The International Vaad Ha Tznius has issued the following guidelines regarding laundry.
It has come to our attention that many families, including those who pride themselves on following all aspects of halacha, are regularly not conforming to proper Tznius guidelines.
Unbelievably, many, many families are washing men’s and women’s clothing together at the same time in the same washing machine. This is an unprecedented breach of Tznius.!!!
How could anyone think that one is allowed to wash men’s and women’s undergarments at the same time in the same washing load?!!!
What has our nation come to when people have fallen to such a low level? For shame!!! This practice must stop!!!!
Given this we are issuing the following guidelines regarding the doing of laundry.
1. Ideally each observant home should have two washing machines and two dryers – one washing machine and one dryer should be used exclusively for men’s clothing and the other washing machine and dryer should be used exclusively for women’s clothing.
2. In the event that a family cannot afford to have two washing machines and two dryers, the following rules should be adhered to.
a. Under no circumstances should men’s cloths be washed in the same machine as women’s clothing at the same time. They should, of course, also be dried separately.
b. After doing a load of men’s clothing, one should run the washing machine through a complete cycle without any cloths in it using hot water. Then one may wash women’s clothing in this machine. The same procedure should, of course, be followed after washing a load of women’s clothing, namely, run a complete cycle using hot water without any cloths in the machine. Then one may wash men’s clothing in the machine.
c. After drying a load of men’s clothing the dryer should be allowed to cool off completely. After this, one may use the dryer for drying women’s cloths. The same applies after drying a load of women’s clothing before using the dryer for men’s clothing. It is not enough to let the dryer cool below Yad So Ledas Bo. The dryer must be completely cooled off.
Our forefathers lived in a land that was between two rivers – the Tigris and the Euphrates. The reason is obvious to anyone who thinks into it a bit. One river was used to wash women’s clothing and the other to wash men’s clothing. Surely we can continue this tradition by observing the rules stated above.
We are confident that everyone who takes Yahadus seriously will abide by the guidelines stated above.
With Torah greetings,
Names withheld by request due to concern that our wives will stop doing our laundry.