DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 1006 KB)
A Bride’s Requirement to Make “Bedikot”

Before a girl gets married, she must remove her Nidda status by going through the standard procedure that married women must go through after becoming a Nidda. This means that she must ascertain the cessation of bleeding through the "Hefsek Tahara," and then make two Bedikot (inspections) each day (morning and afternoon) for seven days. At the end of the seven days, she immerses in a Mikveh. The only difference is that a bride may immerse on the seventh day, whereas a married woman may immerse only after nightfall.

This information is well-known and taught in standard marriage preparation classes, but it has recently come to my attention that some people are under the misconception that a bride preparing for her wedding does not have to make internal inspections. This is entirely incorrect; a bride must make the same Bedikot as married women. It is true that a girl who had never been married might be physiologically unable to check herself the same way a married woman does. However, Halacha requires her to inspect to the extent that she can. If, for whatever reason, she is unable to make both daily inspections each of the seven days, she should consult with her Rabbi for guidance. In some situations, there is room to permit a woman to make fewer inspections. But a bride is certainly under the same obligation to make Bedikot as married women.

It is unclear where this misconception comes from, but it might have originated from the Bet Yosef (Yoreh De’a 192), who does not mention Bedikot when discussing a bride’s preparations for her wedding. However, the Bet Yosef was likely referring to the times when even single girls would immerse in the Mikveh after menstruation, and therefore a bride before her wedding could have already been Tehora (ritually pure). As such, Bedikot were unnecessary. Nowadays, however, girls do not immerse in a Mikveh until before their wedding, and thus their process of purification is required on the level of strict Torah obligation. Hence, their Bedikot are obligatory. This Halacha is mentioned explicitly by Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in his Taharat Ha’bayit (vol. 1, p. 471; listen to audio recording for precise citation).

Summary: Before a girl’s wedding day, she must perform Bedikot for seven days just as a married woman does after becoming a Nidda. If a bride cannot, for whatever reason, make all the required inspections, she should consult with her Rabbi for guidance.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Removing a Teabag From a Teacup on Shabbat
Borer – Removing a Fly From Soup or From a Beverage on Shabbat
Halachot of Borer as They Apply to Eating Soup
Borer – Separating Food Which One Dislikes From Food Which He Likes
Borer – If One Separated Food and Then Decides Not to Eat
Borer – Peeling More Fruits Than are Needed for the Current Meal
Borer – Separating Foods for Somebody Else
Borer – Separating Foods That are Together on a Plate But Not Mixed
Borer – Removing Edible Food From Inedible Food
Borer – The Status of Food That Was Separated in Forbidden Fashion on Shabbat
Borer – Peeling on Onion on Shabbat
Is it Permissible to Insulate a Pot of Food With Towels on Shabbat?
If A Blech Had Been Placed on a Stove Before Shabbat and Then Fell Off
The Shabbat Haftara Reading
May One Open a Door on Shabbat if it Has Shelves with Mukseh Items?
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found