Hilchos Niddah Siman 184, Seif 9

Siman 184, Seif 9:

Other women need to perform a bedikah (i.e. self-examination) during the Onah in which the woman expects the initial bleeding of her period. If she did not perform the self-examination and did not feel a hargasha, she is permitted without a follow-up bedikah. There are those who say that if the woman has a vesses kavua (or is observing Onah Beinonis), she is required to perform a bedikah even after the end of her cycle. (and so we hold and so it is below in Siman 189).

Definitions:

B'Chorin U'v'Sadkin - the crevices and other imperfections in the wall of the vagina.

Cheskas Taharah - the concept that she remains in her previously assumed state unless we have evidence to the contrary. Chazaka is an important concept throughout Halacha.

Orach b'zmano bah - literally "the visitor arrives at his time.” An assumption that the woman's period did begin or that that there were hargashos and she simply did not notice.

Onah Beinonis - one of the several periods of time that a woman who has a Vesses She-aino Kavua needs to separate from her husband. According to most poskim this period is 30 days.

Where we are
The Siman has, up until now, been dealing with the fact of a separation requirement and of who is exempt from it. Now the Halacha begins to discuss the bedikah that is required during the Onah of separation

Bedikah - why?
To understand this, we need to know about what we call chazaka – a term that literally means “strength” but is used to more or less mean “status” or “state of reality.” We see both of these different definitions at work here. First, up to this point, the woman has been pure, she is therefore said to have a chezkas taharah – she started pure, nothing has come to our attention to change that status and therefore she retains it. This would translate into the Halacha that we see – that the woman is permitted without any bedikah. Contravening this chazaka is a one that maintains that we know and assume that a woman’s menstruation will begin at the proper time. Applying this principle would mean that we would assume that her menstruation started and she would therefore be considered impure, even though we have no tangible evidence of such.

The resolution of the conflict is based on the concept that in doubts relating to Rabbinic laws we are lenient and in doubts relating to Torah laws we are strict. Our doubt here is whether the woman’s menstruation started timely, since we have no evidence that it did. If the law of bedikah was Torah based, we would rule strictly, that is, that we assume she experienced a hargasha and therefore she is impure. There would be no mechanism to undermine that assumption because even if she does a bedikah post-onah, we would still maintain that negative evidence is not determinative. On the other hand, if we maintain that bedikah is Rabbinic, we would make a lenient assumption – that in the absence of evidence of a flow, she retains her chazaka of being pure. Indeed, this is how the Shulchan Aruch rules.[1]

Bedikah - how?
The detail rules for performing bedikah are covered in Siman 196. For now, all we need to know is that the bedikah must be B'Chorin U'v'Sadkin (in interior crevices) and that a mere wipe of the vaginal area is insufficient.[2] Additionally, the material used must be absorbent and we generally use white cotton cloth.

Misses a Bedikah - what happens?
The approach towards the missed bedikah is controversial. The Tur, following the Ramban, Rashba and Ra'avad, although they agree that the bedikah is Rabbinic, hold that the woman must make a bedikah, even if it is after her Onah.[3] The Shulchan Aruch prefers the view of the Ran that once the onah is passed, there is no more need for a bedikah.

The Bach (supported by the Shach) however, takes a more stringent approach. He rules that the woman not only needs to make a bedika after the onah (agreeing with the Tur), he rules that for the bedikah to be effective it must be made within a relatively short time after the onah[4], within 15 – 30 minutes after the end of the onah.[5] If it is not, the Bach applies the principle of Orach b'zmano bah.

There is, however, a set of opinions that draw a distinction between a woman with a vesses kavua and one with a vesses she-aino kavua. For the woman with the fixed cycle, the chazaka of her menstruation beginning timely is much stronger than when she has a vesses she-aino kavua. Therefore, this group will accept that if a woman does not have a fixed cycle we will not invoke the chazaka, but otherwise we will. So the woman with the fixed cycle will need to perform a bedikah after the end of the onah and within a very brief period. Otherwise, the woman would be considered impure.[6] The Rama agrees with this view and it is the rule for Ashkenazim.

The Bedikah - when and how many?
R. Wozner suggests that the language of the Shulchan Aruch implies that only one bedikah during the Onah is required.[7] Others disagree. The Chavos Daas holds that the bedikah must be continuous for the entire onah (meaning that the bedikah cloth must stay in place for the entire onah.[8] Besides being painful and uncomfortable for the woman, this is rejected by all of the poskim. The Chavos Daas himself appears to contradict himself, as I will point out later on. The Chazon Ish holds that she should perform a bedikah at both the beginning of the onah and at the end of the Onah.[9] The Badei Hashulchan in his biurim appears to agree with the Chazon Ish. R. Wozner appears to prefer 3 bedikos, with the third being at the sh'as havesses, or that time during the day when she expects her flow to begin.[10]

The Lost Bedikah cloth
The treatment of this case should be obvious - according to the poskim who hold that if the onah passes and she did not check she is permitted would obviously not have a problem here. Similarly, the Tur would simply require a new bedikah after the end of the Onah. Further, if there is reason to believe that the woman deliberately lost the cloth, we impose a fine on her by making her Temeah, although she does not have intrinsic Tumah within her.[11]

Other Issues
In this time frame (post-onah) as in earlier seifim, the halacha according to the Tur "prohibits" the woman until she does a bedikah. Most poskim maintain that the prohibition is all-inclusive of all acts of intimacy banned while a woman is a niddah,[12] while others hold that the only prohibition is intercourse.[13]

There is a suggestion that a woman not wash her genitals during the onas vesses and suggests further that if a woman did wash and only then performed a bedikah, we make her impure and require 7 clean days.[14] I know that I have seen somewhere, probably in the Shevet HaLevi, although I have been unable to track it down, that the washing that would be prohibited would be internal washing, such as with a douche.

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Last Revised December 2, 2004