Halakhah for Berakhot 45:15
תנו רבנן בראשונה היו מניחין תפילין בחורין הסמוכין לבית הכסא ובאין עכברים ונוטלין אותן התקינו שיהו מניחין אותן בחלונות הסמוכות לרשות הרבים ובאין עוברי דרכים ונוטלין אותן התקינו שיהא אוחזן בידו ונכנס
Our Rabbis have taught : At first people used to leave the Tefillin in holes near the privy, but mice came and carried them away ; therefore it was ordained that they should be left on window-sills near the public road ; but because passers-by used to take them, it was ordained that they should hold them in their hand and enter.
Peninei Halakhah, Women's Prayer
The Sages teach that one who needs to use the bathroom, be it to urinate or to defecate, may not pray (Berakhot 23a). There are two reasons for this: 1. The need for relief is likely to disrupt one’s kavana (Rambam); and 2. It is not proper to come to pray before God when the body is made repulsive by the excrement inside it (Hagahot Maimoniyot). Even if one is uncertain as to whether or not she needs to use the bathroom, the Sages say that le-khatḥila one should use the bathroom (Berakhot 15a). The Sages support their statement with the verse (Amos 4:12), “Israel, prepare to meet your God.” It is also written: “Guard your foot when you go to the House of God” (Kohelet 4:17), which they interpret to mean that one should ensure that she does not need to relieve herself when she gets up to pray.
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