Disposing of Fingernails
Question
What is the proper way to dispose of cut fingernails?
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
Indeed, one should ensure that one’s nail clippings do not fall on the floor as it is taught that if a pregnant woman steps on them, it can cause her to miscarry. This is based on the teaching that after the sin of the forbidden fruit, the fingernail-like covering which protected Adam and Eve fell off and forever remained on the tips of our fingers. Since it was Eve who was responsible for this development, there is fear that if women were to "trample" upon fingernails, they may be punished. (1) If they do fall on the floor, they should be promptly swept up.(2) In a place where women are generally not found, such as in a yeshiva, one need not be concerned if some nails clippings inadvertently fall on the ground, but one shouldn't leave it there, if it disgusts other people. (3)
Some people burn their nail clippings, while others bury them. (5) Flushing cut nails down a toilet is considered to be as if one buried them. So too, when burying them directly in the ground, there is no minimum depth to which they must be buried – even a shallow covering in the ground will do.
One who cuts one’s nails is required to wash one’s hands. (9) However, one who cuts someone else’s nails is not required to wash his hands, only the one whose nails were cut. (10)
Source
1. Nidda 17a; Moed Katan 18a. Pri Megadim, OC 260.
2. Be’er Heitev 260:2; Mishna Berura 260:6; Pitchei Olam 260:4.
3. Pitchei Olam 260:4.
4. Zohar, Vayakhel. See also Likutei Maharich, Erev Shabbat; Yesod V'shoresh Ha’avoda 8:1.
5. Nidda 17a.
6. Yirmiyahu 17:1.
7. Cited in Shemirat Haguf V’hanefesh 68.
8. Mateh Ephraim 606:8.
9. Pesachim 111b; OC 4:18,19; Shulchan Aruch Harav 4:18.
10. Kaf Hachaim, OC 4:92.