Niddah

Will my friend think it’s weird that I don’t sleep with my husband on my period?

From its start in 1906, A Bintel Brief was a pillar of the Forward, helping generations of Jewish immigrants learn how to be American. Now our columnists are helping people navigate the complexities of being Jewish in 2020. Send questions to [email protected]. Dear Bintel, My husband and I are visiting a friend of mine from…

Men Take Monthly Mikveh Dunks as Menstrual Rite With Wives

(JTA) — Mikvah night has an unusual meaning in the Ozur Bass household. As for many observant Jewish women, it’s the night each month that Janet Ozur Bass immerses in the mikvah ritual bath following menstruation. Once she emerges from the water, husband and wife may resume the physical intimacy traditionally forbidden while a woman…

When the Mikveh Is an Ordeal of Faith

Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh The first time I prepared to immerse in the mikveh, the Jewish ritual bath, I was 18 years old and four days away from my wedding. I sat naked in a white bathtub as the mikveh attendant scrubbed my back with a washcloth and a dollop of baking soda. “You’re lucky…

Why I Cried in the Mikveh

I went to the mikveh recently, and it was the first time that I didn’t cry. For married women, going to the mikveh comes at the end of the niddah, or the length of the menstrual cycle, plus seven days. It concludes niddah; after a woman dunks in the mikveh she can touch her husband…

Inside Sex Education for Orthodox Couples