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#366: Cleaning a Wound with Soap and Water

1. When washing one’s hands or a wound, one should not use a bar of soap due to the rabbinic prohibition of molid (changing form), as one changes the soap from a solid form into a liquid foam (Rema 326:10). Rather, one should use liquid soap, which is permitted according to many opinions (Shulchan Shlomo 314:16). Some poskim recommend using diluted liquid soap (Halachos of Refuah, p.324, based on the opinion of R. Moshe Feinstein). Many Sephardic poskim allow using a bar of soap (Chazon Ovadia).

2. If when treating a wound, one needs to use water hotter than yad soledet bo (approximately 110 degrees Fahrenheit) one should use water that is already hot, such as from an urn, and pour it into a bowl (kli sheini). One may then pour in cold water if one desires (Shulchan Aruch 318:12).

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for everlasting peace in Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.

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