Sharing a blanket during niddah - Nishmat Yoatzot Halacha

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Sharing a blanket during niddah

January 3, 2006

Question

When a woman is a niddah, may she and her husband share a king size blanket as long as they have twin sheets and their beds are separated, or must they use twin blankets as well?
Please provide references in the response, if possible.

Thank you.

Answer

They may not share a blanket.

The prohibition for sleeping in the same bed appears in the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 13 and is codified in Shulhan Aruch Yoreh Deah 195:6. The Rema there adds that the beds may not even touch (his source is the Mordechai on Masechet Shabbat). The Pit'chei Teshuvah there (11) explains that the Rema's concern is that the beds would look like one bed, which is also a concern with sharing a blanket. Halachic decisors permit sleeping under the same canopy, with some hesitation, since the canopy does not touch the couple, but not under the same blanket.