1) It is permissible to delay the
hefsek if it is very difficult to perform it on the
earliest possible day.
However, it is not completely clear to us why performing the
hefsek on Shabbat at your parents' house would be inconvenient. We recommend bringing a few
bedikah cloths with you into a bathroom that locks. You can wrap up any used
bedikah cloths in some tissue before throwing them out so that no one will see them in the trash. The
hefsek should not take an unreasonable amount of time, but if someone asks you why you are taking so long in the bathroom, it is permissible to make up an excuse.
If it would be difficult to do the
hefsek later in the day close to sunset, then you may perform the
hefsek earlier, at a time when you feel you have more time and privacy.
2) You should wash the immediate vaginal area with cold water (or use a baby/wet wipe) prior to performing your
hefsek on Shabbat.
The
moch should be inserted from before
shkiah until
tzeit hakochavim. You may remove it at
tzeit hakochavim even if it is your
minhag to keep Shabbat until later (Rabbeinu Tam, etc.). If your community does not have an
eruv, you should not leave the house with the
moch in place, as it would be considered carrying. If the inconvenience of the
moch would cause you to delay your
hefsek until Sunday, then in this instance you would be permitted to omit the
moch.
Note: Halachically, the ideal option is to perform the
hefsek at your parents' house on Shabbat. We hope the advice above was helpful; if you have further questions about how to make this work, please get back to us.
If you have stopped bleeding by Friday, you may also try to do a backup
hefsek then. If on Shabbat you are not able to do a
hefsek, the Friday
hefsek would remain valid. Your
seven clean days would still only begin on Sunday – since you need to complete the minimum wait before starting the seven clean days – and your mikveh night would still be on Motza'ei Shabbat. You would not try a
moch on Friday, since the
moch is only relevant on the eve of day one of the seven clean days.
Please feel free to get back to us with any further questions.
This response was updated on 9 September, 2025.
