If you immersed properly after the last time you experienced bleeding that made you
niddah, you are
tehorah. In that case, you don’t need to go to mikveh — but, If you are currently married, you may choose to immerse for spiritual reasons. Such an immersion would need to be at night. You should clean yourself before immersing but do not have to do the usual
preparations and removal of all
chatzitzot. You would not recite a bracha on the immersion.
Another option if you wish to immerse for spiritual reasons would be to go to the mikveh during the daytime on erev Yom Kippur. This is permissible whether or not you are currently married. Immersion for
teshuvah before Yom Kippur is a widespread custom. You can check with your local mikveh as to whether and when they will be open that day for women to immerse.
If you
didn’t immerse properly after the last time you experienced bleeding that made you
niddah, you still remain in
niddah. In that case, if you are currently married, you need to complete the usual
taharah process and immerse. This includes:
Observing the “minimum wait” of physical separation from your husband, expecially abstaining from relations. For Ashkenazim and many Sefaradim, this is five days. See
here for more details.
Performing a
hefsek taharah examination (see here for
details). If you observe Ashkenazi custom, this would be on the 5th day of abstention.
Counting seven clean days with a
bedikah on day 1, day 7, and one of the intermediate clean days (see
here for details).
Immersion in the
mikveh, at
night.
Be careful and gentle with the
bedikot and
hefsek taharah. If necessary, you can dampen the
bedikah cloth slightly with water. If this is not sufficient, you can apply a small amount of water-based vaginal lubricant to the vaginal area, waiting about 15 minutes between applying the lubricant and performing the bedikah. If you don’t have “official”
bedikah cloths available, you can use any clean, soft white cloth (such as well-washed old cotton underwear).
Please feel free to
get back to us with any further questions.
B’Hatzlacha!
