Siman 198, Seifim 1-4
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She must immerse her entire body at one time.
Therefore, she may not have anything on her that acts as a barrier, even
if it is a minute item. If people are normally concerned about it, if
she is not concerned about it now but has been in the past, or even if
she has never been concerned about it if it is something that most
people are concerned with, it is considered a barrier.
Rama - one should not immerse with things that are of no concern because
of those that are of concern.
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These are things that are barriers: threads of wool
or of linen and straps that she ties her hair with. She may not
immerse with these on until she loosens them. However, if they are
inside a braid in her hair loosening does not help. If they are on
other parts of her body, she similarly may not immerse until she loosens
them, except if they are around her neck. If they are around her
neck they do not act as a barrier because they are not so tight that
they stick to her skin. A choker, however, such as a smooth and
flat band that she puts around her neck is a barrier, since she will
choke herself forcefully so that skin will fold over and will make her
look hefty. Because of the smoothness and flatness of the choker,
it does not hurt her.
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If the threads are woven like mesh, they are not a barrier.
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Threads of hair are not barriers
Rama - If they are gold they are a barrier since she is concerned about
making them dirty. Similarly, if they are already dirty she does
not want the dirt to get on her in the water and she is also concerned.
What's Going On -
Barriers to Immersion
After the laws relating to the timing of immersion in Siman
197, the Shulchan Aruch begins to discuss the laws relating to the
immersion itself. The first section of these laws deals with "chatzitzah",
or barriers to immersion. The basic halacha is given in the
first sentence of Seif 1 that a woman (or anyone else for that
matter) needs to immerse her entire body at one time. This means that
(a) all of her body and hair have to be in the water and (b) there can be
nothing interfering with the ability of the water to reach her entire body.
This requirement means that one cannot immerse, later realize that there was
a barrier on her arm, say, and then just re-immerse her arm.
The rest of the Seif defines for us the general principles of
determining what constitutes a barrier and what does not. Indeed, something
that is a barrier for one person may not be one for another person.
The first factor to consider is how much of the body is covered by the
barrier. Torah law, which in virtually all cases dictates rulings
based on majority, would consider something that covers less than half of
the body to not be a barrier and one that is over more than half to be a
potential barrier. By Rabbinic decree, we generally do not consider
the amount of one's body covered by the barrier to be relevant. The
key determinant is whether she is "makpid", or concerned, about
having a certain potential obstruction on her body. For example, while
a typical person would object to having dye stains on themselves, someone
whose occupation is as a dyer would not. This is covered in more detail in
Seif 10.
The general principles are:
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If she has ever been makpid about the potential
barrier, then it will constitute one.
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If most people would be makpid about it, regardless
of her own view, it constitute a barrier.
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If most people are not makpid and neither is she, it
is not a barrier.
The result of these rules can be summarized as follows:
| |
Covers most of body |
Does not cover most of body |
| Makpid |
Barrier per Torah |
Barrier per Rabbis |
| Not makpid |
Barrier per Rabbis |
Not a barrier |
The Rama's addition is somewhat obscure. Shevet HaLevi (8)
offers two different understandings of it. He notes that Taz
(4) explains that a woman should remove something that is not a barrier
because it falls into the category of not covering most of the body and of
the woman not being makpid, which corresponds with the lower right
hand corner of the table above. the second explanation states that one
should removeitems that are not barriers if there are similar items that at
times can be barriers, such as bracelets or necklaces (which are not
barriers if they are loose enough to let water flow around them.)
There is a significant dispute between the Rambam and
the Geonim about the status of hair. According to the Rambam,
hair is considered as part of the body and according to the Geonim it
is considered separately. The halachic relevance of this dispute would
be if someone had a barrier that she is not concerned about covering more
than half of her body without her hair and is less than half of her body
with her hair included. Other distinctions will be covered later.
The poskim generally agree that the rule of "loosening"
potential barriers is meant to validate an immersion after the fact, but
that one should completely remove all potential barriers before immersing.
Indeed, there are probably no mikve attendants who would permit a
woman to immerse while wearing any kind of jewelry or ribbons.
The next section of this Siman, beginning with Seif
2, deals with specific cases of potential barriers.
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