Nishmat's Women’s Health and HalachaIn memory of Chaya Mirel bat R' Avraham

  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Espnaol
  • Francais
  • donate
Menu

Laws of chupat niddah

25 July, 2004

Question:

I have some specific questions about chuppat niddah

Please can you send me explanations about these 3 questions:

a) what changes to the ceremony need to be made?

b) if the couple cannot be left together on the wedding night what does together mean? in the same house? in the same room?

c) when defining chuppat niddah – For how long after the bride's period is she considered niddah due to the fact that she is not married? Or does it not make any difference?

Many thanks


Answer:

a) A man is not allowed to hand anything to his wife while she is niddah. Many halachic authorities permit the groom to give the ring to the bride in the normal fashion, because at this point in the ceremony they are not yet married. He should, however, be careful not to touch her. Once he has handed her the ring, they are married and the harchakot apply. Therefore, the ketubah should be handed to the bride via another person. The groom cannot hand the cup of wine to the bride.The bride and groom cannot drink from the same cup of wine unless someone else drinks between them. Specific arrangements should be worked out with the mesader kidushin (the rabbi who is officiating at the ceremony).

b) The husband and wife cannot be left alone together. This applies to yichud following the chupah and remains in effect until the bride has immersed in the mikveh. There are a number of possible solutions, ranging from sleeping in different houses to staying in the same house but having a child between the ages of six and nine remain with them, or staying at a house where there are other adults. Once again, the specific details and requirements should be discussed with the mesader kidushin.

c) The bride remains niddah until all bleeding has ceased as determined by a hefsek taharah, she has counted seven days with valid bedikot, and she has properly prepared and immersed in the mikveh. If she did not immerse before the wedding, there is no five-day minimum.


This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional.

For further questions or comments: 

The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.


Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.


Accessibility Toolbar