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A niddah (or nidah; Hebrew: נִדָּה), in traditional Judaism, is a woman who has experienced a uterine discharge of blood (most commonly during menstruation), or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath). In the Book of Leviticus, the Torah prohibits sexual intercourse with a niddah. The prohibition has been maintained in traditional Jewish law and by the Samaritans. It has largely been rejected by adherents of Reform Judaism and other liberal branches. In rabbinic Judaism, additional stringencies and prohibitions have accumulated over time, increasing the scope of various aspects of niddah, including: duration (12-day minimum for Ashkenazim, and 11 days for Sephardim); expanding to prohibition against sex to include: sleeping in adjoining beds, any physical contact, and even passing objects to spouse; and requiring a detailed ritual purification process. Since the late 19th century, with the influence of German Modern Orthodoxy, the laws concerning niddah are also referred to as Taharat haMishpacha (טָהֳרַת הַמִּשְׁפָּחָה‎, Hebrew for family purity), an apologetic euphemism coined to de-emphasize the "impurity" of the woman (a concept criticized by the Reform movement) and to exhort the masses by warning that niddah can have consequences on the purity of offspring. Etymology and usage Niddah has the general meaning of "expulsion" and "elimination", coming from the root ndd, "to make distant" (the Aramaic Bible translations use the root rhq, "to be distant"), reflecting the physical separation of women during their menstrual periods, who were "discharged" and "excluded" from society by being banished to and quarantined in separate quarters. Later in the biblical corpus, this meaning was extended to include concepts of sin and impurity, which may be related to ancient attitudes towards menstruation. Literally, the feminine noun niddah means moved (i.e., separated), and generally refers to separation due to ritual impurity. Medieval Biblical commentator Abraham ibn Ezra writes that the word niddah is related to the term menadechem (מנדיכם‎), meaning those that cast you out. Hebrew Bible The noun niddah occurs 25 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The majority of these uses refer to forms of uncleanliness in Leviticus. For example, in Leviticus, if a man takes his brother's wife, then that is "uncleanness", niddah. The five uses in Numbers all concern the red heifer ceremony (Numbers 19:1) and use the phrase mei niddah, "waters of separation". 2 Chronicles 29:5 includes a single exhortation of Hezekiah to the Levites, to carry forth the niddah (translated: "filthiness"), possibly idols of his father Ahaz, out of the temple in Jerusalem. Usage in Ezekiel follows that of Leviticus. Finally, the Book of Zechariah concludes with an eschatological reference to washing Jerusalem: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin (ḥaṭ'at) and for uncleanness (niddah)" (Zechariah 13:1). Rabbinic injunctions The copious laws of niddah contained in the Jewish rabbinic writings are almost entirely made-up of "fences" (Hebrew: סייגים), or safeguards, built around the Torah. The general rule which applies is that a woman is clean from the standpoint of the Torah until she feels uterine blood discharge from its source within her body. However, the rabbis have declared a woman to be unclean although she has not felt any discharge of blood, but has merely seen either a red or black blood stain on her body, or on her white garment or sheet, and which blood stain is larger in diameter than a fava bean (about 20 mm), in which case she must separate herself from her husband until she can complete seven clean days and can be purified in a ritual bath (mikveh). A blood stain that is a dark brown color leaning towards the color of coffee and the color of chestnuts defiles a woman and renders her niddah, on the condition that she feels its discharge. However, if she saw the same color while checking herself with an inspection cloth, but had not felt any discharge of blood, she is clean. Conversely, a vaginal discharge that is white in color, or either light yellow, green or blueish in color, does not render the woman niddah. There are, yet, many other conditions that need to be met, by rabbinic ordinances, in order to render uncleanness to a blood stain. The daughters of Israel have behaved stringently with themselves, insofar that even if they should see a drop of blood as a mustard grain, they would wait over it seven days of cleanness Although the Written Law (Leviticus 15:25–28) explicitly enjoins women to count seven days of cleanness (see infra) when they have seen irregular blood sightings (the irregularity occurring only from the eighth day of the start of her regular period and ending with the conclusion of the eighteenth day), the Sages of Israel have required all women who have experienced even their regular and natural purgation to count seven days of cleanness before they can be purified. Application of the Torah The Leviticus description of niddah is essentially composed of two parts: the ritual purity (tumah and taharah) aspect and the prohibition of sexual intercourse aspect. Ritual purity aspect The Biblical regulations of Leviticus specify that a menstruating woman must "separate" for seven days (Leviticus 15:19). Any object she sits on or lies upon during this period is becomes a "carrier of tumah" (midras uncleanness). One who comes into contact with her midras, or her, during this period becomes ritually impure (Leviticus 15:19–23) In addition, a man who has sexual relations with her is rendered ritually impure for seven days—as opposed to one day of impurity for coming into contact with her or her midras (Leviticus 15:24). During a woman's menstrual cycle, she is still permitted to cook and bake for her husband, and to separate the dough-portion (Challah), but is restricted from arranging her husband's bed linen in his presence, from mingling his cup of wine with water, and from washing her husband's face, feet and hands, since these actions are thought to arouse affection. It is also prohibited unto the man to touch his wife during these days. While the purity laws still exist in theory, in modern times there is generally no practical consequence to becoming impure (as, e.g., the Temple in Jerusalem cannot be visited), so the laws have no practical expression. Some later rabbinic authorities encouraged (but did not require) avoiding the midras of the niddah, as a remembrance for diasporic Jews so as to not forget the purity laws. This encouragement was only for the biblically prescribed seven-day period, not for the latter days that were added as part of certain rabbinical stringencies. The Lubavitcher rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson discouraged abstaining from the midras of a niddah in modern times. Sexual rela.... Discover the Zivah Rose popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Zivah Rose books.