Hot answers tagged mikvah-ritual-bath
14
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in responsa Shemesh Marpeh, was asked regarding an influx of Eastern-European Jews to Frankfurt whose men had the custom to use the mikvah. He ruled that their custom was a wonderful thing, but if it caused one woman to not use the mikvah, it wasn't worth it.
This was cited by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein regarding what appears to have ...
13
Masturbation per se does not change one's halachik status at all, although it does generate an obligation to repent.
Ezra originally established that a man who is impure from any seminal emmision (not just masturbatory) cannot say shema, pray or say other blessings until he has gone to the mikva. However this decree was later rescended, and the law and the ...
13
The Gemara in Megilla 6a says Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi went to the bath house on 17 Tammuz.
The Shulchan Aruch OC 550:2 rules that bathing is permitted on the 'minor' fasts and is only forbidden on Tisha B'av and Yom Kippur.
The Mishna Brura there (sk 6) says that a meticulous person ("baal nefesh") should be stringent on all the 5 afflictions of tisha b'av ...
11
Tough question. I know a lot of nerves can be frazzled by this one.
In Temple times, when ritual purity affected all sorts of aspects of daily life, this might be a different question; but today, women's regular use of mikva is only to end the status of nida.
On the one hand, the woman would like to increase her religious observance (a wonderful thing), ...
10
They aren't all built near the ground - for example the mens mikvah where I live is on the second floor.
However they frequently build them on the ground simply because water is extremely heavy, and building it higher up requires special building reinforcement - the building would basically have to be built specifically to be a mikvah, and could not be ...
9
From the Shiurim of Rav Baruch Gigi of Yeshivat Har Etzion
The Rashba (Torat Ha-bayit Ha-katzar 32b) wrote in a similar vein
about a woman who dyed her hair: "It [the coloring] is now part of the
hair, like dye is part of a colored garment. Dye is not considered a
separate thing that is a chatzitza, but part of the garment itself
that does not ...
9
Actually the order for a convert is: first have circumcision, then wait for that to heal, then immerse in the mikvah. The immersion is what finalizes the conversion.
The law of "a convert upon conversion is like a newborn" is limited to certain laws, primarily that Torah law regards the convert as no longer related to their prior relatives.
8
Afraid your friend got it horribly, horribly wrong.
There are modesty reasons why you wouldn't want women immersing (so they can be with their husbands) running into random men; but for that reason, you simply say "mikvah is open to men during the following hours, women the following hours." I know of many mikvahs (or mikvaot) today that still have this ...
8
Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet was asked (Responsum 425) why no rabbinic edict requiring unmarried women to regularly purify themselves in the Mivka was ever enacted in order to minimize the transgressions of those who engage in extra-marital sexual contact. (I note the whole basis of the question is that in the days when women regularly or even semi-regularly were ...
6
In general, one's status does not change, and one should not feel that one is prohibited from learning or davening. That said, it is important to take steps to rectify this very serious sin.
Aside from the necessary steps for teshuva regardless of the sin, one should go to the mikvah as soon as possible - if one is not available, a shower will do - and ...
6
Shulchan Aruch Y"D 198:17-
צבע שצובעות הנשים על פניהן וידיהן ושער ראשן, אינו חוצץ.
(My translation) "Color that women use to color on their faces, hands, and hair of their heads, is not chotzetz."
Maran doesn't seem to object to the practice of women coloring their hair; i doubt he would have written dinnim about it if it was assur.
6
Do these dishes really belong to the kosher caterer? (If after one use they're handed over to the airline, then I would assume not - unless indeed they have an arrangement where the airline compensates the caterer for them.) If not, then this would be like the case of a Jew borrowing a utensil from a non-Jew, where it doesn't require tevilah (Shulchan Aruch, ...
6
There is a story of a great Rav (no official source) who would shower after the mikvah. When asked about his custom he answered:
Before going into the mikvah I shower
because of the mitzvah "ואהבת לרעך".
When coming out I shower because of
"כמוך".
6
http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=1814
As in many Halachos there is a
Machlokes. In summary according to the
custom of the Ashkenazim, a woman
should not bathe or shower after
immersing in the Mikveh. Sepharadim,
however, do not follow this custom,
and thus Sephardic women may bathe or
shower immediately after immersion
...
6
Another possibility might just be to use a local pond or lake. (Rivers or streams are a possibility too, but there are more halachic issues with those, involving issues of how much groundwater vs. rainwater they contain.) Those generally aren't usable for human mikvaos because of the lack of privacy, but that wouldn't apply to dishes.
6
Welcome to judaism.stackexchange.com!
