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One cannot think about Torah in the bathroom, as per http://www.torahmusings.com/2011/08/bathroom-etiquette/ which cites Berachot 26a, Shabbat 150a, Rambam Kriat Shema 3:4. This "thinking" seems to include even "non-direct" thoughts, like simply thinking about Hashem (Chuchmas Shlomo 85, Lehoros Nosson 1:1, Tzitz Eliezer 13:1:3 as cited in note 63 on http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/224278/halachically-speaking-halachos-regarding-the-bathroom.html ) so I would think that having Kavannah and focusing on fulfilling a mitzvah would be included in that.

When I go around to check for chametz, I include the bathrooms in my house. I hope that that is what I am supposed to do. I am also thinking actively about what I am looking for and what might count as chametz according to halacha so I can be sure my house is properly ready for the holiday.

But if so, and assuming I am keeping up my kavannah to be yotzei the mitzvah on which I made the bracha, am I "thinking Torah thoughts" in the bathroom?

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    How do you do follow any halakha in the bathroom? Especially, those in Hilkhot Bathrooms, in ShA? – Double AA Apr 22 '16 at 12:49
  • Re "This "thinking" seems to include even 'non-direct' thoughts, like simply thinking about Hashem": see also http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/4491 – msh210 Apr 22 '16 at 12:58
  • @DoubleAA how many other behaviors do I do in the bathroom after making a bracha on doing them? – rosends Apr 22 '16 at 15:32
  • @Dude there are other things in the bathroom besides food that might be chameitz, and the dog drags things in. – rosends Apr 22 '16 at 15:32
  • Is there a difference between "following a halacha" and "fulfilling a mitzvah"? Is following halachic authority in any situation inherently a fulfillment of a mitzvah (we make no bracha on it). – rosends Apr 22 '16 at 15:51
  • See the Beit Yosef http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/tursa.aspx?a=oc_x131 וכתוב – Double AA Apr 22 '16 at 16:41
  • @DoubleAA I may be missing something but that says that there is no hesach hada'at because while one is in the bathroom he is still considering proper halachic behavior (lizaher badinim) so his "learning" which he started beforehand continues. When one learns must one have kavannah that he is fulfilling the mitzvah on which he made the bracha? And how are the words of the beit yosef reconciled with the idea of not thinking about Torah in the bathroom? Is care in behavior the same as an active intention to fulfill a mitzvah? If they are the same, then my question is void, but others arise. – rosends Apr 22 '16 at 17:35
  • though the idea that learning continues is only according to the second answer, as the Rambam's position appears to be simply that going to the bathroom doesn't constitute a hesach hada'at through its hefsek. – rosends Apr 22 '16 at 17:37

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