Daily Halacha - Buying Items During The 3 Weeks

Chanut begadim (clothing stores). We’re continuing over here. The daily halacha (Jewish law) is on buying clothing during the nine days. Or if something is on sale, the answer is this. During the three weeks, before the nine days, you are not allowed to buy clothing, but you have to make Shehecheyanu (Who has given us life), the special beracha blessing. Usually that means a fancy suit, a fancy dress, a fancy pair of pants, maybe a fancy shirt, a pair of tzitzit (fringes), a pair of talit (prayer shawl), a fancy type of jewelry. So during the three weeks, you are not allowed to buy those types of things, but you are allowed to buy anything for which you don’t make a beracha of Shehecheyanu. That is usually very simple clothing: a simple pair of pants, a shirt, an undershirt, socks, shoes—all these simple types of clothing that you don’t make Shehecheyanu on when you wear them. You are allowed to buy them during the three weeks. But now, in the nine days, the rules have changed. The halacha has changed. We’re more machmir (stringent). A person shouldn’t go shopping at all—not even for socks, not even for an undershirt, not even for simple pants, not even for a simple shirt. A person shouldn’t go to clothing stores at all. In truth, Chacham Ovadia Yosef brings down, and his children say it over, that clothing stores really should close their shops during the nine days. Even though it’s a very hard nisayon, it’s a very hard test of losing parnasah (livelihood), obviously Hashem is the one that’s mefarnes, Hashem is the one who gives the customers in the first place. It’s better for clothing stores to shut down their stores during the nine days when most of their shoppers, or all the shoppers, are Jewish. They’re going—it’s a whole separate halacha. Why? Because there’s no room for a Jew to go to a clothing store during the nine days. If it happens that a person knows of a very, very big sale of clothing during the nine days, and if they don’t purchase the clothing right now and wait until after Tisha B’Av, the sale is going to be over and they’re going to lose a nice amount of money, there are leniencies, there are heterim (leniencies). But this is a very unlikely situation. In fact, lately there’s a very, very big Yetzer Hara (evil inclination): a person tells himself, “If I don’t buy the clothing now, I’m going to lose money after the nine days.” And we’re not talking about such a big amount of money. That’s A. And two, there are sales throughout the year. It’s not an emergency to buy the clothing right now. So therefore, even though there are leniencies to go shopping if clothing is on sale, even during the nine days, if you’re not going to be able to get the sale after the nine days, it’s still not good to do it. A person should look to stay away from clothing stores and going to the malls in the first place during the nine days. If you have clothing that you really, really, really need, especially when it comes to children, you’re allowed to buy them, but not the ones you have to make Shehecheyanu on. You’re not allowed to buy a suit. You’re not allowed to buy a fancy dress. You’re not allowed to buy jewelry. But undershirts, undergarments, socks, clothing for children because they get dirty a lot, towels—if you ran out of towels and everything’s very bad—you’re allowed to buy any clothing that you need really badly during the nine days, as long as you don’t make a Shehecheyanu beracha on those clothes. One question that came up is: Let’s say your friend, Baruch Hashem (Blessed is Hashem), had a baby, and you want to get them a gift during the nine days. Are you allowed to buy them a gift? Obviously, you were not allowed to buy them the gift before the nine days because the baby was born during the nine days, and you don’t want to wait until after the nine days. Are you allowed to buy them a gift? The answer is no. Halachically, the Rabbanim (rabbis) say you should not be buying any baby gifts during the nine days. Clothing, toys, all that stuff is not allowed to be purchased during the nine days. That is the halacha. Obviously, if the baby needs the clothing, then you’re allowed to buy it during the nine days. There’s no question about that. Of course, you’re allowed to buy it if the baby needs the clothing. But if it’s a gift—which is 99% of the time—you want to give your friend the gift, which is very good and nice. You’ve got to wait until after the nine days. Another question that comes up is: Let’s say somebody ordered clothing online before the nine days, or different things before the nine days on Amazon, and it was delivered to their house during the nine days. The halacha, as Chacham Ovadia Yosef’s sons say, is that you’re allowed to bring the package into your house. Obviously, you don’t have to leave it outside. You’re allowed to bring the package to your house from Amazon. But you’re not allowed to open up the box. Don’t try to wear it. Don’t try to see if it fits you, because all that gives simcha, all that gives happiness. We’re staying away from that for the nine days. We’re trying to mourn here for the Beit HaMikdash. So if you made an order from Amazon before the nine days, whatever it is, and it came to your house during the nine days, you’re allowed to pick it up from the post office because otherwise it’ll get lost. You’re allowed to bring it to your house; otherwise, it’ll get damaged. But you should not open up the package, and you should not use it.