I apologize if this is confusing, but often there's some difference between what you'll get if you just open up and read a Bible, compared with the standard practices observed by Jews today.
Many of the Biblical laws of impurity aren't really of concern to us in our normal daily lives as we're not planning on entering ...
5
CYLOR regarding following R' Dovid Miller's instructions. If I remember correcty, he allows the use of tap water through a rubber connection. Nowadays, most do not rely on this, but may be lenient for rabbinic or keli use.
5
Granted it is a recent source, but:
Q: After men immerse in the Mikveh, should the water be changed
for the women? A: Yes. It bothers them. In essence, it is the women's
Mikveh. It is permissible for men to use it only if it does not bother
the women.
Found here.
5
A convert actually immerses three times, according to Rabbi Maurice Lamm here:
There is one exception to this general practice of placing the blessing before the
mitzvah--the immersion of a convert. The convert needs to recite the blessing after the immersion, not before. The reason is simple: One cannot declare "God commanded us"
if one is not ...
5
This is because it is possible to get a period while pregnant, and it's even possible to get pregnant again while already pregnant (i.e. not twins). This is called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfetation
The halacha takes this into account, and therefor all taharas hamishpacha practices continue like normal during pregnancy.
Someone who has a Chazakah ...
4
Don't know if this is the first one, but:
In the earliest days, the women of
Shearith Israel made use of a natural
spring near the synagogue for these
ritual purposes. By 1759 Shearith
Israel built a mikvah on its grounds,
adjacent to the Mill Street synagogue.
(http://thehistorybox.com/ny_city/nycity_jewish_family_home_pt_II_article1298.htm)
...
4
The amount isn't 40 sa'ah, it's only 9 kav. From an IDF Q&A distributed by ShemaYisrael:
Q. How can a soldier who is on duty fulfill the custom of immersion in a
mikveh on Erev Yom Kippur?
A. ... The poskim write, however, that one who finds
immersion difficult can rely on fulfilling his obligation by pouring 9 kavim of water
on himself ...
4
The gemoro in Pesachim 51A says that father, father-in-law, stepfather and brother-in-law (sister's husband) are forbidden, and that there are those who are machmir on brothers as well.
According to Rashi the issue is that it would lead one to impure thoughts, to see the place from where he or his wife were produced, or thoughts about his brother-in-law and ...
4
The Aruch HaShulchan (YD 201:18, quoted below) rules that a man-made well dug in the ground is a kosher mikva by virtue of its status as a spring. He notes that springs are kosher mikvas whether or not the water flows or not, and notes that in most wells the water does flow in and out of the ground, but this is not a problem. Based on my online reading I see ...
4
According to Berachos 22a-b, the minimum volume of water required to cleanse a Baal Keri is 9 kabs of water thrown on him, however it is preferable to use a Mikveh. In a Mikveh, full-body-immursion is required without being in contact with the walls. Eiruvin 4b says that the minimum volume for this is 1 ama x 1 ama x 3 amas high, or 40 seah.
R. Akiva and ...
4
Likely you are thinking about the Ramban's conclusion to his Hilchot Niddah (9:25):
ומדיני החציצה לא טוב היות האדם מחמיר יותר מדאי ומחפש אחר הספיקות לפסול טבילתה בדבר הקל, כי אם כן אין לדבר סוף, אלא אחר שחפפה ראשה וסרקה במסרק וחפפה ורחצה כל גופה בחמין ונזהרה לבלתי תגע בשום דבר חוצץ ותעשה טבילתה בפשיטות איבריה וכל גופה, לא יכניס אדם ראשו בספיקות החמורות ...
4
I'm going to say that whoever wrote the wikipedia article did not understand the sources they were reading. First let me state the noticeable problems.
According to Halakha a woman may not tell her husband that she is Tameh when she is not (Even HaEzer 77 and Nosei Kelim). It would give her the status of a moredet, which is a person (a mored in the case ...
3
Let me add a couple things, based on English-language responsa on the Institute for Dayanim website.
"Cleaning off Zera" says the principal halacha is that you can pray even with semen on your clothing. It adds that if you masturbated, it's "proper" to wash your bedsheets to remove semen. The responsum uses the term "proper", not the term "obligatory". ...
3
The Halachos of a woman's Mikva are more stringent than for a men's Mikva. For a men's Mikva you can really use drawn water - see Shaalos U'Teshuvos Shem Aryeh - in addition as you mentioned for cleanliness and potentially for Tzeniyos issues. However a man who uses a ladies Mikva would definitely be Tahor, however a woman who uses a man's Mikva may not be.
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