Halachot and Customs

What To Do With All the Genizah?

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Question

What should be done with all the material that goes to genizah? Where does it go from there? Thank you very much.

Answer

Greetings,
All sacred texts that are placed in genizah are transferred to burial in the ground, as follows:
1. Torot that have become worn or disqualified are placed in earthenware containers and buried in the grave of a Torah scholar (see Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 197:5, and Yoreh De'ah 283:10). This also applies to Nevi'im and Ketuvim when they are written on parchment and rolled up with ink (Mishnah Brurah 30). Similarly, this applies to the portions of tefillin and mezuzot (see the book Genizah HaKodesh Chapter 15, Note 2).
The reason they are placed in earthenware is to ensure they endure for many years, as taught in *Masechet Megillah* (26b) from the verse (Jeremiah 32:14) 'And you shall put them in an earthen vessel so that they may endure for many years' (the Taz also brings this in Yoreh De'ah there, Note 6, and Mishnah Brurah 23). Today, it is customary to bury them in plastic containers, which, due to their raw materials, do not contain anything that would disrupt them, so that they may endure for many years (see Genizah HaKodesh there, Section 2).
2. For the other sacred texts placed in genizah, they are buried in the ground, but there is no obligation to place them in earthenware; it is sufficient to wrap them first in plastic bags (see the sources for this halachah in Genizah HaKodesh there, Section 4. And review the entire chapter there for many more details on these laws).
Best regards,
Hillel Meirs


Tags:genizahHalacha

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