by wearing Shabbat clothing on Shabbat and by preparing clothing prior to the period when doing laundry is forbidden.

Bibliography:

Eider, Shimon, (d. 2007) 1978, A summary of halachos of the three weeks, Lakewood, NJ.

Enkin, Ari, 2009, Amot shel Halacha, Jerusalem: Urim Publications.