Preparing for the Mikveh: Difference between revisions

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* Sephardic Minhag: Rav Ovadia Yosef in Taharat Habayit (v. 2, p. 392) rules like Shulchan Aruch. On p. 413, he adds that if a woman knew that she only needed to wait 4 days and was machmir to wait 5, if she wants to change her minhag she needs to do a hatarat nedarim. Ben Ish Chai (Rav Paalim 4:20) maintains that the minhag Baghdad was to wait 5 days and it should be maintained. Orot Hatahara 10:23-4 (Rav Zecharya Ben Shlomo) writes that some Sephardim wait 4 days and some 5 days. He adds that the Yemenites hold that immediately after she stops seeing blood, she should wash that area from shichvat zera if they had tashmish within the last 4 days, and then she could do a hefsek tahara.</ref>  
* Sephardic Minhag: Rav Ovadia Yosef in Taharat Habayit (v. 2, p. 392) rules like Shulchan Aruch. On p. 413, he adds that if a woman knew that she only needed to wait 4 days and was machmir to wait 5, if she wants to change her minhag she needs to do a hatarat nedarim. Ben Ish Chai (Rav Paalim 4:20) maintains that the minhag Baghdad was to wait 5 days and it should be maintained. Orot Hatahara 10:23-4 (Rav Zecharya Ben Shlomo) writes that some Sephardim wait 4 days and some 5 days. He adds that the Yemenites hold that immediately after she stops seeing blood, she should wash that area from shichvat zera if they had tashmish within the last 4 days, and then she could do a hefsek tahara.</ref>  
# If a woman sees blood in the middle of shiva nekiyim she needs to start again, but she doesn’t have to wait 4 or 5 days before she can do a hefsek tahara. Rather she can do the hefsek tahara that day and then start counting the shiva nekiyim the next day.<ref>Shach 196:22, Taharat Habayit v. 2 p. 419</ref>
# If a woman sees blood in the middle of shiva nekiyim she needs to start again, but she doesn’t have to wait 4 or 5 days before she can do a hefsek tahara. Rather she can do the hefsek tahara that day and then start counting the shiva nekiyim the next day.<ref>Shach 196:22, Taharat Habayit v. 2 p. 419</ref>
# A bride the first time after she got married that she is impure because of beilat mitzvah could do the hefsek tahara on the fourth day and she doesn't need to wait until the fifth day as long as she stopped seeing blood on or before the fourth day (and she didn't see her regular period afterwards). This only applies if they didn't have tashmish during Ben Hashemashot. <Ref>Taz YD 196:5 quoting the Maharal of Prague writes that a bride after beilat mitzvah doesn't have to wait 5 days because the impurity of dam betulim is only rabbinic. However, if they really had tashmish during Ben Hashemashot then she can't do the hefsek tahara until the 5th day after the beilat mitzvah. </ref>
==Timing of the Hefsek Tahara==
==Timing of the Hefsek Tahara==
# The hefsek tahara is a very critical bedika done right before night prior to beginning the count of shiva nekiyim. If a woman didn’t do a hefsek she remains a niddah and can’t begin her count of shiva nekiyim even if days or years passed.<ref>Mishna Niddah 68a, Rashba ([http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=8922&st=&pgnum=384 Torat Habayit 23b]), Tur and S”A 196:5. See Taharat Habayit v. 2 pp. 229-254 whether the need for the hefsek tahara is biblical or rabbinic. The majority opinion including the Rambam (Isurei Biyah 6:20-3) is that it is biblical unlike the opinion of the Or Zaruah 1:338. Nonetheless, based on the Zichron Yosef YD 9 who presents an argument based on rov that today the hefsek is only rabbinic. The argument is discussed at length in the Taharat Habayit. He concludes that in cases of extreme need where a proper hefsek is impossible one should consult a rabbi whether there is room to consider the leniency that was discussed by the Nodeh Beyehuda YD 59.</ref>
# The hefsek tahara is a very critical bedika done right before night prior to beginning the count of shiva nekiyim. If a woman didn’t do a hefsek she remains a niddah and can’t begin her count of shiva nekiyim even if days or years passed.<ref>Mishna Niddah 68a, Rashba ([http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=8922&st=&pgnum=384 Torat Habayit 23b]), Tur and S”A 196:5. See Taharat Habayit v. 2 pp. 229-254 whether the need for the hefsek tahara is biblical or rabbinic. The majority opinion including the Rambam (Isurei Biyah 6:20-3) is that it is biblical unlike the opinion of the Or Zaruah 1:338. Nonetheless, based on the Zichron Yosef YD 9 who presents an argument based on rov that today the hefsek is only rabbinic. The argument is discussed at length in the Taharat Habayit. He concludes that in cases of extreme need where a proper hefsek is impossible one should consult a rabbi whether there is room to consider the leniency that was discussed by the Nodeh Beyehuda YD 59.</ref>