שו”ע או”ח ג:א כשיכנס לבה”כ יאמר התכבדו מכובדים וכו’. ועכשיו לא נהגו לאמרו
Outer Action
The Shulchan Aruch brings down that there used to be a special tefillah to say before going to the restroom, in which we would ask the Malachim who are watching over us to wait outside the restroom until we came back out. The Shulchan Aruch writes that it is not our minhag to say this tefillah anymore.
Inner Intention
Although it is not our minhag to say the actual tefillah, let’s understand the pnimiyus of this, so that we can still fulfill the inner intention.
Malachim are Hashem’s agents. The Malachim that surround us at all times, in a deeper sense, are the way Hashem gives us a hashpa’ah (influence) of kedushah, giving every Yid the spiritual strength to fight the yetzer hara and to keep growing higher and higher.
But in order to grow properly, we need to first get rid of any ‘garbage’ we have, and that is the avodah we are doing when going to the restroom, cleansing ourselves of the klippos so that we can keep growing in kedushah. The inner intention of that tefillah was asking Hashem to help us stay focused on cleansing ourselves from the klippos, so that we can then grow in kedushah and ruchniyos in a clean and pure way. This is why it is important not to think about divrei Torah in the restroom. We need to first clean ourselves and then learn Torah.
The klippos are not happy that you are trying to get rid of them, so they try to attack by sending more klippos when they feel threatened. This is why some people find themselves thinking about Torah in the restroom, even if they do not usually just start thinking in learning! Others find themselves having inappropriate thoughts in the restroom, even if they do not usually have such thoughts.
Although we don’t say the exact text of this tefillah, we can definitely ask Hashem in our own words to help us have the inner intention of going to the restroom: “Hashem, please help me rid myself of the klippos so I can serve You with purity!”
Another strategy is to try to fill your mind with something else by being busy with business or bookkeeping, or even just a distraction like counting the tiles or challenging yourself with a math equation.
I highly recommend using the time to read stories of tzadikim, which will fill your mind with holy stories that you can learn a lot from, rather than just distracting your mind with trivial things. If you are reading a book about stories of tzadikim and happen to come across a Torah idea, just cover it with your hand and skip ahead to read the next story.
Moment of Mindfulness
As you head to the restroom, ask Hashem to help you get rid of the klippos so that you can serve Him properly. Utilize the time by reading stories of tzadikim, but if you don’t have that nearby, distract your brain with something else to avoid forbidden thoughts.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 89.
