Chapter 86 : Laws of Bathing [on Shabbos]

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§1

It is forbidden to wash your entire body, or even most of your body with hot water, even if it was heated on Friday. Even to wash one limb at a time, is forbidden when the majority of the body [will be washed]. Even to enter a bathhouse solely for the purpose of sweating is also forbidden. But you may wash your face, hands and feet with hot water that was heated on Friday.

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§2

Water that flows hot from its source such as the hot springs of Tiberias and the like, if [the waters] are in the ground and there is no roof over them, you may wash even your entire body in them. But, if [the water] is in a vessels or the place is covered with a roof, it is forbidden. Even to enter a bathhouse solely for the purpose of sweating, is forbidden. There are those who say that as long as [the water] is in the ground even if the place has a roof, you may bathe in it.

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§3

You may immerse your entire body in cold water. However, you may not stand afterwards in front of an oven in order to warm yourself, because that amounts to washing in hot water. Even if you washed only your hands in cold water, do not warm them near the oven while they are still wet, because it is considered as if you washed with water that was warmed today [Shabbos], for such water is prohibited for washing even one limb. You must first dry them well and as stated in Chapter 80, paragraph 32, you must rub them well before drying them so that only a little water remains on them.

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§4

If you bathe, be careful not to squeeze your hair. Also take care not to swim because it is prohibited to swim on Shabbos and Yom Toy. It is also forbidden to make things float, such as wood chips, on top of the water. If you bathe in a place where it is forbidden to carry, you must also take care before leaving [the water], to first remove the water from your body and hair, and dry yourself well, so that no water remains on you, which you would be carrying from one domain into another. Similarly, in the river itself, you must take care not to carry the water which is on you four amos, because the river is considered a karmelis. Since not everyone knows to be careful, therefore, it has become the prevailing custom in these regions not to bathe at all on Shabbos even in cold water, except for the purpose of a mitzvah, such as a woman after menstruation, (as discussed further, Chapter 162, paragraph 7) or a man after a nocturnal emission.

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§5

You may stand at the river bank and wash your hands in the river; and it is not forbidden to remove the water on your hands from the river onto the bank, because the river is [considered] a karmelis and the bank is also a karmelis, and it is permitted to carry from one karmelis to another less than four amos, provided that you take care to dry your hands thoroughly before walking four amos.

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§6

You may clean your hands by rubbing them with crushed grain [or bran] although your hands may be wet, provided you don't put the water directly on the crushed grain. But it is forbidden to rub your wet hands with salt, and, certainly, not with soap because it liquefies.

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§7

Water that is not usually used for washing, but, rather, for medicinal purposes, such as malodorous or noxious [water], is forbidden to be used for washing on Shabbos since it is obvious that it is being used as a cure (see below in Chapter 91). This applies only if you linger in [the water], but if you do not linger, it is permissible, because [then] it appears [that your purpose is] only to cool off. Concerning the hot springs of Tiberias and the like: if the normal practice is forbidden to bathe in them only for health reasons, it is forbidden to bathe in them on Shabbos for health reasons, even if you do not linger in them.