** A Message from Agudath Israel**
Boruch Dayan Ha'emes.
I am writing to share with you the sad news that Martin Grossman, Michoel Yechiel ben Avrohom, olov hasholom, was executed this evening in Florida.
It would be understandable for any of us to feel not only sorrow but frustration that all our efforts didn't result in the result for which we were mispallel.
But I personally choose, even amid the pain and sorrow, to focus on the tremendous ahavas Yisroel, shtadlonus and achdus that was demonstrated by our tzibbur over recent days. I want to personally thank all of you who telephoned Governor Crist's office, or sent him e-mails and faxes, or participated in the ultimate act of ahavas Yisroel: tefilla on a brother's behalf. Your reaction to the impending tragedy was remarkable. May it stand as a zechus for his neshoma, and for all of Klal Yisroel, and hasten bi'as go'el tzedek, b'mheira biyomeinu.
Chaim Dovid Zwiebel
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Today's Halacha:
The Torah, in the beginning of Parashat Tazria, discusses the Halachic status of a woman after giving birth, and establishes that this status depends on whether she gave birth to a boy or a girl. In the case of a boy, the woman is considered Teme’a (ritually impure), like a Nidda, for a period of seven days, even if she did not bleed during or after birth. After a week, if she performed all required inspections, she may immerse in a Mikveh and then be considered Tehora (ritually pure). The Torah then establishes the subsequent thirty-three days as "Yemeh Tohar," or "days of purity." During these thirty-three days, the woman is Tehora even if she experiences bleeding. Even if the bleeding resembles ordinary menstrual bleeding, the Torah determined that the bleeding during this thirty-three-day period does not render a woman Teme’a, and the restrictions of Nidda do not apply.
In the case of a baby girl, the woman is considered Teme’a like a Nidda for a period of fourteen days. Even if she did not experience any bleeding, and even if she immerses in a Mikveh, she cannot become Tehora within the first fourteen days after the birth of a girl. After the fourteenth day, she begins a sixty-six period of "Yemeh Tohar." For the next sixty-six days, she does not become a Nidda even if she experiences bleeding.
However, these Halachot apply only on the level of Torah law. The Ge’onim (Rabbis of the post-Talmudic era) enacted a provision that women should not differentiate between bleeding during the "Yemeh Tohar" and normal bleeding, and they should consider themselves Nidda even during this period. The reason is, quite simply, that such a distinction may cause confusion. If women did not observe the restrictions of Nidda during the period of "Yemeh Tohar" following childbirth, they might mistakenly neglect the restrictions of Nidda on other occasions, when bleeding does render a woman a Nidda. The Ge’onim therefore enacted that a woman should be considered a Nidda even if she experiences bleeding during these periods of "Yemeh Tohar" when she cannot become a Nidda according to Torah law.
Thus, if a woman experiences bleeding during the "Yemeh Tohar," she is a Nidda by force of a Minhag – an accepted custom, as opposed to Torah law. This status is significant with respect to the issue of the Beracha recited at the time of the immersion. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204), in Hilchot Berachot (11:16), rules that although we recite a Beracha before performing certain Misvot, we do not recite a Beracha before performing a Minhag. One example is the custom of taking an Araba (willow) on Hoshana Rabba; we do not recite a Beracha over this custom, even though it is very ancient, dating back to the time of the prophets. Similarly, the practice of the Sepharadim is not to recite a Beracha over the recitation of Hallel on Rosh Hodesh and on Pesah (after the first two days), since the Hallel recitation on these occasions is required only by force of a Minhag.
This principle would also apply in the case of a woman who immerses after experiencing bleeding during the "Yemeh Tohar." Consider, for example, the case of a woman who is able to immerse two weeks after delivering a baby girl, and thus becomes Tehora. If she experiences bleeding at some point during the subsequent sixty-six days, she is considered a Nidda by force of a Minhag; according to Torah law, she is not a Nidda. After she undergoes the usual process of Hefsek Tahara and Shib’a Nekiyim, she may immerse in a Mikveh. However, she would not recite a Beracha over this immersion, since it is required only by force of a custom, and not by force of Torah law.
Summary: A woman is considered a Nidda for a week after delivering a baby boy, and for two weeks after delivering a baby girl, regardless of the sighting of any blood. After that one-week or two-week period, if she went to the Mikveh once already then any bleeding that occurs during the subsequent thirty-three days in the case of a boy, or sixty-six days in the case of a girl, does not render her a Nidda by force of Torah law. The accepted custom, however, is to consider a woman a Nidda even on account of bleeding experienced during these periods, but she does not recite a Beracha over the immersion in such a case.
