Siman 189 Seifim 4 - 7
4. There is another difference between a woman with a vesses kavua and one without. The woman who is kavua who has past her onah and has not felt a hargasha is still required to perform a self-examination prior to intercourse. The woman who is not kavua, if she did not check and did not see, since her onah has passed she is permitted. The Onah Beinonis has the rules of a vesses kavua.
5. There will be times when the interval will be "skipping" and will still establish a vesses kavua. For example, she might see today, again after 30 days, then again after 31 and the 4th time after 32. If this is the case, she has established a "skipping" vesses. This is true regardless of whether the constant change in interval is a short one or a long one; she nonetheless establishes a "skipping" vesses kavua for all purposes. Any cycle that is consistent and regular constitutes a vesses kavua.
6. The same way that there is a vesses kavua for intervals there is also a vesses that can be established for the day of the month and for the days of the week, of both equal and unequal lengths. For example, she could have seen 3 times on Sunday or on Thursday. She could have seen on the first of Nisan, Iyar and Sivan or on the 5th of each of those months. In any of these cases, she establishes a vesses for Sunday, Thursday, the first of the month or the fifth of the month as applicable. We pay no attention to the fact that months can vary in length and be either 29 or 30 days.
7. How does she establish a vesses for the date of the month in a "skipping" manner? If she sees on the 15th of Nisan, the 16th of Iyar and the 17th of Sivan, she does not establish vesses until she sees in the 18th of Tammuz because the first occurrence does not count in determining intervals. However, if she had a vesses already established and the 15th of Nisan is a skipping cycle, then she will establish her cycle of skipping after the 3rd skip. Some say that even though she has seen only on the 15th of Nisan, the 16th of Iyar and the 17th of Sivan that she needs to concern herself with the 18th of Tammuz and the 19th of Av; one should be cognizant of this opinion and be strict accordingly.
What's Going On? - Changing intervals
Seif 4 is largely a recapitulation of material already covered in Siman 189, Seif 9
Up to now, we have been describing the vesses haflaga, the cycle that is based on equal intervals between each. There are also several seemingly irregular cycles that can produce a vesses kavua. The first of those is called "dilug" or "skipping.” In this type of cycle, the interval is constantly changing and increasing by a fixed amount each cycle. As the Shulchan Aruch points out, it does not matter what the length of the interval change is.
Two interesting points arise. First, what if the woman's cycle, instead of expanding, is contracting? One view is that since it is impossible for a cycle to contract indefinitely, we do not create a vesses kavua out of such a set of diminishing cycles[1]. The counterargument is that it is unlikely that an expanding cycle will expand forever either and that for as long as the diminution of the cycle continues, she can have a vesses kavua for that set of cycles.[2] In any event, the diminution cannot result in a cycle of fewer than 18 days[3].
Another question is whether one can establish a vesses by a constant increase in the number of onos - for example - seeing after 59 onos, 60 onos and then 61 onos. This would correspond to a 30 day - 30 day - 31 day set of cycles that we would normally not consider being a vesses kavua. The Halacha in this situation is unclear, although the Noda B'yehudah indicates that one can establish a vesses based on ratable changes in onos.[4]
It is also possible for a woman to have a repeating cycle of, for example, 29-30-31-29-30-31. In this case, the entire cycle would need to repeat 3 times to be established as vesses kavua. This cycle is explained by the Shulchan Aruch in more detail Seif 8.
Date of the Month Cycles
As noted in the Shulchan Aruch, a woman can establish a vesses kavua based on always seeing on the same day of the lunar calendar month. An example of establishing one is in the noted for Seifim 2 and 3. Thus if she always sees on the 15th of the month, then she establishes a pattern for seeing on the 15th, regardless of whether the prior month was malai - a 30 day month or khaser - a 29 day month. Thus, it's possible for a woman to have a cycle that fluctuates between 30 and 31 days, as long as the day of the month is the same. This is a very different type of vesses than the vesses haflaga we have been learning about until now.
An interesting question is about Rosh Chodesh. If a woman sees on the 1st of a month, the 1st of the following month and the 30th of that same month, has she established a vesses kavua for Rosh Chodesh? Or, do we strictly follow the day of the month? The Aruch HaShulchan maintains that one can establish a vesses for Rosh Chodesh based on either of the 2 days. Thus, in our example above, the woman will have established a vesses hachodesh for Rosh Chodesh. If she does have such a vesses, she would need to separate during the appropriate onah on both days
Since we have a notion of women's cycles being affected by the moon, the Ra'ah considers the possibility of a vesses based on the molad (first appearance of the new moon), which can actually happen up to 2 days earlier or later than the actual date of Rosh Chodesh. Normative halacha[5], dismisses this concept. We learn from the possuk of "Asher tikre'u osam b'moadam" (reading the word osam (them) as Atem (you)) that God has put the determination of the calendar into our hands and that the heavens abide by the decision of beis din with respect to the calendar and the setting of holidays. He continues add says that all matters relating to calendrical calculations are included in this concept. Thus, the actions of beis din have an impact on the woman's cycle! It is interesting to note that he is not rejecting the theoretical possibility, but rather is saying that such a situation will never happen and that a woman who appears to be kovea based on the molad really isn't and thus does not establish a vesses.
Seif 6 also discusses a vesses based on days of the week. This type of vesses would require not just that the day of the week be the same, but that the number of weeks between each cycle be the same. Our question should be obvious - if a woman sees every 4 weeks on Monday, she has a 29-day cycle. Shouldn't she be in the category of vesses haflaga? First, since this vesses is based on dates and not on intervals, she would establish it with only 3 cycles rather than the 4 that are required for vesses haflaga.
Second, there is a practical difference. If the woman has seen 3 times on Monday (29-day cycle) and establishes herself as a vesses hashavua, she would suspect 29 days later on a Monday. If that month her cycle comes a day early, she has no established vesses haflaga. In the absence of vesses hashavua, the woman would need to be concerned with the ona beinonis the following month; with the established vesses she doesn't have to. She would still be suspecting the Monday (which is now 30 days after her fourth cycle). If she had a vesses haflaga for 29 days, she would begin counting the 29 days from the day of her actual period and not from the day we would have expected it. Thus, the woman with a vesses haflaga would suspect the Sunday of month #5. We see then that the subtle differences between the 2 types of vestos can lead to significant differences in practical Halacha.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|