Rechitza--washing/bathing--is, it seems, Biblically prohibited on Yom Kippur. And yet I learned that a married woman who is due to make a bedikah--the twice-daily inspection for blood during niddah, which is most definitely Rabbinical--not only makes it (twice), but also washes herself before it as usual (twice), on Yom Kippur. According to my source, the washing procedure on Yom Kippur is the same as for Shabbos, except with cold water only (I think). I won't go into the details, but it is a lot of bathing for a day when we aren't even allowed to wash negel vasser normally.
I know that taharas hamishpacha is very important and that the community sells its last Torah scroll for a mikvah, etc. I am trying to understand how this is balanced against Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur the couple will not be touching each other in any case, so there is no immediate benefit to be gained from the information gained from bedikah. I have also heard that, bedieved, one is allowed to skip all but the first bedikot of the 14, so if the ones due on Yom Kippur are "intermediate" it surprises me that we violate a prohibition of Yom Kippur to do them. And even if we do them, I wonder about the washing (whose only purpose, as I understand it, is to increase the odds of a clean result in the bedikah).
What is the reason that bedikah is done on Yom Kippur?
If bedikah is required on this day, why do we do the usual washing, which would otherwise violate the restrictions of the day, instead of limiting it?
