Ask The Rabbi
Facebook Youtube

Ask The Rabbi
Facebook Youtube

category: 

SPITTING IN ALEINU

The Rav Name: Rabbi Yehuda Leib Nachmanson
  • Question

Why is there a custom to spit during the Aleinu prayer?Is it to obliterate evil? Is it permissible to erase the spit with one’s shoe?

  • Answer
I haven’t heard that one spits in the Aleinu prayer in order to obliterate evil. In the book of HaYom Yom the Rebbe explains that we do not want to benefit from the spittle that forms in our mouth while saying “vehem mishtachavim lehevel velarik” (they bow down to vanity and emptiness). On Shabbat we do not erase the spittle with our foot.

Sources