Can one bring into a washroom an English newspaper that also contains in English some divrei torah?
For example, one reads only the non-torah sections and purposely doesnt open to the page which contains the torah. Maybe thats like a "cover"
Tzvi Stern,
To reconcile our Sugya with the Sugya in B'rachos (23a) that requires Kisvei Kodesh to have two covers (one of which is not its natural one) before they can be taken into the bathroom, Ritva explains that they either need two temporary covers, like the Gemara in B'rachos, or one permanent one, like the Sugya here. The other pages of a newspaper hardly constitute a permanent cover, in which case they would need two covers, one of which is not the other pages, and they would of course, have to be kept shut, in which case one would would not be able to read the other pages either. The only way out, it seems, is to remove the non Divrei Torah pages that one wants to read and to take them into the bathroom, or to remove the Divrei Torah pages and leave them out of the bathroom.
Incidentally, the Aruch Hashulchan specifially forbids taking all Sifrei Kodesh into a bathroom - It makes no difference, he says, whether they are Torah she'bi'K'sav, Torah she'be'Al Peh, Sifrei Poskim, She'eilos u'Teshuvos or Sifrei Musar.
Neither is the fact that the Divrei Torah are in English of any significance, since we already learned (40b) that Divrei Torah that are spoken in any language are Kodesh, whereas Divrei Chulin are considered Chol, even if they are said in Lashon ha'Kodesh (and presumably, the same will apply to Divrei Torah that are written).
R. Eliezer Chrysler