The laws of Niddah have have greatly shaped Jewish communities and populations for many years. By definition, niddah describes a women during menstruation who has not yet been to a mikvah, or a ritual bath. Niddah is used when speaking of monthly menstruation or zavah which is when women are experiencing an irregular flow of blood. The rules of niddah are that women have to separate from their husbands for the span of their menstruation and a full seven days after it has ended. The separation can vary in degree regarding the different denominations. During the seven “clean” days, if bleeding starts again they have to start the seven days over again. If husband and wife have sexual relations during this time it is considered punishable and impure. At the end of their menstruation women must complete a self examination with a white cloth. If the cloth comes out clean, they may proceed to a mikvah. When this entire process is complete, women are to return to their husbands to be intimate. The laws of Niddah are the most followed laws in most communities not including reform, only second to the laws of Kashrut. Niddah laws are a large part of jewish culture because it leads to low reproduction rates, many see it as a feminist gesture, and it is being varies with different types of bleeding.
The Jews have a very low reproduction rate. This is not due to a biological issue but a cultural one. Talmudic Rabbis extended the rule of the torah to combat these fertility issues by instead of counting seven clean days starting at the end of seven full days of menstruation, regardless if the woman was still bleeding, they would start counting a few days earlier, when their bleeding actually ended. When ashkenazi women menstruate they have to wait at least until the fifth day the bleeding had begun even if it the bleeding ended early before they can count the seven days before they can reconnect with their husbands. Sephardic women have to wait until fourth day since the bleeding had begun before they can count the seven days. This has lead to low reproduction rates because not all women have a perfect cycle. It is commonly believed that women ovulate seven days after they finish menstruating but this can not be applied to everyone. This supports that jewish women who ovulate in less than seven days will have a very slim chance of becoming pregnant. These women lose the opportunity for conception. This has been named “religious sterility”. It is been known doctors who treat orthodox women to prescribe hormones to these women to extend their cycle to make sure that they ovulate later to prevent this religious sterility. Twenty percent of jewish women who consult treatment for infertility is because of the observance of niddah laws. This means that many women appear to be infertile due to following niddah laws and not a medical or biological region. The laws of niddah didn’t negatively affect everyone. For women who had a very regular schedule their chances of conceiving were very high since they would reconnect with their husbands when they ovulated. The use of a mikvah also could contribute to low reproduction rates in previous generations of the Jewish people. In the past, mikvah water was not always heated. When it was time for the woman to complete her ritual bath she could choose to delay it due to extreme cold making her miss the peak for her ovulation. A woman could also delay her mikvah if she wanted to stop having children as a way to control her fertility. Women used this as a source of power. They could delay their mikvah to delay sexual relations to get what they want from their partner. While doing this would make a woman gain the power she wants, it is also a possible reason for infertility. Women who keep delaying their baths or extend their clean days reduced their ability to conceive by forty percent. Niddah laws have affected Jewish culture by being a large factor in the low reproduction rates of the Jewish community.
Jewish women have manipulated their beliefs regarding the laws of Niddah for a feminist movement. Many women believe that the physical separation from their husbands has lead to a stronger connection with their emotions. They believe that they are building a relationship that doesn’t purely revolve around intimate relations. One of the key points to this argument is that the physical separation makes couples find ways to “express love, care, and concern, all without touching skins.” This is a main reason the laws of niddah have remained so prevalent in Jewish society. Chabad followers state that these laws are put into place because “the presence of potential life within fills a woman’s body with holiness and purity. In its absence impurity sets in, conferring upon the woman a state of impurity.” The mikvah symbolizes rebirth and renewal after a “potential life” is lost. The video used in my powerpoint presentation was of a hasidic jewish woman who was a follower of the laws of Niddah. She explained that to her it was almost a honeymoon every month. When she returned to her husband she felt as though they were closer than ever before spiritually and emotionally. She described that the mikvah she attended was similar to a beautiful spa. This is not the case however for women of previous generations. This idea has been developed over time since women have gained more power in the world. In the past, women did not take this feminist approach because they were expected to partake in these rituals since they were seen as less to the man. When a man has discharge, as seen in leviticus 15: 2-15 they are only impure until the end of the night. To rid himself of these impurities he doesn’t have to wait seven days, but just has to bring two turtledoves to the priest. Women in the past also didn’t have these views on the mikvah at the end of niddah. Looking at pictures of mikvahs in europe, they were nothing like spas. This supports that the feminist approach to the laws of Niddah based off the “honeymoon a month” in regards to the spa-like mikvah was an idea that has developed over time and is not a traditional Jewish belief.
The traditional laws of Niddah are constantly evolving through rabbinic answers on different types of bleeding. Even though the laws of niddah state that any irregular bleeding is considered niddah and the husbands and wives must separate, there are various exceptions to this rule including uterine trauma. Uterine trauma does not put a woman into niddah because it is not considered to the level of impurity that menstruation is whether it came from inside or outside of the uterus. This can be more or less strict dependent on the culture. If a uterine injury were to happen during the seven clean days, it is not necessary to start the seven days over again. The more strict cultures can require an internal exam by a doctor to determine if the woman is experiencing menstruation or an actual injury. A bodeket taharah is a female nurse who can perform these examinations and report her findings back to the rabbi if there is any uncertainty. There have been many developments in regards to the technology used for contraception. Although many women who follow the laws of niddah to not believe in contraception in general, however, those with bleeding disorders can be prescribed medicines that make them not bleed at all. This is a point of discrepancy for the Jewish community. Should these women still observe the separations of niddah even though they are not bleeding? Rabbinic answers have stated that these women will not have to observe niddah and the seven clean days that follow it because there was never any impurity leaving the body.
In conclusion, women around the world have been affected by Niddah for many generations although the view that they have taken on the these laws has developed over time. Niddah laws are a large part of jewish culture because it leads to low reproduction rates, many see it as a feminist gesture, and it is being varies with different types of bleeding. Reproduction rates are lowered in the Jewish community because many women do not have a perfect fourteen day cycle and therefore miss out on their times to conceive. The feminist belief is that through the physical separation from their husbands, women are able to develop a more spiritual and emotional connection with them. Finally, there are many variations of bleeding. Women with intrauterine or extrauterine injuries that cause them to bleed are not considered to be on niddah. Also, women who have bleeding disorders and have to take medicines that cause them to never menstruate are exempt from following the cycles of Niddah.