What's Going On - Timely Immersions The basic halacha is that women do not immerse during the day time. Theoretically, a woman could go immerse during the daytime of day 7. However if a woman were to immerse during the day, engage in intercourse with her husband and then experience bleeding before the actual end of the day, she would become retroactively and she and her husband will have had forbidden relations. The term "srach bitah" means "conduct of her daughter".
This concern was the underlying reason for the rule of not immersing during
the day, even on day 8 or later. We are afraid that a woman's daughter
(or any other woman) will see her going during the day and not understand
that she is immersing late and will conclude that it is acceptable to
immerse during the daytime of day 7. He also raises a question that in large communities there are often a lot of women who are waiting to immerse and women would go to the mikvah to get in line while it was still daytime. In this case also, it assumed that the daughters understand the reason for the mothers' early departure. The halacha however does recognize that there could be circumstances in which it is impossible to immerse at night under any circumstances, such as fear of wild animals or robbers or excessively cold water. In those circumstances, while we still do not permit immersion on the daytime of day 7, we will permit it during the daytime of day 8. The regular objection of srach bitah is suspended because the daughter knows the circumstances and won't learn improperly from it. In a case in which a couple went on a ship on day 7 and would not have access to a mikvah for several weeks, the Chazon Ish prohibited a daytime immersion on day 7. We see from this the extent to which we go to prevent day 7 immersions. Rav Wozner, however, contends that one could have lenient in that circumstance, given that the couple would need to with a very lengthy period of impurity. Therefore, while the halacha is very strict about not permitting immersion during the day on Day 7, in certain limited cases there is room for leniency. As always, if one is in a situation like this, one should seek guidance and not automatically assume that early immersion is prohibited or permitted. The prohibition of daytime immersion aside, if a woman were to immerse during the day, the Shulchan Aruch rules that the immersion is valid. The Rama adds that the woman must nevertheless hide the fact of her immersion from her husband and must certainly not have intercourse before nightfall. However, the Shach(11) and other poskim rule that a daytime immersion on Day 7 counts in case of an unforeseen or accidental problem. The Shach quotes a ruling that requires the woman to immerse again at nightfall. She does not make a blessing on the second immersion. If possible one should follow the stricter opinion.
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