ARE YOU ALLOWED TO BUY NEW CLOTHES DURING SEFIRAH?

Are You Allowed to Buy New Clothes During Sefirah?

Rabbi Gil Student

The period between Pesach and Shavuos contains a mourning period–different days depending on one’s custom–during which certain joyous behaviors are forbidden (commonly called Sefirah because this period also includes the counting (“sefirah” in Hebrew) of the Omer). These mourning customs have developed over time. However, I often hear confusion about the permissibility of buying new clothes during this mourning period. The short answer is that it is allowed. The long answer is that it might not be allowed.

During the mourning period before the summer fast day of Tisha B’ Av, we experience an intense mourning over the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Among the activities forbidden by custom is reciting the Shehecheyanu blessing on new fruits or new clothes. Some early authorities rule that this also applies to the Sefirah, such as the author of Keli Yakar (Olelos Efraim 2:107) and the Eliyah Zuta (593) in the name of Rabbeinu Yerucham (1:5). Yosef Ometz (845), Rav Chaim Palaggi (Mo’ed Kol Chai 6:12) and his son Rav Yitzchak Palaggi (Yefeh La-Lev 2:493) say that the custom is to refrain from wearing new clothes during Sefirah. Interestingly, we find this strict custom mentioned in Leket Yosher (volume 1, p. 97), the 15th century collection of rulings and customs from a student of the Terumas Ha-Deshen. However, most authorities do not mention this custom to refrain from reciting the blessing of Shehecheyanu during Sefirah, implying that it is allowed.

Four customs seem to have developed about this issue:

1) No Shehecheyanu — Some people are strict and do not eat new fruits or buy new items that would necessitate a Shehecheyanu blessing. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu (Ma’amar Mordechai Le-Mo’adim U-Li-Zemanim 20:55) says that some have this practice (yesh nohagim).

2) Yes Shehecheyanu — Some have no such practice whatsoever and feel free to eat new fruits and buy new clothes. Rav Eliyahu (ibid.) says this is the standard practice (ve-chen nohagim). Mishnah Berurah (593:2) says that if you encounter a need to recite Shehecheyanu,  you may. Authorities from the previous generation go even further and say that you may intentionally do or buy something that requires a Shehecheyanu. They include Rav Moshe Feinstein (Masores Moshe, vol. 1, p. 156), Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Ve-Aleihu Lo Yibol, vol. 1, p. 181) and Rav Ya’akov Kamenetsky (Emes Le-Ya’akov on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 493 n. 466).

3) Only On Fruits — Rav Ovadiah Yosef (Yechaveh Da’as 1:24) distinguishes between reciting a Shehecheyanu on new fruits and on buying new things. He argues that the practice of refraining from reciting Shehecheyanu on new fruits is a mistake and should not be observed. You do not even need to annul your custom before discontinuing it because it is an error. However, he suggests refraining from wearing new clothes during Sefirah, based on the comments of Rav Chaim Palaggi and others (mentioned above). If there is a need to wear new clothes, wear them for the first time on Shabbos, when there is no mourning and therefore no problem in reciting Shehecheyanu.

4) If Necessary — Some desire to act strictly and refrain from doing anything that necessitates reciting a Shehecheyanu during Sefirah. However, you may buy the clothing when a need arises–such as a sale or a young man returned for a brief yeshiva break who needs to go shopping. That seems to be the intent of the Mishnah Berurah mentioned above. Peninei Halachah (Zemanim 3:11) says that even those who are strict about refraining from saying Shehecheyanu during Sefirah should be lenient and buy the clothes when a specific need arises and wear it for the first time on Shabbos or at a mitzvah celebration like a circumcision.

If someone asks me whether they may buy clothes during Sefirah, I tell them the second view above, of Rav Moshe Feinstein and others. This is also the view adopted by contemporary authorities, such as Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl (Be-Yitzchak Yikarei, ad loc.), Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky (Kovetz Halachos, Sefiras Ha-Omer U-Shavu’os, 8:5) and Rav Ya’akov Ariel (Ohalei Halachah, Sefirah and Shavuos, p. 38). But really there are more views. When it comes to customs, minhag is as minhag does. They evolve over time organically. This might be what Rav Chaim David Halevi, the late Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, intends when he writes: “There are other different customs during these days [of Sefirah] that are not authoritative; nevertheless, each person should follow the custom of their community” (Mekor Chaim 195:2). I suspect that the strict opinion is slowly gaining ground because of confusion with the Three Weeks. Eventually, people will observe the two mourning periods in the same way. Perhaps this will someday become the standard custom but until then, we still have the majority of poskim who permit buying new clothes and reciting a Shehecheyanu during Sefirah.